Quality of Snow at indoor mountains

A snowHead

I occasionally go to indoor slopes to try and keep my hand in.

But do conditions change throughout the day or perhaps the season at these venues?

I've never had a problem with these places and always found conditions pretty good .. till yesterday.
Any comments?

A snowHead

It varies a lot depending on how busy it is. The snow can get very soft and sugary if it's busy.

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

Hi rob@rar,
That's what I found yesterday .. in fact I decided it was dangerous ...
I went and told them and they gave me my money back.

I was watching people on the slope before I went in and everyone seemed to be traveling quite slow ...
when I went in the snow was very wet .. I popped out of my binding on the first run down and fell.

I was a bit more cautious for two more runs and I thought I had better leave before an ambulance was required.

I told them discretely what I considered so as not to spoil anyone else's party.
Also you never know is it just me?

PS .. I just noticed your signature!

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Tamworth gets groomed 3 or 4 times a day so is pretty consistent (hardpack) throughout the day.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

davkt,

That's what we want more grooming!

Tamworth is a bit far for me though.

I suppose at this time of year our local slopes are just too busy to get the machines out.

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I've only used Ski Dubai - several times - but always as soon as it opened on a Friday - our weekend. Groomed corduroy and excellent 'snow' - wih the occasional mini heap of 'fresh powder' near one or two of the sno-blower machines that had been runnig overnight. Highly Recommended - if you're here-abouts. Cool

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Dubaian,
I'l drop in when I'm next going past Smile

After all it is free

They're a bit like mountains, variable wink

I know that Tamworth has publicised "closed" times during the day when they do grooming. I've not noticed this at any other indoor slopes - do they do it? Or do they just let the slope get progressively more interesting Toofy Grin

for the whole of the day.

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I've just skied a couple of hours on the Hemel slope. I like that it's not groomed much (if at all) through the day, as it makes it more interesting.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

They can't groom HH during the day as it needs time to set. Otherwise there would be churned soup. Tamworth being essentially shaved ice presumably behaves differently.

snow reports

Hi sugarmoma666,

I agree that its a bit more interesting when its not groomed.

My gripe was that it had become a "slush puppy" (this was at 6pm) and it seemed to be sucking he skis off.
OK it good to have a challenging run down, but I just found it a bit dodgy.

Other people were whining about the ice rink at the top ... but I didn't pay any attention to that.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the Fridge today ... was it slushy for you?

I had a snow report from the Keynes Tal this morning for a couple that had gone up early because it was slushy there yesterday afternoon.

Its probably just the volume of traffic this time of year, and it serves me right for going on the weekend.
I didn't stop around for "Apres Ski" so I cant report.

Thanks everyone for taking part in this thread, I think I've got to grow up a little and realise its just like the real mountains ...
some days are good and some days you just don't go.

I'm rather pleased that we have these facilities so that we can hone up our bad habits before we go off and show the Austrians how it should be done.

And its just a million miles better than skiing on that toothbrush stuff we had to use back in the day.

You know it makes sense.

the chill factor has the best snow of all uk fridges bar non. but tamworth is the most interesting Toofy Grin

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I found mount Hemel hard work when I was there a few weeks ago. Decided that coffee was a better option although is only just got back from the real stuff so my heart wasn't in it.

A snowHead

I like Tamworth snow the best, it's hard and smooth and doesn't get soft and churned up. However, it does get a few icy patches.

A snowHead

queen bodecia, Same here, and the slope has the bend and gradient changes though the dip on the inside of the bend to make it more interesting (and realistic when you go round the blind corner to find a snowboarder sitting in your path!)

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

An instructor in Selva once informed me surprisingly, that the best snow (on a mountain) is a combination of cannoned (artificial) and natural snow. Not 100% natural. By that token, fridge snow wouldn't be the best.

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slushy snow gives rise to extra challenges, and if skied casually can lead to injury. As is often the case in difficult conditions, good technique will get you through it, while poor technique (which can get you down a nicely groomed piste with perfect snow) could land you in trouble.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Peterkct, I learnt at Tamworth, second week in the mountains was the last but one week of the season in Val Thorens, I had a way easier time learning to deal with the afternoon slush than most of the other 1/2/3 week skiers who'd learnt on nice snow had learning to deal with the beautiful Tamworth like first thing in the morning hard packed (or as they though icy) corduroy!

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I did quite a bit of skiing at the Milton Keynes snow/ice/fibreglass (delete as appropriate) dome, when I first started. I often cope better on sheet ice than many skiers who are otherwise better than me.

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Well you learn something every day, I assumed that the snow in all the fridges would be the same, and only ever having skied at Hemel I wouldn't know any different.

