Has anyone tried a "season" at a snowdome?

A snowHead

I'm a (very) keen skier, but I started late (mid 20's), and I'm struggling to get to what I would call an expert level. For the last 10 years I've avoided taking regular lessons, mainly because subconsciously (if I was being very, very honest), I didn't want to expose my limitations or be pushed too far outside of my comfort zone.

In contrast, my children started at 4 and now my eldest son who is now 16 who has had consistent ski school and as a result is able to ski any off-piste, any conditions, at high speed, including jumps, with good technique and confidence. So I'm regretting my overly cautious approach and recognise the need to improve my ski fitness and technique in advance of next winter.

I've noticed that the (relatively local) snowdome has a membership / monthly ski pass, which means that the cost of skiing at a snowdome is about £60/month for pretty much unlimited sessions. In theory, I could make the effort to go every weekday evening after work, rather than going to the gym. I could supplement this with some regular private instruction, so I get some drills/exercises to practise between lessons.

So I'm wondering if anyone has done a "season" at a snowdome i.e. regular sessions over the summer, going several times a week? If so, how much improvement were you able to achieve? Would you recommend it based on the information I've outlined?

Does anyone have a view how much improvement would be possible, bearing in mind the limitations of a snowdome, for someone who is already at skiing at a good level? Is it worth making the effort to go 3-5 times per week, recognising that it might also get a bit boring visiting so frequently? And how frequently would you include a private lesson to check progress?

In theory, if I was going for the "max" of what I think is feasible, I could go probably commit to going 4 times per week and book a private lesson every 1-2 weeks. I suppose I'm looking to get an indication before I commit that much time and money is likely to worth it in terms of solving my problem.

Interested to hear your thoughts!

A snowHead

While I was doing my Level 1 teaching qualification at Hemel, there was a number of people in there on Saturdays and Sundays for probably a half day at a time skiing. They were on the unlimited passes Hemel offer through the summer months, and were good skiers.

For sure you could definitely improve considerably by going every week for a number of sessions and for £60 a month you'd see a lot of improvements for the value of money, but, you need to make sure you're working on drills to improve your skiing. It's quite easy (and quickly boring) to just blast down and get the lift back up and rinse and repeat.

If you add in the private lessons, I think that would help with the drills etc, and you'd see some real good improvements.

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@Gliss, Do you live near Hemel? If so, I would hazard a guess that you could make lots of progress with instruction from Inside Out Skiing and this regime:

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I suspect you could do pretty well or achieve almost exactly nothing depending on how much you are prepared to regard it as a job and put in the hard graft. Unlike a mountain season
you'll get little improvement from mileage alone and trying to keep up with mates because the terrain is SO limited. Building regular practice around themed group sessions with Scott & Rob (or similar) would however give you an excellent utilisation of the format.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

As said above potentially some good progression possible with your proposed schedule. I do think it's going to be quite boring, so you really need to be happy to think of it as work/training rather than fun.

The only caveat I would add is you are not going to get good at off-piste skiing only groomed snowdome. Skills are certainly transferable and will help and speed up the learning process, but there comes a point when you need that specificity of skiing bumps, crust, chopped up crud, powder etc. to work out the specifics of how to adapt and deal with those conditions.

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Many years ago I was working at Sandown Park dry slope ( is it still going?) and spent around a year there with pretty much unlimited skiing and some mentoring from the instructors as I was pursuing my ASSI, definitely brought my skiing on big time, meaning that for the following season in Zermatt (first of 8!) I was ready to play with the big boys!

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After all it is free

In my opinion if you just go and ski you will not improve unless you have instruction. Mrmogulski and I were world cup mogul ski judges until we retired 4 years ago. We watch everyone skiing while going up chairlifts. We notice that the vast majority could do with some personal instruction to iron out the faults that are being ingrained more and more with each run. Unless you get comment or video analysis from a professional (not your mate) you will not improve. Everyone can get better that is why the Olympic champions still have coaches.

There are a lot of people who do many hours in snowdome, think the results vary from person to person and how focussed they are. I personally don't think you'd get much more going 5 times a week than just once or twice but with a focus on instruction. Obviously there's also going to be limitations on the type of skiing you can do, big carved turns are out, as is steep stuff, which is why instruction is probably even more important.

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I'm a big fan of practice, which I think is essential to do almost anything well.
It seems so obvious it may sound rude.

When I was learning I'd typically visit plastic once a week, which worked well for me,
as I get bored easily and need some time to "consolidate" the physical stuff when I'm learning.

Snowdomes seem more boring to me than plastic,
so I would take at least music and probably podcasts if I was to put significant time in there.

I've ridden with many Olympic medallists and the best snowboarders in the world.
Me and those snowboarders at least are predominantly self-taught.
I think it depends what works for the individual. If you don't know what to do, then asking
an instructor seems like a good idea, but with sports like skiing and surfing, there's only so
much someone can tell you, you have to practice.

