Im going to Wolf Creek this upcoming weekend (1/8 - 1/12) and I was wondering if theres any interest in a short first hand report for the DCSki readers. I dont know what the guidelines are, or even if I am allowed to write one as Im not a huge poster here in the forum. I have no problems with my writing being edited or anything like that, I would just like to share my experiences at a ski area thats not talked about alot.
I would just like to know how long to make the write up (# words) and how many pics can be considered. Feel free to email me off list if you like, gottajiboo@hotmail.com.
Thanks
DCSki is always happy to publish Firsthand Reports from readers. Anyone can submit one to me (you can get my e-mail address by visiting "http://www.dcski.com/about/contact.php3"), and if it's good I'm happy to lay it out as an article and publish it.
There aren't many guidelines, but here are the relevant ones:
(1) Unfortunately, DCSki cannot pay for article or report submissions. DCSki is something I run in my spare time, and I don't have a budget for article submissions. When you see writers contributing to DCSki, they're doing so out of a passion for skiing and an interest to share their thoughts with a like-minded audience. I don't require exclusive publication on DCSki, and am happy to have writers submit their stories to other publications.
(2) I don't have any rigid requirements for word counts -- you can make a report as short or as long as you'd like. I'll earn my keep as Editor and edit for grammar or clarity, or let you know if there's pieces I think are missing or don't make sense. But I'm not a very picky Editor. (See point one, above! 
(3) In terms of photos, depending on the length of a story, I usually try to include one or more photos. I usually set the cut-off around three or four, simply because some folks still have dialup modems and I don't want the pageloads to be too unbearable for them. But most writers send me a number of photos and let me pick out the best ones. I will sometimes edit the photos in Photoshop, limiting editing to color correction, cropping, and resolution adjustment. I like photos with as high a resolution as possible. The photos should be taken by you, or if by someone else, you should make sure they have given permission to have them published on DCSki. In all cases, I need to know who to give the credit to. You can also include a byline in your story -- a few autobiographical sentences at the end, if you'd like.
(4) I can accept most file formats (text, Word, etc.) Simply e-mailing the story to me as text is fine.
(5) Firsthand reports can be posted directly to the Message Forum (in which case I'm not involved at all), or published as standalone stories. There are pros and cons to both approaches, and in the past when we've asked DCSki readers whether they prefer one over the other, the answer was that they liked both.
You can publish reports immediately on the forums (it can sometimes take several days to put one together as a story -- and there's actually a couple in my queue right now), although there's no way to include photos on the forums. The forums are more interactive, so it's easier for folks to chime in with their own comments on your report. A report as a standalone story is a bit more formal and distinguished, and still has the opportunity for comments to be added at the bottom of the page, although not as easily as on the forums. As a standalone report, you get the distinguished title of "Guest Contributor," which would look great on any resume. (Chuckle. Well, I'd like to think so.)
Anyway, that's the scoop. I think I may have "overanswered" your question, but there's probably other people with the same question, so now seemed like a good time to lay out some of the guidelines.
Thanks!
- Scott
Pig
powderpig: i know it's supposed to get great snow, but wolf creek is pretty far from the beaten path with many more famous resorts between here and there, what motivates you to go there?
Im going to start a thread for this discussion in the main forum so it doesnt clutter Scotts area, please join me there.
Pig
