The axing of BBC Ski Sunday – My 2-pence

Since 1978, British skiers have sat down post-roast dinner on a Sunday afternoon, with a cup of tea, kids with a hot chocolate, and watched Ski Sunday. When that iconic theme tune starts, there isn’t a skier or snowboarder who doesn’t get that little tingle of excitement.

This is skiing. This is what we love.

Well, now we’ve heard that after nearly 50 years, the BBC is axing the show and quite frankly, I am completely gutted!

Ski Sunday is iconic. But let’s not look at it with rose tinted glasses... it was heading downhill for a while (no pun intended) and was in need of an overhaul. So here's my 2-pence.

The problem, in my opinion, is that Ski Sunday has become too focused on skiing as a professional sport, when skiing is so much bigger than that. Skiing and snowboarding is a lifestyle. It’s a hobby. It’s an adventure. It’s a holiday. Frankly very few of us care who won last weeks race in Val Gardena.

Yes, I OK cover the ski racing, I want to know about British athletes and the big races. But the detailed coverage of the weekly downhill and slalom World Cup circuit isn’t necessarily what the majority of people who LOVE skiing actually care most about — and dedicating huge amounts of airtime to watching people race down a course is, frankly… boring 🫠.

In recent years, I have enjoyed the inclusion of other winter sports, giving snowboarding the platform it deserves and highlighting some of the more niche skiing and snowboarding competitions. But still, it’s all competition based… 

So what could the BBC do instead of axing all together? Well it's easy. MAKE IT RELEVANT.

Bring back the resort reviews. Every week, take us somewhere different and actually tell us about it. Is it good for beginners? Families? Advanced skiers? Off-piste? What’s the après like? The bars? The restaurants? Where should you stay? What’s the snow like? That’s genuinely useful content that might make someone choose their next holiday — and it benefits the resorts and British ski tourism at the same time.

And why not properly explore the incredible, weird and wonderful corners of skiing? Skiing in Chile. Pakistan. Japan. Tiny resorts nobody has heard of. Explain what ski touring actually is. Freeride. Off-piste. Freestyle. 

Talk about mountain safety and avalanches — and actually explain the reality behind the clickbait headlines that the UK newspapers love.

Interview the people who live and work in the mountains. Talk about the culture around skiing. Interview seasonaires and employers. Explain how young people can actually make their dream of working in the mountains a reality.

Review kit. Review cool lifts and infrastructure. Tracking apps. Talk about new technology. TALK ABOUT THE SNOW.

Give us a proper weekly global snow and weather report. Where has dumped this week? Where are conditions amazing? Where should we be booking for February? Where is having a terrible season?

Make me want to get on a plane.

By all means, keep the racing. But it doesn’t have to be a programme about sport. Make it a programme about skiing and snowboarding — and make that entertaining.

That is what the audience wants. Not less skiing. More of it.

This is why I find the BBC’s decision so frustrating. Ski Sunday already has something incredibly valuable: an audience of people who are passionate about the mountains. Instead of throwing that away, why not reinvent it for them — and, more importantly, for the next generation of skiers?

I don’t think Ski Sunday needs to disappear. I think it needs to become exciting again. 🎿🏔️