Need some quick information on Artficial Ski Slopes

I would like to know what advantages and disadvantages there are of using Artficial Ski Slopes. Also how they have helped inprove the sports that happen on real mountains.
I have a college assignment that needs information on these and i cant find much. So was wondering if you can help me out.

Have you ever heard of google?????

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I know there are many people who ski on artificial slopes regularly throughout the year. Personally, despite being reasonably obsessed about skiing, I find it difficult to get enthusiatic. In terms of usefullness, I did a course of 4 lessons before I went skiing the first time. It did help a little but not much. We did get some extremely basic things drilled into us like not turning up the hill that our instructor on our subsequent trip to Austria didn't seem to even notice (because he had skiied before he walked!). I suppose it was useful to get used to the equipment as well but, as I say, limited benefits.

Since then I have tended to go for a session or two before ski trips simply as a means of giving the ski muscles a bit of a workout - again of limited value.

All in all, I doubt that they have influenced what happens in the mountains to any extent and they may occasionally be responsible for putting some people off the sport - a fall on the upturned brushes can be much more nasty than a fall on soft snow!.

I don't know what they're like to learn on but we really enjoy going to the snowdome in mk for a quick fix out of season. [obviously not for me this year though :cry: ]

Readie,

There are a number of artificial ski slopes in the UK.
despite what some people think there are a number of advantages using them.

There is a massive race scene in the UK on the 'Drastic plastic' with races every weekend throughout the summer months with the English, Scottish, Irish, British & European champs held in Sept/Oct.
Most of the current British & English Junior ski team started on the dry slope and then went onto snow.
Some of the Seniors started that way too.
If you log onto www.britski.com you will see all the results and there are links to all the dry slope clubs in the UK.

Believe it or not there are hundreds of kids that learnt on the dry slope that have never been on snow. they love skiing and go every week to have fun, train to race etc. When they do eventually get out to the alps they are normally very proficient and can show up the kids who have only ever been on their weeks family holiday once a year.

If it hadn't have been for the dry slope in Norwich then my son would probably not be skiing to the level he is at. He learnt at 6, started racing at 9 and is now the best ever 17 year old that GB has produced ranked 13 in the world for U18 in Super G & 14 in Downhill.

Yes if you fall they are unforgiving and can cause nasty grazes etc, but nothing any worse than falling hard on sheet ice.

There are many things that you can learn on dry slopes including the technique required to powder ski. some clubs even run courses for it.

AB

As we usually only go ski-ing once a year we usually go to the local dry slope a couple of times before we go. For us its not so much about technique its more about getting our confidence back and checking our boots, bindings etc to see if any-thing needs replacing or adjusting, and seeing if clothes etc still fit.

Whilst I can't speak first-hand, a friend of mine who was on the Scottish Juniors racing team learnt to ski on dry slope. She had been skiing dry slope since 6, and didn't touch snow until age 11. Living in Edinburgh during term time, Hill End (one of the largest dry slopes in Europe) is very close by. Despite the convenience, I've only ever been twice. To me, nothing comes close to matching the mountain.

My turn. Dry slopes aren't like skiing on snow - they are harder, much harder.

That is a good thing. If they were easy and being as short as they are it would all get a bit dull very soon.

You need to think of the dryslope as some sort of plastic furred beast.
The challenge is to tame the beast and make it your friend. However you won't achieve this by cheating. Any weakness in your skiing will be pounced upon by the beast in it's attempts to bring you to your knees.
To tame the beast you must make the most of it's weaknesses - and it does have many but these are it's main ones;

Speed: Dryslopes are slow compared to snow but then that means you can concentrate on your technique without the fear of shooting off down the slope.

Consistency: Dryslope don't change. The slope is always the same so when trying to nail that perfect move a lot of the variables are removed.

Grip: Dryslope grips the skis fairly hard. This means to make a good turn you can't rely on a good'ol portion of foot twist to get the skis to turn. Instead you have to rely on good positioning and weighting of the skis to get the turns in without the beast noticing.



Last year I tormented the beast twice a week every week. It got very sweaty at times and I melted some skis but it was good. This year I've been playing with another plastic beast - our new sailing dinghy but come the Autumn I'll be back up there giving him some grief.

I always recommend dryslopes although I always say they will hate it at first. It takes quite a few visits to get the mojo flowing but when it does it will all start to make sense.