General Dryslope News

Construction has begun on Woodward Tahoe, a new freeestyle indoor training centre at Boreal ski resort (www.rideboreal.com) in California which is scheduled to open next summer.

The new facility follows the opening of the world’s first such facility, Woodward at Copper, at Copper mountain ski area in Colorado in 2009 which includes Snowflex ski slope surface and other facilities such as foam pits and trampolines.

The second such facility and the first in Europe opened in Laax, Switzerland last winter.

The new Woodward Tahoe is due to open in the summer and will reportedly be larger than to existing Copper facility. It will also feature an indoor skate park, ski/ride ramps, and other features.

Like Copper, one of the world’s highest and most snowsure resorts, Boreal will also offer summer camps for ski, skate, BMX and gymnastics with on-site accommodation. Both resorts have an excellent snow record with snowcover often extending to late Spring and even early summer making indoor/outdoor freestyle training camps outside the regular ski season an option.

Ski Knockhatch re-opened in December after the installation of a new Play Grass surface on its 110m long slope.

The outdoor ski and snowboard centre located in Hailsham, East Sussex in southern England which first opened in 2001 and the 'Play Grass' continuous carpet surface there does not have the gaps (notorious for broken fingers and wrists) typical of the surfacing used by many older dry slopes.

As it is continuous, the Play Grass bristles do not need to be so rigid, therefore abrasion is rarely a problem. It also has a soft backing so is far softer to fall on meaning both a reduction in accident rates but it’s also a flexible surface to cover features, ramps, pipes and table tops.

As with other dry surfaces, the slope is mist lubricated for ultimate performance creating a top class, metal frèe surface to meet the requirements of every level of user from beginning to expert and certified for safety to British Standard BSEN1177.

www.knockhatchskicentre.co.uk

Southampton Snowsports Centre Active Nation have vacancies for snowboard instructors.

Active Nation is a registered charity driven by its mission to persuade the nation to be active. It is fast growing and dynamic and has been selected by Southampton City Council to be its principal sport and exercise delivery partner over the next 14 years.

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join Southampton Snowsports Centre. We are looking for an exceptional instructor who is dynamic, self motivated and be able to draw on a range of outdoor coaching and teaching practices to create significant and beneficial experiences for our supporters.
Southampton Snowsports Centre offering a variety of different Snowsports and fun activities for all ages. Located at the Outdoor Sports Centre in Southampton, and surrounded by 150 acres of green and open spaces, it is the ideal setting for many sports activities.

To apply please tell us your story so far by emailing your CV and a covering letter to hayley.walker@activenation.org.uk

If selected expect a call back from us. For more information visit our website www.activenation.org.uk or call Hayley Walker, Programme Manager, on 07825 235441.

CLOSING DATE: 17th February 2012
ASSESSMENT DATE: 21st February 2012

*In order to be considered for the position you must be able to make the assessment date.
Active Nation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post will be subject to an Enhanced CRB disclosure.

Hillend ski slope at Edinburgh in Scotland has announced plans for a £500,000 spend on upgrades and improvements.

Although the operators are yet to announce contractors and suppliers, the main news is a new 210m long piste and a new nursery run as well as a tubing slope and two new lifts.

The centre was threatened with closure last year due to mounting debt and operating losses but public funding body Sportscotland and the Scottish government stepped in to fund the complex after the cash-strapped local Midlothian Council said it could no longer afford to run it.

"We know there is huge enthusiasm out there for the centre and these improvements will offer something for everyone, whether it's snowtubing, learning to ski on the new, safer nursery slopes or choosing a different slope from the top of the chair lift.” Said Derek Milligan, Midlothian Council's leader, "However the long-term future of the centre relies on a commitment by the Scottish government to provide ongoing national funding."

Tallington Lakes in Lincolnshire are embracing World Snowboard Day this Sunday with free lessons for kids and plenty of prizes, thanks to Oakley, O'Neill, Westbeach, Vans, Nike 6.0 and Burton.

More info here...

