Two real-snow events on the streets of London are planned this weekend and next month.
'London Snow' including the Slide2Sochi Roadshow (www.slide2sochi.org.uk) hits Covent Garden less than four months before the 2014 Winter Olympics. It will aim to turn Covent Garden into a winter wonderland and gives people a chance to try skiing and snowboarding on a 5 metre by 10 metre real snow slope from Thursday 24th October to Sunday 27th October.
Then four weeks later on Thursday 21st November 50 tonnes of snow will be dumped in one of the capitals coolest areas in EC2 at a yet to be disclosed location. Then the O'Neill Shoreditch Showdown (www.oneillshoreditchshowdown.com), open to 500 invited guests and competition winners, will throw in a sprinkling of iconic London street fixtures then invite 20 of the UK's best skiers and snowboarders to create an exclusive snow event.
London Snow, sponsored by Austrian ski resort Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead, Snow+Rock and Snowsport England; London Snow and the Slide2Sochi Roadshow will bring the ski slope, which is made up of 10 tonnes of real snow, into the centre of Covent Garden and give hundreds of people the chance to give skiing or snowboarding a go for the first time with a 15 minute TRY skiing or snowboarding session with fully qualified instructors.
London Snow and the Slide2Sochi Roadshow is part of a drive by Snowsport England to give more people the chance to get into skiing and snowboarding as excitement builds around the Winter Olympics which take place in Sochi, Russia next February. The Slide2Sochi Roadshows are currently touring the country and have to date given hundreds of people the chance to try snowsports and once caught the bug, take up a GO SKI GO BOARD course which is a six hour all inclusive course which can be taken at any participating ski or snowboard centre in England.
Great Britain's Halfpipe Snowboarder and Sochi 2014 hopeful Dom Harington will be opening London Snow including the Slide2Sochi Roadshow on Thursday as well as giving tips to the public alongside The Snow Centre's ski and snowboard instructors. All participants will be given a goody bag courtesy of Snow+Rock and the chance to have their say on what they think about trying skiing or snowboarding in the GO SKI GO BOARD video gondola.
The event runs on Thursday 24th October from 11am to 7pm, Friday 25th October from 11am to 6pm, Saturday 26th October from 10.30am to 6pm and Sunday 27th October from 12 noon to 5pm.
The O'Neill Shoreditch Showdown will take place in a location sandwiched between a selection of hip bars and late night cafes, creating a striking backdrop for a floodlit night of urban jibbing from our country's finest.
Bringing mountain life to the streets, the inner-city playground will resemble a film set of an authentic snow-filled London street. Featuring an original double-decker bus, telephone kiosk, red pillar post box and a multitude of rails, the stage is set for next level creativity and progression.
The exclusive street-lit contest will aim to show London's east side how world-class UK street riding is, while a live VJ set and on-site graffiti installation makes this event fresher than the hipster farmers' market down the road.