 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks awsome, pity it will be wasted down south.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hey, that's not so far from me 
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What on earth made them stick it all the way out near Ipswich FFS?
Shirley nearer to Cambridge would have made it more accessible and hence more likely to attract punters?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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What's Smoasis then? 
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Axsman, don't call me surely.
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ssnowman, 500m of indoor snow with a decent pitch . . . and about 25 miles down the road from me . . . 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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If Oasis prices are anything to go by a week there will cost about the same as a fortnight in Whistler 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hmmm...as has been said, it's not exactly near anywhere is it, plus I reckon including driving to EMA I can probably be in Salzburg in a similar amount of time that I can get to Suffolk, close to an actual mountain, and maybe for not much more.
Can't help thinking it would fill a need if ski resorts weren't that accessible, which these days they are.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Kel, It's honestly surprising - at least 3.5 hour drive to Ipswich (And it's taken me much longer, we have an office there) compared to 50 mins to EMA, couple of hours to Salzburg. Ok I know there's airport time etc but I did leave EMA at 6.30 last year and was skiing in Zell am See at 1pm, think the Ryanair flights were 17quid each way including taxes, so it does stack up.
Snoasis would be ok for a novelty visit and fine if you lived next door (again, depending on cost) and agree with you also - Cas is 25mins away and I don't rush there unless it's an occasion or a meet up. Same prob as CF - 2mins on a Poma, 20 seconds on the snow, repeat...
Maybe we're looking at Snoasis as a purely leisure thing though. If maybe it's aimed as nurturing British snow sports then all well and good.
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You know it makes sense.
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Looking forward to the decision today, fingers crossed!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Snoasis is on the site of an old quarry and is a mixed development of houses, hotels/lodges, retail and recreation facilities, the main financial driver in this development is not a snowdome, it is the residential, commercial and retail elements, and this is why it is located where it is, the snowdome is incidental to the project but a good head line grabber and USP nevertheless. The snowdome (and bowling etc.) was a way of helping to achieve planning for the project by the headline developer and profits for the development will mostly be taken out of the scheme over the first five years. The developer will not really care if anyone ever goes to the Snoasis becasue they will probably lease/sell the facility to a specific operator than will 'live or die' based upon how many people use it.
The reason it planned in the area is because it piggy-backs upon the main overall development to give the development more credibility with the planners
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Poster: A snowHead
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well it will be just an hour from us so might be great for me to get the wife and kids into skiing if I have not done it before..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Sounds barmy to me, especially stuck in the middle of nowhere. I've spoken to some of the people involved in it, who seem perfectly sensible, pretty successful business types with a great commitment to sking, but it still seems barmy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Jerry wrote: |
Hmmm...as has been said, it's not exactly near anywhere is it, plus I reckon including driving to EMA I can probably be in Salzburg in a similar amount of time that I can get to Suffolk, close to an actual mountain, and maybe for not much more.
Can't help thinking it would fill a need if ski resorts weren't that accessible, which these days they are. |
Jerry, talking of the costs like that, my justification for what turned into a stupidly expensive weekend in VT last December, was that the number of hours skiing over the 3 days was actually a tiny bit more expensive than the same number of hours at Chillfactore in Manchester!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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FenlandSkier, snowdomes seem to be a bit like pregnacy for women, 20 seconds of fun and a lot of hassle there after 
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| philw wrote: |
| stupidly expensive weekend in VT |
I suspect there aren't any other sorts of weekends in VT...
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The SNOASIS proposed is not "the middle of nowhere". It will be easily accessible from the whole of East Anglia, which currently does not have any indoor snow (or outdoor come to that!). We do have good dry slopes, and lots of skiers, so could all those for whom it is not convenient please stop carping! It would pretty daft to build it near an existing facility wouldn't it?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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According to snowNews it's been approved 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jerry wrote: |
| philw wrote: |
| stupidly expensive weekend in VT |
I suspect there aren't any other sorts of weekends in VT... |
Or any kind of trip to VT come to think of it!!!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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It's through, they got planning approval
So three years (bet it's longer!) and we'll be able to see what it's like!
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| RobinS wrote: |
| The SNOASIS proposed is not "the middle of nowhere". It will be easily accessible from the whole of East Anglia |
Discuss.
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You know it makes sense.
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| rayscoops wrote: |
| FenlandSkier, snowdomes seem to be a bit like pregnacy for women, 20 seconds of fun and a lot of hassle there after |
How do you manage to make it last 20 seconds? You're spoiling her.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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roga, actually it may not be three years, all depends on how they phase the overall construction of the entire development, unless you know if a condition was included within the planning approval for the leisure facilities to be built before the railway station, hotel and houses etc.. Any details anyone?
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Poster: A snowHead
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richmond, i stretched it out a bit
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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rayscoops, I see - I'm no expert in these things.
I'll have to take a good at the website but I presume the snowslope will be part of the first phase?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yay - about an hour from me
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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roga, i just googled snoasis and there is an opposition group (as normal) who had a concern that the other elements of the scheme would be completed first (e.g houses) and the developer would run out of money and end up not completing the leisure element of the scheme (but more likely completing a reduced or delayed leisure scheme imv). They were calling for a requirement that the leisure facility had to be completed 'up front' as part of the planning approval
It is not unknown for latter phases of developments to never materialise.
Sounds like a good facility for UK winter sports and I hope it all happens, but there is still a long way to go .........
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Thu 8-05-08 12:36; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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^ yes, all very fair comment I'd say.
The thing that strikes me is that this is an incredibly ambitious project for a company that seems to have little experience in snowsports/snowdomes/slopes etc. I too am sceptical as to whether they can deliver on the full facility but it strikes me they'll be loosing out on custom if they start scaling back on say the slope.
I'd travel out of season over there for time on a 400m+ slope but if it's yet another 100 odd metre one then sorry, been there, done that and I'm not interested in travelling all that way when I can have a better and technically more valuable time at my local dry slope or head up to Tamworth if I'm desperate to slide in a fridge! If they shorten the slope they'd also loose out on the chance to host competitions like some of the longer European slopes do, again cutting off a potential revenue stream.
Anyway, time will tell but it'd be a shame if a potentially exciting project like this were scaled back too drastically.
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roga, i just hope it is not a 'planning' ploy and they deliver the full scheme, it is one heck of a scheme though and as you say only time will tell .....
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beequin, a new train station is also part of the scheme, linked to London
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Kel, and what's so unusual in being interested in learning? You never stop doing that; I see that John Williams from Norfolk Ski Club, already one of the better over-30s skiers in the country, just improved his national ranking on Sunday at the age of 57. 4 weeks is fine, but if you are interested in perfomance level skiing then it's nowhere near enough. The point of drysplopes and snowdomes is that you can ski them all year (without having to spend half of it in the Southern hemisphere), and so get in regular practice - it then becomes a genuine sport not just an activity holiday. And 400+m is a totally different kettle of fish to 150m. I've not been to Landgraaf yet, but am interested in doing so some time (and one of our coaches is dead keen on the idea so it may well happen). Remember that Landgraaf is homologated for holding Europa Cup slaloms.
I'm interested that SnOasis claims it will be the largest slope in Europe. Don't know what the total width of Landgraaf is but 520m is longer than 415m in my book, and 5 slopes must at worst get pretty close to 70m wide. Sounds like there's a bit of spin and creative use of language going on there somewhere.
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The description of the site being an old quarry suggested to me that it would be built on sloping ground like the other big European ones, the picture looks just like a copy of SSAWS though.
I have been to Amnéville and I'm sure the construction costs were much lower than for any of the existing UK snowdomes.
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