Uk indoor snow centre. Should recreational skiers skiing through lots of lessons

A snowHead

I took my family to an indoor ski centre last week. As we got ready I noticed it getting rather busy and thought it would be crowded. About five minutes before we were going to to be let on, lots of people were rounded up in to lessons.

I was rather shocked by this - there was going to be a lot of lessons and recreational skiing in such a small space.

When we got on the slope the instructors -there we lots of them - were lining their students across the slope, rather than down it -taking up about 75% of the width of the slope.

So basically my recreation ski consisted of skiing a small bit of slope and doing a couple of turns and then practically having to stop to get past a lesson. Then repeating this three of four times until I reached the botttom.

I thought this was probably quite dangerous and felt rather short changed as I'd paid over fifty quid for daughter and myslef to practice our skiing for an hour but spent the hour negotiating lots of ski classes.

I understand they ave to get in revenue but how many lessons can you have on one slope at one time? Should theere be a limit before you stop recreational skiing? If you are having recreatioan skiing is it really fair to close of 75% of the width of the slope with lesson queues at various stages across the slope?

Is this usual for an indoor slope?

A snowHead

Just ski their lines. Any indoor slope between October and Xmas is a total gongshow. You basically can't have a plan per run but just have to react to what's in front if you on any lap.

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

I tried an indoor snow dome once but found the whole atmosphere and experience to be the complete opposite of skiing in the mountains that I wouldn't do it again. For me, they are completely dire things.

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I would ask for my money back. I do avoid those places at this time of year as they're so crowded and badly policed. It's probably safer when like you describe as you won't get the straight-lining kids quite so much... and the queue at the bottom right where they're headed...

They should refund you though: they can fight you, but that's no way to get repeat business. They should have warned you when you bought the ticket.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I have asked for my money back. I'll let you know how they respond. Interestingly, when I complained, the staff agreed with me and gave me the email of a person to write to and ask for a refund. No doubt he's under pressure from guys in grey suits, with spreadsheets making sure he maximises revenue. However, I won't return if I think I'm going to get charged the same amount for a similar experience.

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Inevitably these places are busy at this time of year but the practice of lining up across the slope is dangerous and smacks of poor organisation and inexperienced instruction. I witnessed a similar thing a couple of weeks ago at my local indoor slope. There is a bit of a free for all approach at times when these places are busy and I endeavour to avoid them at such times but I can't agree that they are somehow contrary to the skiing experience for most of the year. They're great places to go and work on your technique and there is usually a very friendly crowd, certainly at my slope.

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Hmm I'd put money on it you're talking about Tamworth, it's the worst of the lot for it. When I learnt there many years ago beginner lessons were done on the small second slope they've got but this doesn't seem to be the case anymore so as you say you can have 3 or 4 different lessons going on at once plus your people who've paid to have a recreational session. The newer slopes do seem to have addressed the issue by having seperate learner slopes to the side to the main slope so I'd say give Tamworth a miss and head to Chill (you can get better deals on lift passes as well).

After all it is free

I have received a response from their management offering a credit note and asking me to go again to try the experience. He also gave numbers of how many were on the slope when I was there and their capacity. It was well below. My issue wasn't with numbers on the slope it was the number of beginners and how they were organised.

That said, it was half term so every activity centre is going to be busy. I'll take them up on their offer of a credit not and give it another go sometime when I'm in the area.

I won't name the ski centre as I don't want to give poor feedback on a business after one visit, at half term. I've emailed back suggested lining up people vartically down the slope, rather than across it. I guess this takes a bit of side slipping skill, which early beginner skiers may not have. Another option would be to maybe only use half of the width of the slope and cone it off or something. I'm no instructor so I don't know the best way of doing these things. No doubt, BASI has guidelines, scrutinised by insurance companies.

I wasn't expecting a glorious, sunny alpine descent on fresh snow but just the opportunity to ski top to bottom at a reasonable speed and able to get some nice sweeping turns in.

sounds, @cameronphillips2000, like they are being pretty reasonable.