The Midlothian Snow-sports Centre at Hillend, in Edinburgh, which already operates one of the world’s biggest artificial-ski slope surfaces has submitted a planning application for an extra 210-metre slope, another 80 metre nursery slope, upgrading existing nursery slopes, new tubing runs and two new conveyor lifts.

The new developments are part of a big turn around for the centre which was threatened with closure last year due to growing losses, but now plans to spend half a million pounds on the improvements, funded by public body Sportscotland. The work will begin next month all being well and the centre will be open as usual while it’s going on.

Swadlincote Ski & Snowboard Centre is pleased to announce the installation of a brand new slope misting system for the start of the 2011/2012 winter ski season. The fine water spray is to be delivered by 180 misting heads built into the Perma-Snow™ slope matting which provides the skiing surface at the South Derbyshire winter sports centre.



The new system will mean that the slope surface is regularly watered by a fine spray, improving the sliding properties of the matting and creating a much more realistic skiing and snowboarding experience.

The installation signifies further significant investment in the centre, following the introduction of the safer, continuous matting surface Perma-Snow™ to the slopes in 2004 and 2005. The smaller spray heads and fine mist produced onto the slope will mean the system is much more environmentally friendly than the previous Sprinkler system that was in use back in the 1990’s. With the previous system having been removed in 1998, the re-introduction of water to the slopes will be welcome news to skiing and boarding fans wanting to improve their skills and take advantage of the excitement that winter sports offer.

For those enthusiasts wanting to experience the new system and feel the difference for themselves the centre is offering heavily discounted Open Practice sessions on its Winter Open Day on Sunday 9th October, although the slopes are open to the public 7 days a week.



For more information the centre can be contacted on 01283 217200 or visit their website at www.jnlswadlincote.co.uk

Ski Rossendale in Lancashire has re-opened less than six months after the local council closed the facility for financial reasons.

A new social enterprise team is running the facility, originally established in 1973, led by Dave Fuller who has been a fan of the centre over four decades.

Volunteer workers have spent an estimated £100,000 re-opening the centre, doing everything from weeding out the old ski matting surface and setting up the new enterprises’ accounts. The new team hope to build on the 30,000 visitor numbers recorded in the 12 months prior to its closure last winter.

www.skirossendale.co.uk

Artificial ski surface supplier Playgrass has announced a number of new contracts to supply its popular surface to existing dry slope ski and board centres in the UK.

Knockhatch Adventure Park ( www.knockhatch.com ) at Hailsham in East Sussex has ordered Playgrass Ski Carpet to resurface their 90m long ski facility.

Some 1600sqm of Playgrass, new ‘shock-pad’ underlay and new tubing / sledging surfacing Playtex will be installed in addition to green grass to tidy up the surrounding areas.

“All-in-all the refurbishment should be a great success and ready for the winter season.” said Playgrass supplier Mike Keeating of Mk Enterprises (www.mkenterprises.co.uk), who expects several more installations to be announced soon

The company is also supplying two more rotating slopes in Holland with Playgrass, this brings the total Playgrass sales in Holland this year to over 2,000sqm.

TheAirBag.net will be at Glasgow Ski and Snowboard Centre (Bellahouston) on Sunday. We will be there from 11pm with a big new booter so prepare to go big! More info can be found at http://www.ski-glasgow.org or by calling the centre on 0141 427 4991. Hope to see you all there!

Snowboard Instructor Training Taken by James Pitcher, Level 3 AASI, Level 2 BASI, Level 2 SNSC Snowboard Instructor, Level 1 AASI Freestyle Instructor.

Ski Instructor Training taken by Peter Baker, ISTD BASI Level 4 Ski Instructor, CSCF and NZSIA race coach, NVQ internal and external Verifier.

Course Format

August 22: Tryout night; come along from 7-9pm for assessment. If selected, you then have the opportunity to book onto the training course. 150 will then be payable upon completion of tryout night.

The course consists of...

13 weeks of training; 2 hours every Monday night from August 29 to November 14. This will be complemented with additional materials to be studied outside of training hours.

