A farm in Wiltshire has won planning permission to install a 5.5m high ski simulator machine in its barn, alongside a new climbing wall.
Bapton Manor Farm, located in the Wylye Valley, approximately 10 miles outside Warminster, plans to use the disused barn to provide the indoor mountain activities to locals and visitors alike and provide jobs, according to its successful planning application to Wiltshire Council.
Ski simulators have been around for more than 60 years but come increasingly sophisticated. They operate essentially as the skiing equivalent of a runner's treadmill with the slope of artificial carpet constantly moving towards the descending skier.
Modern machines can offered varied speeds and gradient to match the skier's ability and the latest models also project light onto the slopes to help set visual targets for skiers training. For example the SkiMachine in Passy, France, pictured above with a projected slalom training route, all created by the market-leading Dutch-based firm Alpine Engineering BV).
Bapton Manor Farm's application is for a machine with a 12m x 6.5m footprint and a machine that can accommodate up to eight skiers simultaneously.