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They won't as they make the most money of lessons and tobogganing.

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Went to MK x 2 this week with my nephew as we are taking him in Feb. Separate slope for all those having lessons so no mixing at all.

It's a business: you have to do what works. Personally I ring them up and ask when they're empty, and that's the time I go. And even then, I'm concious that their rates are significantly more expensive per vertical meter than helicopter snowboarding, so it's not something I'll do voluntarily. Plastic slopes are different and attract a different clientèle. Elitist? Absolutely, this is my sport, I've no time for people tobogganing on my snow.

You know it makes sense.

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

Personaly i dont see the problem. Snowdomes have to make money and lessons are the biggest income for them.

You just have to time when you go.

At CFe just ring and ask how many lessons and people they have booked on before you go. If theres less than 50 (their capacity is 210) then youll be fine. At tamworth aim for a 2pm start midweek or 8pm start any day -as thats just after theyve groomed the slope and its very quiet even in the winter.

A snowHead

A snowHead

As said above, snow domes from now until Jan/Feb are going to be crazy busy. Its just a fact that to stay in business they need to make money in these times to be able to stay open in quiet times like summer.....I have been the only rider on the slope on a Monday morning in August.....got to say it was a bit of a soulless experience though.

I get your point that it wasn't just the number of people on the slope, it was the organisation and how they handled the people. Over the years of riding indoors, for me it's just a case of accepting how it is and making the best of at least being able to ride real (well almost) snow in the UK any time of year.....I remember the times before fridges. I have sent countless emails had countless telephone calls and had many meetings with management about how the domes are run on things like: lift lines, lifts in operation, lessons, the list goes on and things just stay the same....so.

I started to enjoy the indoor slopes much more when I accepted the fact that, It's not the mountains, It's small, there are going to be lots of people there who are learning (we all had to learn at some point) and going to get in the way, some people are going to be idiots but most are great and we are all there to get some turns in until we can get back to the mountains.

At least they offered you a credit note so they are trying to do the right thing and hopefully if / when you go back, you and your family will have a great time.

Good luck and enjoy.

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

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Hmm,I'm heading to MK Snowzone Wednesday evening for a warm up session, never been here before, so will see what its like. never had any problems at Manchester, although Tamworth being the oldest has its issues with layout.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

why is this in off piste? I'd have thought this was the least off piste topic imaginable? Very Happy

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Was at Hemel yesterday -- was not busy at all...

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After all it is free

I've been taking advantage of the unlimited liftpass offers at chillfactor over the summer...It's bee nice to have a nice quiet slopes during this period. This month was the first substantial hike fees which I've done again but they want £150 for December (£105 for members) which is not worth the hassle given how busy it will be. Might just pay for the odd hour or 2 instead if I fancy it

I did 3 hours last night at Snowzone Milton Keynes between 7 and 10pm. Not all that busy, there were couple of groups doing school, they had a jumps, rail and slide area on the left hand run set up where most of the boarders were. No long queues to get up, although the left hand Poma kept on stopping every 5 minutes or so which was frustrating as the 'technician' leisurely made his way over to flick the trip switch.

What I found disappointing was the general lack of customer care, the instructors were all helpful and jovial, but the 'management' didn't appear to give a toss about the uplift runs at all. Spent every uplift dragging snow back onto the track so my board actually glided up, rather than being forced uphill against a very sticky and rough underfelt type carpet. All it needed was a few shovels of snow on the run regularly. Less friction means less drag and less current being drawn by the motor powering the Poma. Not rocket science, but no matter who I spoke to, no one cared. This isn't the case at Manchester where they do actually top up the uplifts.

They also only run the groomer up the slope at the end of each day, so it gets a bit compacted and icey by evening, unlike Tamworth who do it 3 times a day to keep the slope in good shape(although their 'snow' is more like fine sugar). Although Manchester is furthest away, it's the best I've been to so far.