You will then be assessed and graded on your technical ability to perform the basic manoeuvres of the sport.

Upon passing this exam, you will complete 20 hours of shadowing our current qualified and experienced Instructors.

You will then be assessed and graded on your teaching ability.

At this point we will be in our peak winter programme and should you be deemed suitable for a role at Plymouth Ski and Snowboard Centre you will be offered work on a casual basis.

NOTE: This qualification is currently recognised at any John Nike Leisuresport Ski and Snowboard Centre; Bracknell, Chatham, Swadlincote, Llandudno and Plymouth. However, it is not transferrable outside of John Nike Leisuresport Ltd Centres.

Sprinkler News

We now have a brand new water tank installed, and are almost ready for sprinkler installation! This will be the first of the John Nike centres to get irrigation for their PermaSnow, with all the other centres to follow.

Ski Rossendale, one of the UK’s major artificial surface ski centres, hopes to re-open next month (September 2011).

Ski Rossendale Limited, a social enterprise company, won the bidding process to operate the facility as "a friendly, community-run centre".

Ski Rossendale originally opened in 1973, but closed earlier this year after the local council said it could no longer afford to fund the facility, which was running at a loss.

Pontypool Ski Slope in Wales, one of the UK’s oldest and longest artificial surface ski slopes, has been saved from closure thanks to the local Torfaen Ski Club.

The slope faced closure through the summer months at the local council struggled to find £9.2 million in savings from its budget.

This led to fears that the slope would fall in to dis-repair and be in danger of vandalism.

The Torfaen Ski Club agreed to operate the slope each week at their own expense.

The 230m long slope was built in 1974 and is the oldest in Wales.

It has taken it’s time in coming – several years in fact, if the truth be known – but finally the Ski Club of Ireland’s nursery slope re-development in Kilternan near Dublin, is well underway. Briton Engineering Developments & Snowflex® are proud to have helped bring the vision to fruition.

This prestigious refurbishment is the realisation of a dream by a visionary club and its dedicated management team who have overcome many obstacles along the way to create the reality.

Sustained interest in skiing, and the increasing popularity of snowboarding, has meant that the club, which has expanded dramatically over the years, had to embark on the current development to meet the needs and aspirations of its future customers. And Briton Engineering Developments was the company, with its award winning Snowflex® surface system, chosen to meet those demands.

Briton Engineering Developments were commissioned to design and build two new nursery slopes with the Snowflex® surface system. Briton is also supplying and installing two new travellators, which were manufactured by SunKid of Austria. As in all other cases of refurbished or expanded nursery slopes by Briton with Snowflex®, the new slopes will undoubtedly increase demand for snowsports at grass roots level which should be good for further growth of the club in the future.

The Ski Club of Ireland caters for all ages and abilities, from kindergarten through to experts, all under the watchful eyes of specially trained Instructors.


The groundworks being prepared for the new nursery slopes at Kilternan

A spokesman for the Ski Club said “We are pleased and very proud to have created a national sporting development, which will continue to provide its members and the general public with a superb ski & snowboard centre that will be the envy of many”. He went on to say “The success of the club is based simply on creating a friendly, family orientated and social atmosphere, at a reasonable price, where all ages can learn to ski or snowboard. The introduction of Snowflex® to our slopes will allow newcomers to come and learn to ski and board in a friendly and safe environment”.

Terry Di Stasi, Briton’s Director of Business Development said “We are thrilled to be associated with a fantastic development such as this. We have found that the installation of Snowflex makes dry slopes more user friendly and versatile. The combination of Snowflex and the travellator lifts at Kilternan will make the learning experience for skiers and snowboarders much more enjoyable. The layout and profile of these slopes has also been designed by Briton so as to be fun for more experienced snowsports enthusiasts.”

The Ski Club of Ireland is situated in the grounds of the Kilternan Hotel on the R117 between Kilternan and Enniskerry.

Only £12 for 3 hours freestyle (£10 alpine members) 7pm until 10pm. New riders always welcome.

