The Eagle Ski Club membership survey was conducted during Nov and Dec 2013 using a series of questions hosted on the Survey Monkey website. 439 members responded out of a total membership of around 1200, which was a tremendous response, given the difficulty of contacting all members.
This page gives a brief summary of the results of the survey. The full (raw) results of the survey are contained in the following 2 attached files:
Summary of answers to multiple-choice questions
Detailed written comments (edited in a few cases to remove references to individuals)
This survey has given the committee a very good insight into the views of the overall membership. This is extremely valuable given the difficulties of meeting many members face to face in geographically spread club. The committee will now analyse the results and comments and where appropriate devise plans to implement any agreed actions. It should be stressed that there is no guarantee of implementation of any specific comment – either because of policy decisions, or more likely because of the resource constraints of a club run solely by volunteers.
If anyone would like to help with any aspect of running or improving the club, then please contact any member of the committee, or the president at president@eagleskiclub.org.uk
Overall Conclusions
In general, the overriding summary is that generally members are very happy with most aspects of the club, and that the club is generally doing a good job. However, there are some very useful suggestions about how we might improve even more in some areas.
It is clear that we have a very diverse membership, and things which are very important to one set of members are deemed unnecessary by others. Furthermore, most members are active ski-tourers, but do much of their skiing and ski touring outside the confines of the club - selectively dipping in and out of what the club offers depending on personal circumstances and whether or not the activities are convenient or of interest.
Profile of Membership (Q1 – Q4)
The profile of the members who responded to survey seems to be a representative sample of the membership. From the membership database, we know that the average age of a club member is 52, and the average length of club membership is 6 years (although there are a significant numbers of members with much longer durations e.g. we currently have 54 members with over 40 years membership). 17% of the respondents were female and 83% male.
Preferred Equipment Type (Q5)
For 92% of the club, the preferred equipment type is alpine skis, with 7% preferring Telemark skis, and very small numbers preferring Nordic skis or snowboards. However, it is important to note that younger members (who are the future of the club) may well come in to the sport via snowboards.
Effort, Ski and Mountaineering Grades (Q6)
There is a wide range of ability within club members but on average (about a third of the club) rate themselves as E3 S3 M3.
How long have you been ski touring? (Q7)
Over 42% of club members have been ski touring for more than 15 years. This is longer than most people have been club members – suggesting most members start ski touring some time before joining the club.
Number and Types of Ski Trips (Q8 – Q10)
The majority of members ski or ski tour for 2 or 3 weeks a year, although a significant minority (14%) ski for more than 6 weeks each year. There is a wide range of types of trips which members go on, but for the average member going on say 3 weeks each year, this typically would be made up of one week family / resort skiing, one week of off-piste or instruction and one week of day touring or hut to hut touring. Most members do the majority of their skiing outside the club (for all types of trip – including touring). For touring, 40% of members use guides and 60% are unguided.
Club Touring Programme (Q11 – Q14)
In general, most members seem largely satisfied with the existing club touring programme. A majority of club members would consider joining most types of trips (although probably understandably, fewer are interested in expeditions and adventurous trips). For all trip types, the majority of members think that the number of trips in each category is “about the right number”, however significant minorities (21% and 18%) feel there should be more member led hut to hut tours and expeditions / adventurous trips.
77% of members think there are “just enough” or “a good choice” of trips of a suitable grade. In terms of trip length, the clear preference is for trips of 1 week duration, however there is a clear demand (currently unsatisfied) for long weekend trips (37% of members would definitely be interested in this type of trip).
Members should note that the programme is put together to ensure that most trips fill and aren’t cancelled due to lack of demand – this is very disappointing for the guide / club leader and also for anyone who was already booked on the trip. This arrangement naturally means that there will be slightly more demand than availability for some trips.
Climate Care (Q16 – Q18)
The majority of the club (47%) think that climate care is “somewhat important”, 20% think it is “not at all important” or “irrelevant / not needed”. However a significant minority (10%) think it is “extremely important”. The majority (30%) of club members “sometimes” consider climate care issues when making travel arrangements. 27% consider climate care for travel arragments “all the time” or “frequently” whereas 42% consider it “occasionally” or “never”. It is thus clear that there is a very wide range of views within the club on climate care issues.
Club Services (Q19 – Q23)
The most important service provided by the club is the touring programme (rated as “extremely important” by 77%), followed by the website (63%) and yearbook (44%). Actual usage figures follow these priorities, with the yearbook, club touring programme, website and newsletter being used by nearly all members. Other services are significantly less well used – however these are important to the members who do use them.
In terms of satisfaction, 74% of members think the yearbook is “excellent” (and 23% “good”). The Touring Programme is rated “excellent” by 58% of members and “good” by 39%. Other services are mostly rated as “good” by the majority of members, although Summer Weekend Meets and the Facebook page are thought to be “adequate” by the majority of users (however, these services are only used by a small percentage of members).
The detailed comments contain many useful ideas for improving services (see here) and the committee will go through these and prioritise implementation of the best suggestions as time and resources allow. Volunteers are always welcome to help run and improve the club.