SnowFlex Carving?

[grobm]

I am researching SnowFlex ski areas and for anyone that has tried snowboarding on SnowFlex or other Artificial surfaces?

Here is a link for reference:
http://www.snowflex.com/

No, I do not actually work for these guys. I am interested in maybe investing in this kind of technology or building a 356 day a year site.

Any comment?

[BlueB]

When I lived in South Africa I had an artificial slope very close to the house. It was some sort of plastic honeycomb paterned mat with sparce stiff brushlike spikes sticking up. It needed constant watering from sprinklers to slide. Felling was like skiing on solid frozen cord, or frozen crud, I was constantly wet from sprinklers and falls resulted in nasty bruises.
This stuff of yours looks like improvement, though.

[lonbordin]

Done the old skool carpet style like BlueB described and the rolling carpet (@ Bill Jacksons).

Both sucked.

I've looked at several videos featuring SnowFlex... I see slide turns but no one using their edges.

If you are really serious it's probably worth the trip to the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Center... it's open to the public.
http://www.liberty.edu/snowflex/index.cfm?PID=19500

[Chris Karol]

Just lurking by here but I've been thinking about Snowflex lately so thought I'd chime in.

I don't work for any the slope companies either but I was interested in doing something with snowflex a while back. I went to the factory in England, met with the guys who were super nice and busy building parks all over the UK and Europe. They gave me a tour of the factory and took me riding at a couple different slopes nearby in the English countryside. It's amazing how many dry and indoor slopes there are throughout the UK. I rode another one located in a parking lot between a Wal-Mart and a Mcdonalds off the highway in Aberdeen, Scotland. Most these places were in urban areas and busy with groups, classes and the usual suspects doing laps on the park features.

It's been almost 10 years since I last rode the stuff so it may have changed, but, 10 years ago Snowflex slopes were padded with irrigated water-misters which spritzed some form of water onto the surface out of a recirculating pump system. The water had a slightly slimy RV anti-freeze quality to it but it kept the surface wet and slick. That said it felt faster riding on the base than it did on the edge. I found it difficult to carve on. It was fun to ride but it felt like it was best to skid the top of the turns and save the edging for the bottom of the turn. My only real complaint was that it was difficult to keep the board decambered throughout the top of a carve. I could feel the edge catch in the cornrows of the mat-weave and straighten the board as I was trying to carve through the top of the turn. The only solution seemed to be really over-pressured into the spongy surface but that took quite a bit of work and didn't feel very natural. The snowflex guys seemed to be aware of the cornrow issue back then so I'd be surprised if they haven't dealt with it by now.

Dendex and a couple other companies make competing surfaces, most of which have holes, or diamond shaped patterns of nylon bristle. You can almost think of snowflex as packed powder, and this stuff as hardpack or ice. I think the holes in the dendex style surfaces eliminates the cornrow effect of the snowflex and allows you to get more of a real carve. Dendex slopes are also firmer surfaces compared to the snowflex slopes which may contribute to the carvability factor there. Only problem with the dendex style surface is that they can put your hands out of commission pretty quick. Don't pat the dog!

Hope that helps!
-CK

I am researching SnowFlex ski areas and for anyone that has tried snowboarding on SnowFlex or other Artificial surfaces?

Here is a link for reference:
http://www.snowflex.com/

No, I do not actually work for these guys. I am interested in maybe investing in this kind of technology or building a 356 day a year site.

Any comment?

[philw]

What he said. I learned on Dendix (note the spelling - it's short for "Dennis Dixon"), and rode later on Snowflex. Misting systems vary but if you're old school enough then you'd ride in the rain. You can carve on plastic, no problem at all. If people ask me where I learned to ride, I like being able to answer "Manchester".

The slopes tend to be short but can be steep. I prefer plastic to indoor snow as you can go much faster, there's more space and steepness. But you can carve plastic at walking pace, if you have the technique. Big macho boards would not work that well at slower speeds, but that's about it. Plastic does wear your base and edges, so I don't use "current generation" gear on it.

"Sucks"? Well I ride a fair amount of helicopter powder, and most things suck compared with that. Hell, I'm so spoiled that most helicopter powder days suck compared to some of the days I've been fortunate to experience. I ride what there is because I enjoy it.

Personally I don't notice a lot of difference between Snowflex/ Dendix. Well they feel different, but it's something I forget about after the 1st turn. On reflection, CK may be right in that Dendix probably will take a higher load, it feels stiffer somehow.

You do get people claiming that Dendix is too hard to ride, but I think they're missing the point. What they mean is that their poor skills and bad habits tend to be painfully obvious on Dendix - it's unforgiving of poor technique. But that's a great opportunity to fix those bad habits, to learn to ride "properly". For a long time I used Dendix like a gym. My view is that if you live in a place with no snow, you have broadly two choices: (a) be a crap snowboarder; (b) ride plastic or indoors. Yeah you can do "seasons" but if you're not rich then you'll not get that many days that way.

Sheffield ("the Full Monty") has the biggest Snowflex slope I've visited and that works pretty well. The uk scene is skate tricks, and you get a fair bit of that (sideslip, scrape rail, flop off the end). They often have slalom races for skiers, but the boarding scene is all jib monkeys. One long-time Dendix slope (Hemel Hempstead) was rebuilt as an indoor slope a year or two back - the trend has been that way recently. Indoor slopes are more friendly for beginners; more boring for experts I'd say.