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Recap, went to Chillfactore last night after work and it was a hellish experience. My own fault for not checking the website first as I forgot it was a "freestyle" weekend this week so half of the piste was closed off. rolling eyes

To top that off, they were only running 1 drag lift for a time meaning people were queuing off the main slope for the lifts! Evil or Very Mad

They eventually fired up the second lift which eased the pressure a little. Still didn't stop instructors from conducting snowplow lessons on half a slope from the top though... there was some pretty close "wipeout" moments watching some people bombing down from the top.

Deffo giving December a wide berth if this is how it's going to be from now on...

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You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

. . .LOL . . .no snobbery on my part I assure you - just common sense - you tear your calf and see how amusing it is . . . .

[quote]They need to police those places better. If you can't ride safely they should just kick you off without refund. It's negligent not to do that. [quote]

Totally agree with you re the Policing bit - its a tight space that needs careful management, unfortunately the majority of staff are dissaffected teenagers with baggy pants, daft woolly hats and eyes that are glazed over most of the time . . . .for the price I'd at least expect staff that are awake

A snowHead

From my experience, CFe is well policed. Was there a bit ago and a couple of lads turned up carrying boards, blatantly didn't have a clue what to do (trying to put them on without opening the bindings, boots not even done up amongst other things). I said something to one of the instructors who told me they'd already been clocked, but they had to give them a chance. Sure enough they were asked to leave the slope after their first attempt at going down the lower slope (had taken them the best part of 15 mins to get there) which involved some vary painful looking edge catches and slams. Fair play to the lads tho, they went happily and I spotted one of them in a beginner lesson a week or so later.

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

[quote="Belch"]. . .LOL . . .no snobbery on my part I assure you - just common sense - you tear your calf and see how amusing it is . . . .

[quote]They need to police those places better. If you can't ride safely they should just kick you off without refund. It's negligent not to do that.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

. . I usually do the late sessions ie. 9-11pm midweek . . .and to be honest if its loaded with freestylers then at least the majority have 'some' skills and are more likely to damage themselves than others . . .the fridges are never going to be perfect, however they should turf out the wannabes, or at least let them crash into each other on dedicated sessions . . .

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I think it's simply down to good management.

Why not offer people the slope with minimum number of skiers and no lessons - charge a good price for it and people will pay it.
If you're having a lots of lessons going on then let people know if they are paying for a free ski session that the slope is not gong to be anything like fully open.

I think if you're honest and fair with your customers then people will tolerate it if things are busy and there is the odd queue.

I can see they have huge overheads but I can also see from the comments on this thread that customer satidfaction is variable and they would probably increase revenue if they spent some time ensuring eveybody gets a quality experience and vaue for money.

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I think they do actually precisely that - there are "off peak" times when the likes of me may visit.

But commercially, they'd be nuts to ignore or annoy the vast majority of zero-experience beginners in favour of a few old people who find anything above walking speed scary. If you see what I mean. I'm saying... that you can see why they will want to fill their slopes with people whose money is as good as mine but who need significantly less slope space to have a blast. Those guys may be dangerous, but they're good business.

After all it is free

I never saw anything about 'off peak' when I visited.

They need to maximise revenue - this means offering good value for beginners and recreational skiers. I've nothing against beginners. I used to take school trips to the dry slopes for several sessions before we hit the snow. They were fantastic. However, recreational skiers were not expected to weave between them and, to be fair, I'd have been unhappy if they had been.

I have now found the 'off peak' section on the website where I booked. My mistake.
I still think there should be a limit to the amount of lessons taking place whilst people are paying to recreationally ski.
Interestingly, when I complained at the end of the session, the two members of staff on the desk said they couldn't agree with me more and gave me the email of a manager to contact about it. I'd imagine they've had to deal with the blunt end of many disappointed recreational skiers.

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Uk indoor snow centre. Should recreational skiers skiing through lots of lessons

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