Last weekend I made the trek out to Virginia for a high school buddies wedding and took the opportunity to check out Snowflex at the local University. Below is the technical information on what Snowflex is made out of, but if I had to describe it I would say it feels a lot like Velcro.
“The surface system is made of a polymer composite, comprising a monofilament fibre and impregnated carrier layer. This sits on top of a shock absorption layer in an attempt to give an authentic responsive and reactive feel. Other components in Snowflex include an integrated misting system, known as BritonMist, for friction reduction and an impervious membrane for recycling of water. The base is a woven controlling layer which prevents earth movement. The surface layer is manufactured in tile form and as such Snowflex forms a homogenous system which can be cut and formed into features and shapes such as those found in alpine environments.”
Here is a video about the Snowflex mountain as well.
As an avid snowboarder for many years I thought it would be fun to give it a try and see if it is anything like snowboarding. While it is not the same it is actually surprisingly close. Some of the differences I found was that when you carve on it is seems to not give as much as regular snow does. Also, make sure that you wear long sleeves, as it can give you a pretty nasty rug burn when you fall. Falling in itself is a lot nicer then falling on real snow though as it does have give built into it that takes some of the fall.
After taking a couple runs on the snowboard I tried out the inner tub as well and boy was that fun. The run allows you to get a good amount of speed, and there is a nice big inflatable pillow that you run into at the end if you go to fast. The interior is designed to look a lot like a ski lodge, and really does a good job of giving you the on the mountain feel. The runs itself are not very long, but just having an accessible mountain at any time of the day even when it is sunny, is a pretty cool thing. I would have loved for my college to have this.
Below is a video of me attempting the mountain, its not very exciting but at least it gives you a feel for what it is like.
Have any of you tried this? Hopefully they will release this in more locations around the United States.
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Very interesting post. I guess if the global warming folks turn out to be right, this could potentially be a very lucrative idea. The real question I have is how much did the University’s tuition go up when they installed this complex? Seems kind of odd that the first major US buyer for a setup like this would be a University. I’m guessing maintenance costs are pretty significant over time for something like this. Yikes!