Alistair Scott, Journalist and skier

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 19:11

Born: 3 February, 1959, in Liverpool. Died: 7 November, 2009, in London, aged 50.

FROM an early age Alistair Scott gained an extensive knowledge of Scotland's ski areas; he loved the rugged challenge of the Scottish mountains covered in fresh powder snow, the landscape and the rigours of an early Sunday morning ski. Scott wrote in typically forthright manner: "If you can ski in Scotland, you can ski anywhere. The Scots are the toughest skiers in the world." Scott was to prove that often by his championing Scottish skiing in the Cairngorms or at Glenshee or Glencoe.

Scott was appointed skiing editor for the Sunday Times by Andrew Neil in 1983 and wrote with great passion weekly articles for the paper over more than two decades. Scott wrote with an enthusiastic concern about the best and most challenging pistes and the facilities on offer – and that included an in-depth review of the aprs ski attractions. But he was always careful also to write about practical matters: the ease of getting to the resort and the cost of equipment hire. Scott undoubtedly had an abiding interest in food and is believed to have reviewed more than 1,000 Alpine restaurants in his time.

Alistair Scott was born in Liverpool, the son of two distinguished doctors. His father, James, was an eminent professor of gynaecology, and his mother, Olive, a paediatric cardiologist. He learned to ski at the age of seven, from when his parents took him to Switzerland each winter. He went to Fettes College in 1972, where he was able to further his interest in the sport and would regularly get a bus up to the Highlands ski slopes at weekends.

At Fettes he showed an early interest in journalism. He was first editor of Farrago, the school magazine written by the pupils, and won the Hugo Fraser Prize for his contribution to the community. He then continued his interest in writing at Leeds University, where he read English. He wrote widely for a variety of university magazines and was involved in the debating society.

One of his pieces came to the notice of Ann Barr, then features editor of Harpers & Queen, who offered him work experience when he graduated. When the magazine produced a teenage issue in the mid-1970s, Scott wrote several articles which brought his name to the attention of other glossy magazine editors.

At the Sunday Times Scott concentrated on writing articles which took in all aspects of the amenities on offer at a resort. But he brought to all his writing a wit and zest which made him widely read beyond the ranks of winter sports enthusiasts. Scott captured the atmosphere of an Alpine holiday and of its hill towns and its people, and wrote about possible activities in the area if there was no snow. Neil encouraged him in this slightly less than rigid approach and for 11 years Scott was a major contributor to the paper. When the editorship changed in 1994 Scott's position changed, too, and he started to write for the Spectator, GQ and the London Evening Standard.

Scott was never keen on all-year-round skiing. He did not, for example, go to the southern hemisphere in the UK summer and cover the various challenging slopes in New Zealand. He loved the winter months and especially the harsh autumn winds in Scotland – in Edinburgh or at his cottage at Achiltibuie. He hated steaming hot cities and resorts – "I went to the Caribbean once – never again," he said. He always much enjoyed returning to the peace and quiet of Achiltibuie, where he delighted in catching lobsters and walking the countryside around Ullapool.

Scott returned often to Zermatt and Val d'Isere in France. He responded to the quaint nature of such European resorts – no matter how much their character had been changed by mass tourism, and certainly preferred them to the new ski resorts many British skiers were starting to frequent in the United States. "For me the problem with too many of the larger North American ski resorts," Scott wrote in his column, "is that although they have lots to offer and are essentially very well designed and run, they lack real character and tend to be somewhat bland."

Scott was a popular and generous man. He gave a large party earlier this year to celebrate his 50th birthday, which was attended by many longstanding friends.

His kindness to those in distress was evidenced when he went to Paris on hearing of a friend who was living rough on the banks of the Seine. Scott found his friend and restored him with a good meal in a restaurant in the Rue de Seine. He then brought him back to his flat in Edinburgh and continued to look after him.

One of those friends – dating back to his work experience days at Harpers & Queen – was Nicholas Coleridge, now managing director of Cond Nast. "Alistair bestrode the worlds of skiing and the London media," Coleridge has written. "He was exceptionally fond of good food and wine and a great friend. His death is very sad."

Scott died of kidney failure. It was through skiing that he met his wife, the Hon Lizzie Norton, who runs her own skiing company, Ski Solutions. They married in Zermatt in 1988 and she survives him.