Ask a few experts how many days they have. I think I'm at 650 or so if I don't count plastic.
I'd say the main risk is that snowdomes are boring, so if it was me, well I'd not start unless
I was sure that I had the drive to finish, if that makes sense.

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During the summer, about 10 years ago, the snowdome at manchester did monthly passes for about £50.

I went a couple of times a week for a few months. My skii-ing improved from being an absolute novice to someone who could quite happily look like a confident novice Toofy Grin

It is worth doing if you are local to one, and treat as say a change from going to a gym.

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Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts. I'm going to give it a go and see what happens. Hopefully, if I follow through, I can update the thread in a few months to say what balance of practise vs instruction I found worked best for my situation, and how much improvement in skill level I actually managed to achieve.

You know it makes sense.

@Gliss, perhaps some before and after videos to see your progress as you go along?

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

@Gliss, much like you, I also started skiing at the age of 26-27 and I'm also very keen.
As I live in the Netherlands, I've been to snowdomes numerous times. Never had a season pass (though I've always wanted to) because I don't have a car and going there by public transport every week would be a bit of a hassle (and expensive). Fortunately that's not your case.

In one of those halls, I've had several with the same instructor over the years (incidentally he's also British) and I find that generally a LOT better than having lessons from a new instructor each time, who doesn't know how you ski. Also, indoor lessons tend to be cheaper than on the mountains.

As others have mentioned, for sure that won't do miracles for your off piste skiing (as you're essentially only on piste), but many of the skills you can learn there are "translatable" to off piste, and if you put in the time I believe you can make great progress. In my opinion, even though I get to the mountains fairly frequently nowadays, I'd probably be a considerably worse skier (including off piste) if it weren't for all those indoor sessions/lessons.

It also depends a bit on which hall you choose, of course; how nice/long/steep the piste is, how busy it can get, and whether they sometimes do special "events" like a few days with moguls. I think that will also influence how quickly you may get "bored". One routine you could consider is going 2-3 times a week but for longer sessions, rather than every single day. To me that sounds more sustainable on the long run.

And finally, if you do decide to commit (which I hope you do), I'd strongly recommend checking out Carv. It's a digital ski monitor which basically consists of an insert you put in your boots and it tracks several metrics in your skiing (like edge angles, where in your boots you're applying pressure etc etc). I've been using it since January and I like it a lot. It's meant to be used on piste (Carving, duh) and not only do I think it can greatly help you improve, but I also it can be a very nice addition to your routines as you'll have feedback and tips 100% of the time you're there, even when not taking lessons; you can even see it as a kind of "video game" which will surely keep you from getting bored for much longer.

Anyway, sorry for the long post and hope you have a great time there!

A snowHead

A snowHead

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@Gustavo the Gaper, GPS works using radio signals too.

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join the race club if they permit.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Gliss, Remember the old adage "Practice makes perfect" is wrong! Actually it is "Practice makes Permanent". You must make sure you don't reinforce poor techniques. Don't know if it's available to you, but at our local slope there are cheap weekly coaching sessions at different levels and subject areas with good coaches - people who attend for a year or so improve techniques massively.

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Thanks again for the suggestions. The snowdome which is closest is Hemel. Appreciate the tip on insideout and also the importance of practising only good technique. I do actually own the carv system, but I'm sorry to say I've not yet made the time to install it in my boots - that is probably something I'll look at next season once I get back to outdoor skiing.

Since posting my last update I've visited the snowdome about 9 times (so pretty much every day) and had 2 lessons with insideout.

It seems (so far) that a private lesson every 4-5 practise sessions is probably about the right ratio. I'm planning to book another lesson next week which will be my third.

I've been focusing mainly on stork turns, when you lift the tail of the inside ski before the start of the turn, and then make the turn mainly with the outside ski. I think this is a very good drill to practise on an indoor slope and, believe it or not, I feel I've managed to make significant progress. It feels like I have more time now to make the turn, and using only the outside ski identifies if you have the wrong body position, as the turn can't otherwise be made smoothly.

I'm fairly enthusiastic at the moment, which is why I've been so frequently. Will try and update the thread again in 4-6 weeks to see if/how my opinions have changed.

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I think once a week would be enough, but make sure you have some coaching.
I went to Hemel Fridge once a week for 2 hours. It only cost me about £35 for 2 hours of lesson classed as coaching and skills improvement.
There were never more than 4 of us in the class and often it was 1 on 1 instruction.
The success of the lesson really depended on the instructor and the students in the class.
Some of their instructors are brilliant, some of the class were pretty good too.

You see quite a lot of people regulary at the slope polishing their bad habbits though, so its good to get some advice. Don't forget though that if you have been skiing for many years you may have learnt in differnet styles which are no longer "in" at the moment.

