Manchester - Chill Factor e

A snowHead

Those people on lessons have paid for their courses and part of the service is that they have their own access lane into one of the lifts (not the 'expert' one). They are meant to alternate when joining the main queue so as to lessen the impact on those on open practice.

This is pretty much the same system used throughout the world. The only exception I can think of was Cairngorm when there were lots of ski schools operating there, everyone had to get in the same queue, probably because there were far to many ski schools!

A snowHead

Tomorrow morning at 10am anyone? I'm working American hours this week, so off for a ski in the morning....

(A little late I guess! rolling eyes

)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

of there on sunday to let my 4 year old have her first experiance on the slopes!!!

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Another little gripe that makes the place harder to use with no benefit to them, you can't book clothing hire online (although there website keeps encouraging you to book it in advance!) - you have to phone them whcih takes about 15mins.

Still, had my firswt got there yesterday, and far prefer it to Castleford - tha viewing balconies are definately an improvement over the poky window half way up the stairs at Xscape!

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jase2472, good luck, they only take children from 6 in taster lessons. You could shell out for a private tutor I suppose....

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After all it is free

They take younger children in Kid's Club on Saturday mornings.

I went for the first time last night, a group of nine of us went.

Very impressed with the slope, the snow and the facilities. Those string mounted lift passes are a real pain though, especially for the younger kids that were with us.

That aside, it's well worth a visit.

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and according to the website, minimum age for skiing is still 6 even when in kids club Sad

http://www.chillfactore.com/main/Snow/Children%20Only

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nbt, i agree the website is very misleading, the minimum age for Kid's Club is in fact 4

http://www.chillfactore.com/main/main/main/topmenu/Price%20List?DOCID=115&page=1

I think you have to book the 6 week course.

Ah bum. I was hoping to take my nephew for a quick session, can't commit to the full course. Still, he's 6 in March (where *does the time go? I remember being on holiday and wondering if he'd be born while we were away!) so I'll deffo take him next year

You know it makes sense.

Does anyone know whether Chill Factore routinely put out a run of Moguls as Snozone Castlefield do?Do they put them out before their freestyle sessions?Have spoke to them but the telephone operators aren't sure.
I am thinking of doing the Warren Smith course there on Sun 5th October.I have done a few of his uk courses before and found it so much more fun when there have been some moguls to play on,hence the question.

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i want to get my godson a snowboard beginers lesson for his birthday , he is thirteen and very sporty but has never been on the snow before(bad sun worshipping parents), and thought chill factore was the best place to go, anyone any experience of first time lessons for teenagers there and what the best option to book is Puzzled

A snowHead

Neilski, If you can afford it get a one to one lesson, the group lessons are cheaper but they don't actualy get much done. I took SO's kids to a group lesson this year 14, 11 & 9 and they quickly mastered what they were being shown and then got bored.

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JP, thought that would be the case , so will spoil him with a one on one private, thanks

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We had a first visit yesterday on the wau home from the Lake District. The slope is much better than we found at MK Escape, and the snow seemed a much better consistency as well. The skiing was good then , but the uplift! Only one poma working, allsorts struggling to get uphill through the stupid bar-code reader turnstiles, then uphill again to get on the poma. Not helped by two large gruops, one skiers, one snowboarders barging straight in to the front of the queue! Why when they spend million building the place do the go for stupid antiquated card readers, and appear unable to run 2 lifts, or even to understand that lift queues don't go uphill! Overall it was a good visit, and quite good value - but why spoil it with such stupid features?

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Yeah, the bar code readers are a pain. They should really do a mini membership which offers no discount but gives you a proper card to scan through as the current full members get.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

hedley, I've heard there are plans to start putting them in again when things get 'busier' as to whether or not this will be the case by 5th October I don't know. They used to put the moguls out before the mogul coaching evenings (not sure there was much take up for that course), but not before the freestyle nights. They seemed to mainly appear during the week and be flattened for the weekend.

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RobinS, were the people barging in at the front of the queue on lessons or not? If they weren't then I'd complain to Chill Factor as the lifties are meant to make sure that the only people that use the schools priority lesson are actually on lessons. Unfortunately its been my experience that you get selfish people who think they are above queueing like everyone else Sad

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skir67, They were instructed groups - looked like quite high level instruction, possibly even instructor training, but with about 8-10 each of boarders and skiers they made up more than half the people on the slope - very annoying to go through the queue and trunstile system to them get 10 snowboarders shortcutting in front of you. Some people obviously got so hacked with it that they started cutting through as well. There was no proper supervision of the lift at the bottom, someone who looked as they were supposed to be supervising was spending her time snowboarding, then cutting in right at the front of the lift queue to go back up. They really shouldn't give anyone priority if they won't run both lifts. As it was midweek, during the day, and not too busy we had a good time - but any more people there and I would have got really wound up.

After all it is free

RobinS, Could well have been a first level instructor course they are doing a lot of those this year. The person supervising the lift should have been doing their job! I'd complain to chill factore they should get a rocket......Also those using the priority queue should have been alternating with the main queue, everyone keeps moving then.

