Real snow indoor slopes are a great place for beginner skiers and snowboarders to get a handle on the basics before jetting off on their first winter break (like the accomplished skier in this image by Skistar Trysil).
Sure, they may not be the most convenient places to learn, what with there being a great deal more old-school dry ski slopes around. But taking to a real snow surface will most often be worth the effort, not least because it’s so much more forgiving during a fall!
Here are our picks of the UK’s best real snow slopes.
Chill Factore – Trafford Quays Leisure Village, Manchester
• Longest real snow slope in UK – 180 metres long
• Four miles outside Manchester city centre
• Other snow activities – tubing, luge, airboarding, sledging, snowscoot, snow zipper, snow carver
• Other non-snow activities – indoor climbing and fitness classes
SnowDome – Leisure Island, Tamworth
• UK’s first full-sized indoor snow sports facility
• Main slope – 170 metres long
• Other snow activities – tobogganing, tubing, sledging
• Other non-snow activities – ice skating ring and track, 25-metre swimming pool,
The Snow Centre – St Albans Hill, Hemel Hempstead
• London’s nearest real snow slope
• UK’s newest real snow facility
• Main slope – 160 metres long and over 30 metres wide
• UK’s largest dedicated lesson slope – over 30 metres wide
• Other snow activities – sledging and snow scooter
Snow Factor – Braehead, Glasgow
• UK’s longest indoor real snow slope – 200 metres long
• Other snow activities – ice luge
• Slope similar to European standard blue run
SNO!zone – Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes
• Main slope – 170 metres
• Over 1,500 tonnes of show used to make main and learner slopes
• Other snow activities – sledging, ice-slide
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