Basically I love a couple of hours a week.

After all it is free

Quick update: I've started to settle down going to Hemel about 2-3 times per week now. Probably getting the point where I feel I would benefit from another lesson. So far, I've had three lessons and will be booking another one hopefully this week. Definitely practising needs to go together with coaching, else it is too easy to become bored or just lose focus.

Overall, I feel like I'm making progress, although there probably isn't a huge visual difference. It's mainly about making gains by refining my balance using the drills, and taking advantage of the consistent slope.

Will be interesting to see if I have made any progress next month and if I've managed to continue visiting as often I would like.

@Gliss, practice is good but you need to know what to practice.

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@Gliss I'll be interested in finding out more about your experience for The Ski Podcast. Could you drop me an email to iain@skipedia.co.uk if you'd like to chat about it?

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Quick update - I've managed to maintain my original schedule of 3 times per week going back to when I originally posted at the end of April. Since I last posted at the first week in June, I've had a couple more lessons with Insideout, which really are invaluable. (I've also booked on a couple of their coaching holidays for next season, but that's a different topic).

As others have said previously, and I certainly agree with, to make proper use of the practise time at Hemel it is essential to get good, regular feedback on what's working and what needs tweaking.

Overall, I'm about 9 weeks in from my first post on this topic, and I feel I have better balance, better foot control, better technique, and more confidence. The difference isn't night and day, and to the casual, non-expert observer I doubt there is much visual difference, but I feel more in control.

As an example of my improved confidence and how the controlled environment at a snowcentre can really help, I've previously avoided pretty much any attempt at jumping on skis. I've probably felt too old to go to the "park" in a resort, and too self-conscious that I wasn't good enough. However, every Thursday evening at Hemel they setup a "Ski Park" with a range of jumps etc.

Being able to ski lap after lap, every few minutes, continuing to practise the different jumps multiple times really has made this part of skiing accessible to me for the first time. I've even purchased a annual membership for my children at Hemel, and I'm taking them with me to the snow park each Thursday, so we can practise the jumps together which they love.

So overall, the novelty hasn't yet worn off, I'm enjoying making (slow but steady) progress, and I feel it is definitely improving my core technique which I can take onto the mountain next (proper) season.

You know it makes sense.

@Gliss, if you're feeling brave, it would be great to post the videos up on here, assuming @skimottaret is happy for you to do so.

Would be interested in seeing where you've come from and how the journey is progressing.

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

Bit late to this thread but only just joined the forum.

I've been a member of MK Snozone for a while and really enjoy skiing there - you get one happy hour free every week and half price skiing in the summer. They also sometimes do monthly passes for £80 for weekdays, and £100 for the full week, which I paid for this summer for two months.

I hear a lot about boredom on here and when I see an intermediate without much flair, repeated slowly skiing down in a pedestrian way with no focus, I understand the boredom; however, a game changer is Carv which gives you a score for your run and with the feedback from several metrics, teaching you how to improve - massively! So the four things of being focused on something, improving all the time, skiing in a really enjoyably dynamic way, and having a score like a computer game - or any number oriented physical game, means it's never boring, even when going almost every day for a month.

Using Carv and watching online teaching videos, both on YouTube and paid sites has massively improved me in one year, from bang average skier, to apparently, top instructor level - according to my scores, which I have compared with instructor scores that use it, and mine are definitely higher.

I've gone from 106 ski IQ to 161 in that year by skiing about an average of two hours a week indoors, plus 8 days on the mountain - and also three 2 hour sessions in Landgraaf... The change is totally night and day.

So I really recommend that if you want to improve by skiing indoors - it will help you do it (with the additional help of videos/books/instruction) and also be fun, not boring.

It will only help with carving, but it's the most enjoyable way to ski in my opinion, and an expert way to ski which you can enjoy on any blue or red piste (and easy blacks). In the end it seems obvious to be an expert carver and mediocre at everything else, than to just be mediocre at everything.

I'm going to spend the next year in the fridge, learning to short turn - which will be harder as Carv doesn't teach you that, but I think I now have a ton of transferrable skills from medium to long turns. It's just that after totally eliminating any skidding, I now have to put a bit back...

A snowHead

@Gliss, Don't know if we've met, but there's a group of snowHeads, inside-out groupies and 'others' who regularly ski at Hemel on a Monday morning.

A snowHead

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

So, I started this thread at the end of April, and we are now into early September, so I have about 4 months of regular attendance at the snow centre, and I thought I'd give a quick update.

Firstly, I've managed to continue visiting 3-4 times each week (with the exception of a summer holiday in the alps and a week out due to covid).

My 'schedule' is mostly going on Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings and then Thursday evenings with my children for the snowpark. I've committed a *lot* of time, when you include travel time, in order to try and make a material improvement for next season.