I wonder if the second lift stayed off because it was faulty, its been somewhat poorly of late Crying or Very sad

Anyone been on a recent Saturday - do you need to book? - if it gets full how bad is it? A friend's husband is doing a renewal of his school ski party leader's ticket this Sat and she is wondering if it's worth going along for a ski or not.

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Personally, I'd book. I was in there on Sunday and the queue for pre-booked tickets was much much shorter than the on-the-day tickets queue.

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I was told the youngest age was 3! I've just booked my son and his mate a lesson/taster with an instructor on my son's third birthday. 50 mins tuition, messing about I guess, for £35! To me that sounds like a bargain. Going on 19th Dec, I'll write a report afterwards.

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philw, how busy was the slope? We're going this Sunday.

jonm, it was pretty busy, both tows were running which kept the queues to an okay level...

You know it makes sense.

My friend's decided not to go in the end, having found the husband's course means getting there for 9am Sat! We are thinking of going over on a Friday during the day sometime as we are both often off work Fridays.

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philw, ta. No choice on which day we go so hopefully it won't be too bad this Sun.

A snowHead

I’m not usually one for posting on here…..but my friendly advice would be don't come early on Sunday morning, particularly if you fancy a quiet run...... we have 3 race clubs sharing the slope on Sunday morning at the moment, slalom gates everywhere........basically it's pretty much carnage until 10:30 / 11ish!

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BG, thanks for the warning, appreciated!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My Pleasure....I don't think it's very well advertised....peps turn up, not unreasonably expecting it 2 be quiet at 9:00 on Sunday!.....and the find 2/3rds of the slope already covered in gates.....understandably some are none 2 happy!

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We arrived about 9.45 this Sunday morning in the end as my mate had pre-booked a lesson at 10 for his two nephews who came with us. I didn't think it was that busy, thankfully - probably about 10 people in the queues for the lifts at any one time.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We went a couple of weeks ago. Five of us jammed into my car and traveled over on the ferry from the Isle of Man for a weekend in Manchester, with an hour and a half at Chilfactore on the Saturday afternoon as the main reason for going. We had pre-booked our tickets and arrived nice and early as instructed on the website. Car park was pretty busy but we found a space without a problem. Collected our passes after signing a sheet to say that we could actually ski. Those that needed skis and boots went on those fancy machines and then joined a slow queue for the gear (lots of machines but only one person serving). However we were all ready to go onto the slopes well before our session started.

Once on the slopes we noticed that one side was covered in jumps and slides, both lifts were working, but the machines where you had to put your pass in were a bit temperamental. After a little queuing, we were enjoying the slopes and we all thought the snow was pretty good quality and quite powdery. After about half an hour one lift was closed to general users and was just available to skiers and boarders who were about to start a competition on the side of the slope with the jumps on it. As we could only access one lift the queues got bigger and it took about 15 minutes to get onto the lift.

At the end of the session we were a little unhappy and I complained to the duty manager. After checking her computer, she told me that we had done 7 runs down the slope which was to be considered an average use. I wouldn't accept this as that's almost 13 minutes per run and I doubt that it takes me more than 45 seconds to get down the slope and didn't think 12 minutes queuing as being reasonable. After a while she gave us a voucher for a free session, which we decided to use the next morning before we caught the ferry back to the Isle of Man.

We were booked in for the 10:00 session but arrived 15 minutes late due to a hotel problem. The lad on the pre-booked ticket desk happily changed our start time to 10:30. There were more staff on duty in the changing area and kit was obtained a lot faster. Once on the slopes we saw that the jumps had been replaced with slalom poles and a group of youngsters were wizzing down the slopes. It was however a completely different experience to the previous day. It was quieter, both lifts were open to all and the queues were only a couple of minute long if that. The slalom group finished at 11:00, so it got quieter still and we had a really good time. I think we all managed well over twenty runs down the slope each.

I doub't that Chillfactore will advertise on their website when competitions or training events may disrupt the use of the slope for the general user, but it would be nice if they did.

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rumour has it that CFe are going to stop all race clubs other than their own from training there - which if true may make it easier to find out when things are happening - tho can't remember if their club times are well advertised on the website. Will however mean it's not a good place to want to train - unless they pilfer some of the other club coaches Evil or Very Mad

As I said I only have this on rumour at the moment, but from a few different sources....

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vivski, What do you feel is wrong with CFe's own coaches. I spent a fair bit of time with them when there were races over the summer, they know what they are doing.

After all it is free

rjs, fair enough, spose I shouldn't really comment as I haven't been trained by any of them, it was based on what a few people have told me who have had some experience of their sessions and other clubs race training sessions and said that the CFe guys were good but just not quite up to the standard of some of the others - mainly as most of them don't have the experience as yet - I know that certainly one has excellent credentials as a racer! I suppose the main gripe is that they are taking away the choice for racers - as you know some of the people coaching other clubs there at the moment are regarded as some of the best in the country and it seems it would be a shame if the option to train with them wasn't there.

rjs, out of interest are their coaches cscf trained, old apcs, ex-dry racers, ex-snow racers?

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slikedges, They are CSCF and BASI, don't know about their race record.

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Manchester - Chill Factor e

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