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Sheffield Ski Village

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just come across a CF thread about refinancing whilst looking at costings for a Sheffield ski village replacement (Telegraph article), http://snowsportforsheffield.co.uk/. It's an expensive thing, but would a run say twice as long as CF attract people to travel do you think?

Interesting about the free-stylers in the CF thread too, it seems they are the ones interested in brining the dry slope back in Sheffield (half-pipe & all) could it all be done in a Fridge? By the sounds of it yes, but at a huge cost (100-200m) with on-going maintenance costs too..

What are the thoughts?

Am i looney to suggest go big or don't go at all with CF and Castleford an hour away (at a push) and a small relatively poor connabation on the door-step wouldn't anything in sheffield depend on lots of people thinking local is not worth it and taking a day to travel up / down / across to a much bigger facility?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
go big on a plastic outdoor slope, we don't need another fridge
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
On the rocks wrote:
go big on a plastic outdoor slope, we don't need another fridge


My challenge to that would be, would it be attractive enough? i don't have experience of them personally but the sentiment on here appears to be no Puzzled (could be wrong). I'm also working on an assumption that fundamentally a fridge is better than plastic (if you assume equal run and set-up costs), which then coming to reality makes it a financial call. Why do we not need another fridge
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Such happy memories of Sheffield Ski Village - we used to regularly travel 100+ miles each way to ski there when the slope was in its prime.

Plastic slopes are loads cheaper to ski/board on (and operate) than indoor fridges - though it seems that people either love or loathe them in terms of the sliding experience. The Sheffield slope offered a proper, long, ski descent where you could get up a fair speed - about twice the length of UK indoor slopes IIRC.

I'd love to see the slope make a comeback.
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So mountainaddict, would you drive past Castleford to get to a plastic slope in sheffield or would you just stop at Castleford for your fix?
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Levi215, It is a lot harder to burn down a fridge.
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rjs wrote:
Levi215, It is a lot harder to burn down a fridge.
Laughing

It's not in the best part of town, but it's certainly part that is being massively regenerated.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
The problem at the moment is the location. If they were going to build a fridge, there's better locations than SSV.
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i grew up learning and riding on plastic in Norwich and never really had any complaints. Use to go to Miltern Keynes a few times a year but every time we use to say for the effort and cost is was better staying in norwich.
Freestyle night on a Thursday use to cost like £4!! how much is it in a fridge now!!

unfortunatly i cant see investors puttnig money into what is now classed as an out dated scene.

I never understand why there isnt more push to upgrade/invest in the actual uk ski resorts we have rather than building more fridges. Imagine what places like halifax, Weardale, yad moss and the scotish ski resortes could do with a large investment of cash?
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just curious, I'm from halifax (stop laughing at the back), what's the slope like there, should I take my kit next time I'm unfortunate enough to be back there visiting family?
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Elizabeth B, i don't disagree with you, i don't think South Yorkshire has enough people to support it.
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If SSV were still there, I think it would've made a brilliant base for a centre of excellence for the freestyle disciplines...
But it's a ruin now. There is more money and will behind converting the site into housing than there is to get it back into operation.
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Levi215, SSV was a great place to ski yes fridges have moved the bar, but not quite fully forward a bit to the side as well both have advantages and disadvantages. Fridges are more expensive to run and maintain and as such will cost the punters more to visit yet protect you from the British weather, though they do ski more consistently throughout the year. Plastic you are exposed to the elements and the slope needs to be checked regularly for any damage, also injury's to fingers will be more common. They are generally wider and longer giving more room to practice and develop your skiing. In winter with snow cover ski almost identical to skiing abroad but even with a good mist system are not great when the weather is really hot.

There is scope due to the price differences for a very successful dry-slope at Sheffield but it will be dependent on costs for the skier. Offer really competitively or even cheap learn to ski packages and cheap 2-4 hr lift pass options and membership/year passes that work out at less than half the price of the fridges. They will have the room their to have dedicated beginner, intermediate and advanced slopes plus freestyle zones something no fridge currently can offer.

Dry slopes do seem to be the marmite of skiing surfaces but the number of people who hate them yet have never really taken the time to ski on one is quite surprising. they are great for improving balance for practicing different turn radii. It is also nice while skiing to look out at the hills etc rather than the inside of a building.