Come along, have a look around and get involved as we will be running half hour ski and snowboard taster lessons for ONLY £2. 10am to 4pm.

A landfill site at Radiowo, close to the centre of Poland’s capital, Warsaw, is in line to be converted in to a year round extreme sports venue.

The site is scheduled to be closed by 2014 and it is hoped the new facility will be open by 2017.
The plans include a permanent half pipe and a year-round artificial surface slope within the 80 metre deep site – a slope descending over that big would be one of the world’s largest.

Four other similar sites in Poland have already been converted to ‘similar facilities’ including one at Szczesliwice, also in Warsaw, and another within the Malta district in the city of Poznan.

Managers at Ski Rossendale, one of the UK’s leading artificial slope ski and snowboard centres which closed earlier this year due to financial problems, have told local media that they are “very confident” that the facility will re-open by September.

The local council, which was previously funding the facility decided to close it in March, but say they now have two formal tenders from viable operators to re-open it. These follow six previous tenders over the previous two years that councillors rejected.

A report in 2009 said the centre required a £10million investment to bring it up to standard and that the opening of the indoor snow centre, Chill Factore, was damaging its business.

My oh my, looks like the Southern Freestyle competition at Chatham on June 4th will be a real treat. As soon as we have finished building one new rail, another one is finished.

Introducing our new battleship rail! Some of you might recognise this. It's the old AIM Series/Snow Tour rail kindly donated by Soul Sports. We thought as we already have a flat down we'd weld it into something different.

More features are going to be introduced for the competition, but the rest are ultra top secret, so you'll have to rock up to Chatham on the 4th June to see what crazy stuff we've been building.

[From Alex Spence. Pictures by Tony Hierons.]


Cody Hierons


Alex Spence


Alex Spence

[From Lancashire Telegraph]
Bosses at Rossendale Council are “very confident” that Ski Rossendale will reopen by September.

Council chiefs said that they had received two viable tenders to take off the running of the Haslingden Old Road venue in Rawtenstall.

The facility closed in March when the council pulled the plug on funding and decided they could no longer carry on running it.

Coun Jason Gledhill, portfolio holder for leisure, said: “The ski slope is still on track to reopen.

“We have received two formal tenders which are viable and we will be inspecting them in the next few weeks.

“We are very confident the facility will reopen before the ski season starts in September.”

The future of Ski Rossendale has been clouded in uncertainty since 2009 when a report revealed it needed £10million worth of investment to survive against increased competition.

That competition was in the form of the state-of-the-art indoor skiing venue Chill Factore near the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

The search for private investment or new owners has been ongoing since June 2009, and six submissions of interest in taking the facility over were rejected by the council last December.

When the venue closed in March around 200 people, including staff, users and members of the local community, attended a meeting aimed at drumming up support to take over the centre as a social enterprise.

It is not known if that is one of the tenders that Rossendale Council is now considering.

Alex Spence from Chatham sent us these sweet pics of their new rail. As you can see it's a double kink and can be used both ways around. This is replacing their old double kink that has seen better days and will become something else.

The new rail will be beautified slightly for the Southern Freestyle Series competition on June 4th, and will be out along side the next rail Alex is building, plus a "secret feature". As well as the usual Chatham slope of mayhem, the Chatham crew are going for a really different park set up for this event.




Alex Spence!

One of the world’s biggest artificial surface snow slopes, Ski Gilboa, has opened in Israel.

The complex includes 9,500 square metres of Playgrass which covers a 280m long year round main slope with a 45m vertical. In addition there’s an 80 metre long teaching slope.

The slope material has been supplied and installed by British firm MK Enterprises which has also supplied the slope’s misting and lubrication system.

The slope is extensive enough to require two conveyor lifts, and pylons are in place for a two seater chairlift – a rare facility for a dry slope and highlighting the scale of the development at Ski Gilboa. It will have its Test Certificate on the 15th of May.

Due to the Israeli heat most skiers and boarders tend to wear shorts and T shirts.

