Why Ski Indoors?

Perhaps most telling is the news that Ski Dubai recently had its busiest ever day, with 7,800 people taking to the slopes.  Meanwhile Scottish ski area Glencoe recorded only 7,300 skiers through the entire winter last season, down from 37,111 in 2000/1. But rather than taking people away from conventional ski resorts, suburban indoor centres are credited with growing business for destination areas in an era of consolidation.  So much so that resorts are sponsoring the centres, sending over their ski schools and incoming travel planners, and in the case of Solden in the Austrian Tirolean, actually paying for construction of a new centre in its core German market as well as sponsoring the new British Snow Centre..

Chill Factore in Manchest, the UK’s fifth centree to open, in 2007, has done a lot to make indoor skiing more appealing to regular skiers. On entering the winding Alpine themed street of cafe’s and ski shops , visitors will first be impressed by a vast glass window on to the slope which makes you feel as if you’re standing in a real snow IMAX . Less in-your-face, but equally impressive, is the effot that has gone in to decor, with use of natural stone, wood shingles ad other authetic materials all aimed at recreating the Alpine feel. New technology has allowed for the creation of a mountainscape montage up the sides of the slope (Previously a problem in sub-zero temperatures) which also adds to the ‘real thing’ feel.

Peter Moore OBE, the former Managing Director of Center Parcs and now Chill Factore company chairman has brought his tourism management expertise to Chill Factore and stresses his vision is of a leisure, rather than retail, destination.

“We’ve focused on creating a total year-round, weather-reliable destination, as appealing to the non-snowsports enthusiast, where the sports facilities, retail and dining all complement one another.” He said.

At 180m long the slope is marginally the UK’s longest yet indoors, it also has a slighty steeper and wider feel  with separate nursery slope and kids snowfun area incorporting a tubing toboggan section and a luge run – the snowy equivalent of a water chute in a swimming pool. On-slope ski testing is also offered by Salomon, one of the world’s leading brands.

Chill Factore has also built links with the UK’s competitive snow sports teams, already benefitting from year round snow slope access at the UK’s existing centres.  Snowsport GB, the country’s governing body, is establishing its UK national training centre here ahead of the 2010 Olympics, following a trend that has seen the International Ski federation hold world cup races indoors in Holland, the Canadian and US national teams also training indoors and the costruction of year-round ski tunnels in Finland and Sweden for cross-country and biathlon team training. So, in a warming world, is the future of snow sports indoors? It sounds far-fetched and even indoor-snow enthusiasts would be depressed at the thought that indoor snow was the only option,  but there are the beginnings of a trend, albeit a very gradual one.  Five years ago there were about 50 glacier ski areas for summer skiing and about 30 indoor snow centres, today those numbers are reversed. Whilst melting glaciers are getting smaller (most notably the world’s highest ski slope at Chacaltaya in Bolivia, expected to be gone for good in the next decade), indoor snow centres are getting bigger.

Malcolm Clulow, boss of British Company Acer Snowmec, which pioneered indoor snow making from a small test facility in Telford nearly 20 years ago and has grown to become the world’s leading player in the industry , supplying indoor snow cetres worldwide, including Ski Dubai, is upbeat, “The designs are becoming more and more complex and reflecting full mountain resorts rather than simple straight down slopes like the ones in Europe.  Turning slopes, valleys, gulley’s, big snowboard parks, skier cross, boarder cross and freeride guests will also have what they want, (snow berms on bends, sculpted terrain and so on).  Bridges, tunnels and extreme snowsport areas (kickers, big air ramps, superpipes) all figure in our latest designs.”

Mr Clulow’s company is now working on ever more spectacular centres around the world, including what will be the world’s longest slope in Moscow and a proposed 800m long slope in Reykjavik.  Selling coals to Newcastle used to be an ironic term nd it seems selling Ice to iceland could be the next one to go.

There are also plans for ever more remarkable construction projects. Another British concept, Snowvolution, envisages a huge 300m wide dome cotaining between four and six concentric, revolving, snow covered rings on which skiers and boarders can ride forever in the snowy equivalent of the runner’s treadmill.   “SnowVolution is the future,” company CEO Gordon Neave states simply.

Arnaud Palu, head of SNO!zone, which runs indoor snow centres at Braehead, Glasgow  and Milton Keynes as well as Castleford, with more planned, thinks that there’s another dimension beyond recreating the outdoor experience,

“Indoor snow centres are at the forefront of a new trend in leisure,  bringing niche sports to the masses thanks to its controlled environment. They are just the beginning. New ‘sports domes’ will soon emerge with, for example, ‘Surf domes’ incorporating perfect surf waves and ‘Dive domes’ equipped with a tank for scuba divers and free divers.”

And with the huge construction costs requiring large population bases nearby, 6.5 million people within a 45 minute drive in the case of Chill Factor, is there any limit on how many centres we are likely to see?

“There is a market for many more indoor snow centres in the UK.  Currently the location does depend on the catchment area, but the more there are, the greater will be people’s awareness, meaning more people discover snow sports.  This will change people’s perception that skiing or snowboarding are leisure activities like swimming or going to the cinema and not sports.” Mr Palu confirms.

But are these massive structures with huge refrigeration requirements actually adding to the climate change that could ultimately prove the death knell of regular ski areas? It’s one of those, “Yes, but...” answers. The ‘buts’ including arguents that having snow local means people don’t need to travel so far to ski and that the refrigeration heat, as well as water for snow,  is recycled. Three of the latest UK snow centre proposals for Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe and Swansea  proposals include initiatives for  vast grass covered rooves and micro-production of renewable enery on site.