Snozone held the title of "Largest Indoor Real Snow Slope" in Europe for about 10 weeks. Although disputed, Snozone took the title from the Uithof dome in the Netherlands which, although longer, was not as wide.

But this Sunday, both these slopes will be blown out of the water when the Alpincenter in Bottrop, Ruhr Valley, Germany opens its slopes.

Germany's first dome contains a single 30m wide slope, much better to carve on for boarders. Like the Snowdome, it's also arranged in a right-angle, this time with a short steep travelator between the two ends. This gives it more of an Alpine feel than the straight runs of Snozone. It also has various gradient slopes to cater for different levels of riders, with the steepest sections at 24° compared with 15° at Snozone.

Amazingly, the slope is 508m long, just 42m short of the world's longest indoor snow slope, the 550m long SSAWS dome in Tokyo. Various reports suggest the Alpincentre slope may be extended to 640 metres, giving it the world number one status.

The slope has already been covered with 1,400 tonnes of fresh snow
produced by the French made Snowline All Weather Snow Gun. This was used to good effect in the UK earlier this year when Wycombe Summit used the guns to create real snow on their Dendix slopes.

The Alpincentre stands alone on a former waste dump in this heavily industrialised area. There is no cinema, no shopping centre and no nightclubs and we can only presume that it will be marketed as a place for slope sliding rather than as a "winter experience".

Prices will be cheap compared to Snozone and on a parr with the Snowdome. Our recent survey on the prices riders were prepared to pay for indoor snow at peak times revealed that the majority could afford to pay between £10 and £15 per hour. The new German slope will charge adults around £7 per hour before 4pm, £10 per hour at other times and offers discounts to seniors, children and students aged up to 18. The slope opens at 9am and closes at midnight daily.

Update The new German slope failed to open as each of the three types of snow used, melted due to problems with refridgeration. Sounds a familiar story and more of the marketing people being a little too optimistic me thinks.

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