227: Lucy Aspden-Kean, Ski Journalist

In this special episode, Iain speaks with Lucy Aspden-Kean, Ski & Snowboard Editor at The Telegraph.

We discuss Lucy’s journey from the Blackpool Gazette to an MA in Journalism and how she beat 300 other applicants to win a ski internship at the Telegraph.

Lucy shares her advice for aspiring travel journalists, what it was like working on the travel desk during Covid, plus we also discuss how a trip to Nepal was prompted by an interview with Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

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SHOW NOTES 

The London Snow Show will take place on 18/19 October 2025 at Olympia (1:00)
Lucy previously shared her experiences of Gausta in Norway and heliskiskiing in Chile (3:00)
Lucy was also on the show in the dark days of lockdown (3:00)
A trip to Nepal started from an interview with Ranulph Fiennes (4:00)
Lucy walked to Everest Base Camp and then the 6119m peak of Lobuche East (6:30)
Her training was mainly in the Lake District (9:00)
Read about Lucy’s trip in this Telegraph article (13:15)
Is Everest suffering from overtourism (15:00)
There are significant dangers of climbing Everest (16:30)
Are too many climbers under-trained? (16:30)
We discuss ‘overtourism’ more generally (17:00)
Lucy has skied in the Lakes (18:30)
Her first ski holidays were to Rauris in Austria (20:00)
Listen to Iain’s interviews with ski journalists Peter Hardy, Arnie Wilson & Frank Baldwin (21:00)
Lucy did an English literature degree, followed by an MA in Magazine Journalism at University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) (22:30)
Lucy beat 300 applicants to win a ski internship at the Telegraph (24:00)
She won ‘Best Social Media Campaign of the Year’ in the PPA awards in 2017 (30:00)
Covid was a ‘career defining moment’ as a travel journalist (31:45)
Telegraph model has shifted to subscription (34:45)
Longer form content is becoming more popular (35:15)
The role of a commissioning editor (36:45)
Do journalists need to have video editing skills as well as writing? (39:00)
Advice for freelance journalists (40:30)
Is AI a threat to journalism? (42:00)
The impact of the climate crisis on skiing (43:15)
Lucy’s favourite trip was to Chile (46:30)

Feedback

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Andre As: “Thank you for making another enjoyable podcast! It really shines through that you enjoy skiing and nature.”

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