So to answer the question I suppose at SSV they have the room to have both dryslpoe and fridge but I do not think a fridge would be viable due to the proximity of CFe and X-scape unless they could provide a slope at least 50-60m wide and over 300m long which would be what they would have to do to bring customers in who live closer to the other fridges.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

unless they could provide a slope at least 50-60m wide and over 300m long which would be what they would have to do to bring customers in who live closer to the other fridges.


Totally agree and my argument for that would be, if you want a 'world class' facility then it has to be real stuff. (i.e. covering the formally existing slope space), but i tend to like big perfect type projects Smile
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Levi215,

It does not need to be real stuff to provide training for world class athletes. It is a long time since I was at SSV so can not remember exactly how long it was but if they want a fridge they would need to utilize the existing slope and build a small extension upwards for the advanced ski slope to make it at least 300m long. The beginner and intermediate slopes would be more than long enough on the existing hill.

A building like that covering almost the entire slope/plot and then grass over the roof would hopefully not be too unsightly. The issue to me would not be the cost to build as using the hill rather than building a substantive structure upwards would hopefully mean they could cover the whole area at a similar cost. So the issue would then be running costs and this in winter would be acceptable but in the summer would be too high due to less income being generated. The only option I see would be a slope that could have sections sealed off and unused in the summer months, ( ie close off the beginners section and freestyle. Beginners lessons could be on the lower part of the intermediate slope and freestyle could be on either the intermediate or advanced at specific times).
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I think it depends what your business model is. The UK market includes a large number of novices, who perhaps don't feel the need for quite the same facilities experts would like. A fridge is a lot less intimidating than a dry slope to those people.

I don't have the data to be sure, but if you visit a UK snow dome then often it's mostly learners, who I suspect are also lucrative prospects for tuition and associated retail. That's one reason I'd look at the dome model first. The second is that the "plastic" model is broadly a busted flush in the UK: it's been shown to fail.

From an investment point of view, I'd not invest in either at this point. Fridges are hardly new, and plastic slopes don't seem to work commercially.

--
For riding on, obviously plastic is better. They're quicker, longer, have more interesting surfaces, and encourage better technique.
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speed098, Landgraaf is built on the site of a dryslope. There is nothing under the snow, they just froze the ground for several months before blowing snow over the top, if you drill down too far when course setting you bring up gravel.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Levi215: SSV is about 40 mins/40 miles further than Xscape for us....but would be cheaper and longer. I'd probably go to both - but have always found longer plastic slopes more entertaining/less boring than indoors on snow. I visited Sheffield more frequently than I now visit Xscape.
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rjs, I was thinking to lay tubing on the ground to chill the ground they could lay an artificial slope down over the beginners section if they wanted to use it year round and yet still keep running costs in the summer in hand. I would build a structure ( planning permission needed ) above the top of the hill to make the advanced slope as long as possible.

The possibility's are almost endless for developing a fantastic venue but unfortunately there is just as many ways to mess it up totally.
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The biggest problem with SSV is Sheffield Council who are completly backwards, there was talk of putting snow on it before it burnt down but apparently SSC said they wouldnt grant planning permission unless they provided a public transport system from penistone road up to the rubbish end of town above the slope. this would have meant some weird gondola that picked all the chavs up from the bottom of the hill then stopped to get skiers, stop again to let them off and then a final stop to get rid of the chavs. because teh council were being so awkward it sounded like the people running the place threw abit of a strop too and refused to fund it anymore. then coincidentally it burn down putting an end to it all.

SSV could be fantastic if they covered it in one big fridge and extendedd the top, its so much better than any fridge and theres so much land around there that they could expand into that should be ridiculously cheap as others have said its not the most fasionable end of town.

If they built it Im sure people who were above begginer level would travel from Manchester and Leeds to ski there as the current fridges are so tame.

They could even have nice large windows in it so you could still see beautiful down town Bramall Lane while you ski aswell.
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well, in the meantime, these folks are quietly plodding on, http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11432164.__500_000_plan_for_Rossendale_ski_slope_revealed/?ref=var_0
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It would have been nice if at Ski Rossendale they could have negotiated to build over/under the dirt track ( maybe make a tunnel for either the farm vehicles or for the skiers themselves ) at the top and extend the main slope.

I like Ski Rossendale have way too many memories of the place not to but they do need to have a separate slope for the quarter pipe.
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