After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Mon 3-03-14 12:51; edited 1 time in total

karin, Think Tamworth is the most different, hardpack bordering on icy, pretty consistent snow through the day however busy it is thanks to the starting condition and being groomed during the day (it was the first one built in the UK and the snow is ice shavings) Castleford and Chill Factore seem pretty similar, deeper softer snow that does get cut up and moved around by use through the day. Haven't skied at MK or Hemel but guess they are similar to Cas and Chill. All fun in different ways.

Castleford can vary wildly, but it generally ends up with a big area of deep softer snow at the bottom which can make the last 20-30 yards "interesting" if its busy. Might just be my dodgy eyesight but often have trouble distinguishing the softer snow and it's led to a few less than elegant stops

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Hemel's stock in trade used to be that they had better snow than the others. Recently it's been pretty bad though, extremely sugary. Found Tamworth quite good, apart from overcrowding (but that's the fault of me choosing a stupid day to go).

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Tamworth seems to quieting down again now, we were there this Saturday morning just gone as Toastertalby went to the junior club. Other than the JC kids tearing round like the future Olympic skiers some of them probably are and a few beginners lessons in the bottom few metres it was pretty quiet. The Sunday night before we had a bit of a snowHead

s meetup for the evening session and it was really quiet, again just a few lessons going on using the bottom half of slope but plenty of space for a good fast ski.

snow reports

I went to MK on Saturday not my usual place or day to go!! Snow was pretty fun actually very sugar like and quite deep in places which made it interesting for me.

The big but about it was that for beginners it was proving to be a nightmare as they where catching skis all over the place in the soft snow down the sides, plus I think due to this the patrol people actually asked two people to leave the slope as they could not handle it which was a bit of a shame really

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

fatbob,

A snowHead

A snowHead

At the risk of being completely shouted down, I'd rather ski on a decent Dendix slope than in a fridge - at least the surface is consistent over the whole slope, it's smooth, and you can use the whole slope area rather than having to avoid the piled up stuff at the edges and the bottom! However, therein lies another problem, are there any dry slopes that can afford to make the investment to keep the mat in good nick, and therefore is there actually a decent Dendix slope?

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

Dendix is actually made of loads of detached mummified thumbs, glued together.

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I find the snow at Manchester and Hemel Hempstead significantly better than the snow at Milton Keynes, although the layout at MK is more interesting. Have had a lot of fun snowboarding at Hemel.

Edit: although that said it's well over a year since I've been to HH, it maybe isn't what it was.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hi Guys

I will attempt to give you an insight in to the stuff we all love ( most of the time)!

Indoor snow, as variable as a mountain but in a very small contained area. I have just come in from a 3 hours early bird session at The Snow Centre and as you would expect at this time the snow is really quite good. Is starts with groomed, them chopped groomed, then variable…but still fun to ski in/on.

Following the busiest winter and more recently half term since we opened the snow has indeed been very well used. This obviously leads to a breaking down of the quality ( just as it does in a mountain resort). However, un like a mountain resort we have to find space and opportunities for all our groups with various needs. The piste carvers want a firm solid groomed slope, the freestyle community want it to be a permanent park, the racers want slalom set every day and the freeriders actually like the bumpy and variable conditions. Using my favourite resort as an example ( Hintertux) you can find all this in the same place in its own zone. Unfortunately we done have the capacity for this : (

However I would say that picking your visit time can lead to an experience that matches your desire. If I went to an Alpine ski resort to ski / ride at 3pm the snow would be quite different for the 8am first lift experience ( especially in high season or later in the season). However if it was variable and bumpy snow I was looking for, them a later morning session may be better ( let them bumps soften up).

All that said, off the back of such a busy period we are now implementing a plan to improve snow conditions. This includes the removal of 400 tons of old snow ( over a period of time), Increasing snow making and chilling the snow box down for longer. In the summer months after Easter the opening hours a slightly shorter so we gain some useful repair time when we can work on snow management.

Over grooming of the snow actually damages the snow. It looks nice for a short period of time but quite quickly breaks down leading to a bigger problem ( you need to move more “dead” snow more often).

If you like groomed piste come early for the first few hours ( 7am Tuesday with FREE coaching and coffee, 10am every other week day, 8am Saturday and Sunday), if you like bumpy and variable snow come later, if you like freestyle come Thursday and Friday evening. We are working on the snow so you will see an improvement over the next few weeks.

One thing I am sure of is you will still be able to ski here in August when Mayrhofen is closed ; )

Thanks for your feedback Guys.

Pete

Pete Gillespie
Head of Snowsports / Customer service Manager
BASI level 4 / Alpine Trainer ISIA

After all it is free

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northernsoulboy, Yes it is worth a visit - even if only to discover that skiing well on Dendix is more difficult than skiing well on snow. You could also come along one weekend when the summer races are on and watch some of the runs - I think the first race of summer is on 19th April.

And there is a new sprinkler system on the top half of the race slope which makes it very quick.

Help!!

Quality of Snow at indoor mountains

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