The only indoor centre I hadn’t visited, until last month, was The Snow Centre, which happens to be the closest to London, and also happened to be on my way home from a road trip to the Pyrenees last month. We already had our ski clothes with us, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try the place out. Here’s how it went.
I was surprised at how close we were able to park our car to the entrance of The Snow Centre when we arrived. These indoor ski slopes tend to be part of larger shopping or entertainment centres, and I’d gotten used to having to drag the kids past arcades, climbing walls and cinemas to get to the slopes. Not at The Snow Centre though, we parked about 10 metres from the entrance, walked straight into the ski reception, showed our booking and were sent upstairs to collect our kit. Ten minutes after parking, we were fully kitted out and ready to kit the slopes.
The first thing I noticed as we entered was the size of the learner slope. At 100m long, it’s the UK’s longest learner slope and looked like the perfect place to learn, while being completely segregated from the main slope.
The second thing I noticed is that the main slope didn’t have a halfway point to alight the lift, which might have put off our ten-year-old daughter off, if we hadn’t just returned from a ski trip in France. Like many kids, and adults for that matter, she generally likes to start gradually if she hasn’t skied for a while. There isn’t the option to do that at The Snow Centre, since the learner slope is only for those taking lessons.
I later queried this with staff, and they advised that anyone needing to build confidence again on a shorter slope, would be best taking a level 4 lesson, which would start on the beginner slope and move across to the larger slope.
Both lifts were open on the main slope, and the queues were being managed well because of this, despite it being Easter Monday when we visited. I’d estimate that it only took about a minute of queuing before we were on the lift. Those on lessons all seemed to be using one lift rather than both, and this helped minimise any waiting if someone fell on the lift.
At 160m long The Snow Centre is 10 metres shorter than the two Snozone centres and 20m shorter than Chill Factore in Manchester. This relatively small difference is hardly likely to be a dealbreaker when deciding which slope to travel to, and the proximity to wherever you live is probably going to be more important, as are lift prices.
At the time of writing, a three-hour lift pass on the weekend at The Snow Centre is £54.90, compared to £44.99 at Milton Keynes Snozone. However, family lift passes are available at The Snow Centre, which makes it cheaper, by around £10, than Snozone for a family of four. For us, we were passing Hemel Hempstead on our way home, so it was more about checking the place out while we had our ski clothes with us, and two hours was more than enough time, since the queues were well managed by the lifts.
The kids had a great time and were flying down the slopes like a pair of maniacs, since they’d built up a lot of confidence in France. One thing I’ve always liked about indoor ski centres is that the snow is never icy or mushy, as it can sometimes be in the mountains, and it’s almost always pleasant to ski on and doesn’t hurt too much to fall on. One noticeable difference between The Snow Centre and other indoor centres that we’ve visited was the quality of the snow at The Snow Centre, which is often praised on dedicated ski websites. The Snow Centre is built on a natural hill, which used to be a dry ski slope rather than above shops and restaurants. This means that the snow can be deeper, without any worries about how the weight of it will affect the ground below. It’s also the newest indoor ski centre in the UK, and the snow-making equipment is more modern.
It was a great pit stop for us and would make a great day out for anyone who lives in the vicinity, especially if you don’t want the distractions – and costs – of a sprawling shopping centre like some of the other indoor slopes.
As you’d expect, all equipment such as skis, boots, poles and helmets are included when buying a lift pass, and ski clothing can be rented if you don’t have your own.