“The slope has been open to the public for less than a month and has received some 20,000 skiers and boarders.” Said Mike Keating, a director of M K Enterprises (UK) Ltd which is based in Llanrwst,Wales.

A new Tubing Run will be constructed with M K Enterprises’ sliding carpet 'Playtex' which has been especially designed for tubing, tobogganing, and cross country skiing.

M K Enterprises (UK) Ltd has announced they’ll be supplying more ski slopes for Israel currently under development too.

www.skigilboa.co.il
www.mkenterprises.co.uk

The developers of a new all-weather ski complex planned for the Dundalk in Co Louth hope to have the first phase open next year. Dundalk is in Ireland, but just south of the border with Northern Ireland and less than 50 miles south of Belfast.

Louth County Council has granted planning permission for the project which will be built by developers Innovative Leisure Systems (ILS) which claims that it will be Europe’s largest Snowflex ski slope facility.

The project is the brainchild of entrepreneur Sam Curran, 62, whose says his Altitude Ski resort will eventually include water attractions and other leisure facilities including a possible casino.

Curran believes that the location of the project is strategically placed between two major population centres in Dublin and Belfast and says the idea came from similar projects in Dubai.

The main ski slope will be 210 metres long and 64 metres wide and be located on top of the roof of the complex. The carpet-like surface will allow for skiing and snowboarding provided users are qualified.

A junior ski slope will also be available where people can learn to ski and Curran hopes the set up similar facilities in other parts of the country.

The project is being financed by a consortium of international investors and Curran believes that it will eventually attract 6.2 million visitors every year and generate €216 million worth of economic activity.

The project has faced considerable local opposition on environmental grounds and because there is a proposal to eventually house a casino there but Curran said: "Most of the people have had their say now. We’ve spent €100 million on a proposal and planning submission so we can’t answer any more questions. Now it is about creating jobs and giving people in Ireland this opportunity when they are not able to get away on foreign holidays."

It is estimated that the development will provide around 1,200 full time jobs and 380 part time jobs.

The ski slopes are scheduled to be operational in November 2012 with the water and leisure park aspect of the facility to follow in 2013.

A 100-bed hostel, indoor concert arena, leisure zone including a cinema, 10-pin bowling and children’s zone, as well as shops, restaurants and bars, are also envisaged.

The company plans to seek permission for an international casino at a later stage with it hoped that all stages of the development will be open by 2016.


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John Nike Leisuresport is a privately owned outdoor dry ski/snowboard company in the UK with five centres based around the UK. We are now looking to recruit a Head of Ski School based in Plymouth. This role is key to the day to day running of the centre and we are looking for someone who can add value to our business.

Salary Up to £18,700

You will be able to either ski or snowboard at an advanced level, preferably both, as you will need to be able to assess and coach new and existing instructors and improve their skills. This role is not just about your ability to ski or board, a large part involves the management of the ski instructors and the snow sports programmes. In order to do this you must be able to demonstrate a highly positive and proactive and systematic approach, the ability to be able to give constructive and clear feedback to instructors and management, and the ability to promote the products and services of the centre, as well as manage a team.

You are likely to have a minimum of 2 years supervisory or management experience and must have ski or snowboard qualifications, coupled with a ‘Passion’ for the sport.

For further details contact or to email your CV together with covering letter :- Sue Coffey, Group H.R Manager, John Nike Leisuresport Ltd, John Nike Way, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 8TN.

Email sjc@nikegroup.co.uk
Tel 01344 789796

Basically the slope is closed as of the 31st March 2011. The council has opened up the option of organisations, social enterprises and the like, to bid for tendership of the facility.

At the moment the Ski Rossendale Social Enterprise is one of the main parties looking to bid for the opportunity to re-open the facility, but until the council has heard from all interested parties we will not know if their bid has been successful.

Ski Rossendale SE would like to think that there is still some glimmer of hope – and the most important thing is that the cause of Ski Rossendale does not drop from the media spotlight or public view, as once that happens they will find it difficult to rally support during these very critical times. They thank everybody for everything that they have done up to this point and look forward to successfully re-opening the slope in the near future.