Learning How To Ski On An Indoor Revolving Slope at Moving Mountains Ski

I feel that I can pretty much ski anything - piste, powder, bumps, heavy snow, crud - not necessarily all in great style but with a fair amount of confidence. However, on a Sunday in September, as we drove 30 minutes from the South Coast in the UK to the indoor revolving ski slope centre, Moving Mountains Ski, I admit I was feeling a tad apprehensive about skiing on a moving wet AstroTurf carpet.

Moving Mountains is one of a handful of the innovative indoor revolving ski slopes in the UK. The equivalent of a running machine for skiers and snowboarders, Moving Mountains Ski opened five years ago on an industrial estate in Small Dole, West Sussex, offering a learning and training facility on artificial snow. It has become so popular that there is often a waiting list for the 90 minute instructed slots for all levels of skiing and snowboarding. It's open all year, 9am to 8pm, with lessons seven days a week (half price in September). 

Gav and I were invited to Moving Mountains Ski for a taster lesson. Hence with all our ski kit in France where we are based for the winter, we were in the UK searching for ski socks to wear, in September.

FIRST STEPS - OR SLIDES

On arrival, we could park up right beside the hanger-sized ski centre. Stepping inside was like entering an Alpine bubble in the middle of West Sussex, complete with chalet-style cafe, mountain scenes on the walls and two ski slopes.

We met founder, Quill, who was going to take us through the mandatory initiation process of skiing on the moving white carpet of AstroTurf.

And, I'm not going to lie, it was disconcertingly hard for the first five minutes. Just because you can shred knee deep powder on the Girose Glacier in La Grave, doesn't mean skiing on an upwardly moving slidey slope is going to be a piece of cake.

In fact, Huggie, the 16 year old who was helping out at Moving Mountains Ski and  is a member of the Hurstpierpoint College ski team, admits when he and his slalom crew first tried it, 'there was carnage'. This is because skiing on moving AstroTurf takes getting used to. The ground rotating towards you and the need to uphill snowplough are counter-intuitive for any skier or snowboarder.

So our first steps - or slides - had to start at the basics, to get used to the strangest feeling of the earth moving uphill. Needless to say, with some hours of practise, it can become as easy as Huggie made it look on this demo for us.

 

 

But it's not like you can merrily cruise down as on a pristine wide Courchevel blue run, enjoying the mountain scenery. On a revolving carpet you have to focus, for one thing the width is as narrow as a gnarly couloir. The concentration on Huggie's face was like Odermatt in full tilt down the Hahnenkamm.

STARTING TO ROLL

Kitted up with boots, skis, helmets, all provided, (which is just as well as ours are all in the Alps), we started on the slope at the bottom, hanging onto the bar, me trying not to grip it for dear life, as BASI-qualified, Quill, took up instructor position in front. He pressed the button on the control in his hand - and suddenly the carpet was starting to roll.

As you are stationary holding on to the bar, the first thing you feel is your skis moving alarmingly backwards along with the carpet, the same as when you're on a treadmill and don't run. So it's essential to start in a snowplough when you first let go, keeping you in place. As your confidence grows, you can increase the snowplough, pizza slice, in order to slow down and travel further backwards up the slope. 

THE UPHILL SNOWPLOUGH 

Yes, we all know that a snowplough slows you down. But, on snow, it's when you're going downhill. On rolling AstroTurf it's when travelling back up. Basically, If you want to go higher, your skis need to go slower to go along with the carpet. So snowplough. If you want to come down the hill, you need more speed to travel over the wet AstroTurf, which means being more parallel, French fries - and turning across the moving slope.

There is a giant mirror at the bottom so you can watch yourself, which for at least the first session, I avoided as I looked like I'd never been on skis before and, yep, this was my first rodeo. The mirror, also  creates a bit of a head spin as, of course, everything is a reverse image.

GETTING THE HANG OF IT

By the second 10 minute session (there are 10 minute breaks between each of three sessions) Gav had enough confidence to travel backwards up the hill behind me so we could both start traversing from side to side one above the other while the carpet moved faster. Note we didn't have ski poles. This is, also, somewhat disconcerting.

After the final third 10 minutes, we were getting the hang of it, turning across the slope with skis more parallel and appreciating the endless possibilities, literally, of skiing on a rotating surface, as in enjoying non-stop skiing without ever having to take a lift. And it's not like you have to be a good skier or snowboarder to appreciate it.

WHIZZ KID

This was proved by Neve, the eight year old whizzing across the adjacent slope, who was on her fourth visit to the centre. She has never been skiing on real snow. Which goes to show just how effective revolving ski slope technology is for teaching. Indeed, for absolute beginners and families planning their first ski holiday, the benefits from learning on an indoor moving slope are immense. And fun.

It is, also, as we discovered, a slightly humbling challenge for seasoned skiers at first, but obviously good for improving technique with practise. Even just skiing without poles.

And what better way to spend a Sunday out of season and out of the mountains, than putting on skis for a slide in Sussex.

 

PS. Moving Mountains Ski are recruiting instructors, whether qualified already or looking to do a BASI level qualification, with paid in-house training, a great way to be on the ski slopes all year without leaving the UK.  

STYLE ALTITUDE has no affiliate arrangement with any ski or snowboard brand, operator, centre or retailer and will not profit from any sales made through links in this feature.