Improvements since my last update are incremental; starting to time my 'pop' better when I go over a kicker, waiting for the lip of the jump. TBH it still yet isn't natural for me as I'm trying to overwrite decades of previous efforts to avoid jumps at all costs. I've also starting to try to do 180's on the slope (with mixed success) and my 'switch' skiing still needs a lot of work.

Whilst this doesn't sound like much, I've literally always avoided trying this stuff before, whereas now it isn't intimidating, even if my technique would continue to benefit from a lot of improvement.

My two children continue to really enjoy the snowpark evenings on Thursday - and we have agreed they can use it for part of their DofE award they are both working towards which gives an extra incentive to make the effort to go after they finish school .

In terms of the 'piste' skiing, probably the most noticeable improvement I can feel is in my foot steering - externally, I doubt it looks much different, but I'm starting to feel like I have much better foot control to steer the skis. I've also continued to have regular coaching sessions with Rob at Inside Out, which continues to be good value (and pretty much essential imo).

The snow centre offers monthly passes until the end of October, so I have about another 7 weeks before I will have completed my 'season'. Will update again at that time with my feelings on what I think I have gained overall and whether the effort has been worth it Smile

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I'm positive practice works for me. It'll be interesting to see if your kids or anyone else notices a difference when you get to an actual resort. To me indoors/ dry slopes are like gym work - the best place for me to practice, but not the best place for me to rip, if that makes sense.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@gliss - still interested in a chat if it suits. Drop me a mail to iain@skipedia.co.uk

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

@Gliss, thanks for keeping this diary going. It's been really good to follow your journey.

After all it is free

I'm local to Castleford

I think the limitations of snowdomes for developing technique are

1) Not steep enough
2) Not wide enough
3) Not long enough
4) Snow not hard/grippy enough
5) Busy

So it's hard to get the forces and angles required to make modern skis work

I took my kids to improve when they were 3-6 and for them it helped them develop technique.

I've found that using some dry land coaching eg. Tom Gellie in combination with drills. eg.Swords, Javelin, one legged I can get some useful balance and technique training within the limitations of a snow dome.

So... now we are into November.... time for an update....

I've continued to go to Hemel on average 3-4 times per week (excluding a summer holiday and catching covid) since the start of May through to now. That is now over 6 months!!

I've put in a *huge* time commitment to improving my skiing over the summer - probably even more than I originally anticipated.

In terms of the practical aspects, Hemel offer extremely good value monthly passes from Apr - Oct. It makes the cost of each session a few pounds. Now we are in the 'high demand' winter period, they have stopped the monthly passes, but they have offered instead a discount to those who purchased several monthly passes over the summer, a 40% discount during the winter. So, if you combine that with their membership discount, you can buy a 1hr pass from £12.60. Still not bad value imo.

I plan to continue visiting 3 times per week over the winter period (whilst I am not on the actual slopes). And with that in mind, I have two coaching ski trips booked with Inside-out skiing for the 10th Dec and 7th Jan which I'm really looking forward to.

So to my original question, "bearing in mind the limitations of a snowdome, how much can someone improve at a snowdome?" I think I can now answer that...

TL/DR : The answer is massively.

Probably the most enjoyable session is the Thursday evening 'freestyle' session. Since I started skiing more than 20 years ago, I've avoided getting any air on all kickers and rollers - I just didn't feel confident, so I'd absorb all of the upward energy into my knees.

Whilst I'm never going to be a Candide Thovex, I can now say I have erased that tendency. Getting air on a kicker or roller is easy, and more importantly, I enjoy the feeling of trying to time the pop to get the tail of the skis to do the work for me.

I'm still wary of the big jumps (it still hurts if you fall) but compared to how I was previously, it's night/day. I would encourage any skiers like me (in their 40's) who don't feel confident about 'jumps' to commit to attending 5 or 10 Thursday evening sessions. You will notice a *significant* improvement.

As to my general skiing, I feel I have made a very good step forward - it's hard to be definitive when the slope is so short and relatively shallow, but I feel I have much better feel and foot control.

There are also very many 'regulars' at Hemel (you know who you are) who I enjoy talking to and watching skiing. I think watching good skiers on the same slope is important - when the snow is cut up, and there are lots of people, they still ski a good line, always in control, with good technique.

I should also mention Inside-out skiing, and particularly Rob - as other have said, high quality coaching is super important, and it's hard to imagine better coaching than Inside-out.

So, as you probably gathered, I'm feeling somewhat satisfied with my time spent over the summer during my 'season at Hemel'. The gains are steady and gradual, but I feel I've improved more I originally thought might be possible.

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I have never even skied indoors before but I see no reason you couldn't become a great skier if you have someone teaching you what drills to do. Take some lessons and learn how to work on your turns and what to work on. You should have a blast if you ask me.

Help!!

Has anyone tried a "season" at a snowdome?

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