Ben Clatworthy's Blog

For the first time ever I headed to the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show on Wednesday for Press Day with PlanetSKI.eu. What a day it was!

Its a fantastic event, but time and time again I heard people saying, “Its a day I love to hate” and by the end of the very long, tiring day I kind of see where they are coming from. I’m quite glad I didn’t have to get up and do it all again the next day like the exhibitors.

I wrote an article for PlanetSKI.eu about what it’s like to be a newbie at the show. It was quite the experience.

We had two PlanetSKI reporters at the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show. Here’s a view from 16-year old Ben Clatworthy who’s never been before.

Standing on the platform at Earls Court I felt as if I had just stepped out of the UK and into a ski resort. To my right were two young lads wearing baggy hoodies and knitted beanie hats with the little bubble on the top and to my left was a middle aged woman and her husband, the kind of people you might find in Meribel or Val d’Isere, talking to one and other about the brilliant snow at the end of last season.

As I walked though the main doors the atmosphere and excitement hit me; one massive building, one massive ski show, hundreds of exhibitors and loads to do.

Within two minutes I had already bumped into three people I knew.

Avoid eye contect if you don’t want one of theseAs a strolled up the aisles it didn’t take long to learn that if I stopped walking for more than a couple of seconds I would be asked if I would be interested in skiing in Japan or entering some competition or other to win a free rental car.

Not making eye contect with people on the stands who were trying to sell, sell, sell was a trick I leant quickly.

I told quite a few people I knew that I had never been to a ski show before and they all said they were surprised that someone like me had never been.  Being an avid ski racer it would seem the sort of place I would reside. Not so, but why? Well the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show has always been in my half term and I am usually away training in Saas Fee then.

I wandered for over an hour, meeting the odd person, having a quick chat and then back to gazing at the various stands and shops. Time went so quickly; the hour only seemed like 20 minutes. There was quite a buzz to say the least.

In the middle of it all was a 50 foot kicker that was used for The Trespass Big Air competition and demonstration.

Extraordinary sightI had never seen anything like it before.

On the other side of the room was a 100m2 ice rink where children and adults alike were happily skating away.  It may have been Christmas!

Ready for a rest I headed to the ‘3 Valleys Resort Bar’ to meet up with a few people I knew for a chat and quickly found myself chatting to some of the big people from the British ski world as it was a drinks for the movers and shakers in ski industry.

The CEO’s of the major companies were there, officilas from the resorts in the Alps had flwn in specially and various website editors, journalists who write features for papers such as The Times, The Telegraph and The Independent. It quickly became apparent that everyone knew everyone, and that they were all very happy to see one another after the summer break.  It was lovely to have a chat with the people whose articles I read in the papers each weekend and who run the web sites I love.

After more talk and networking I headed off to see more and take a look at some of the wired and wonderful things that one can buy at the show.

We will have a look at some of those on PlanetSKI in the next few days. I had a long conversation with Raef Bjayou who some of you may remember from the 2008 series of the BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’. He is now the face of a new motorized bag that is apparently ‘perfect’ for skiing.

I then headed for the BASI stand where I met up with Duncan Freshwater, who was the Head Coach of my ski team for several years, and he persuaded me to have a go in a sit ski playing on the new Vancouver 2010 Wii game. They had very cleverly mounted the sit-ski onto a Wii Fit board and with lots of skill apparently it was possible to ski down the course.

Sean Rose, who is the UK number 1 disabled ski racer managed to complete the whole course in 1 minute 40 seconds. Could I beat that? Well the honest answer is no. In fact I ended up on the floor with the sit-ski on top of me – much to the amusement of Duncan and about 100 people who were sitting in the café.

There was so much going on; so much so there is just too much to write. I really had to pick out some of the best bits, but the whole day was wonderful. There’s no way I could fully sum up such a good day in 800 words, but I think its needless to say that I will be back next year for more, and hopefully for years to come after that. People are happy, there is optimistic talk of the coming season and I think it is safe to say in that corner of London people will definitely be heading to the slopes this season.

by Ben Clatworthy, PlanetSKI.eu Racing and Sports Correspondent

More and more people seem to be heading indoors to ski and snowboard in the UK. Why and what’s it like?

Long gone are the days when the only option to get in some pre-holiday practice was the local dry slope on a bit of rather odd white plastic.

Across the UK there is a growing number of ’snow-domes’. They are, in all essence, giant fridges filled with real snow.

There are now five of these slopes in England and one in Scotland.

I’ve come to ‘The Snow Centre’ in Hemel Hempstead, which is the newest one in England. The ex-British ski racer, Alain Baxter, opened the centre in May this year and what followed has been pretty successfull.

Baxter opens the slope

PlanetSKI was there for the cutting of the ribbon, or rather the skiing through it, by Baxter.

It’s a Thursday afternoon at the end of the summer holidays, +22c outside, but in here it’s -2c.

The air smells fresh and the slope is filled with skiers criss-crossing one another as they fly down the slopes.

It was an exciting sight and I felt as if I was in a real ski resort. Well, almost.

I popped into my skis and headed for the poma lift. There may be no chairlift or gondola but the whole lift operation was very impressive.

A couple of minutes later I arrived at the top of the slope, skidded round and looked down towards the bottom – admittedly it wasn’t a black run, but still considering I was skiing, for real, in England I could hardly complain.

There was even a piste basher at the bottom of the slope.

“There’s been a huge increase in recreational use of indoor slopes across the UK. Since The Snow Centre launched in May this year, bookings have been fantastic,” says Pete Gillespie who is the director of Snowsports at the Snow Centre. “This increase in participation is largely due to the superb facilities, snow conditions and teaching now on offer in the UK.”

It’s easy to forget but these slopes are also a brilliant resource to train for racing or to become an instructor.

The Hemel Hempstead piste basher

The Hemel Hempstead piste basherThe Snow Centre is already home to the UK branch of the Kandahar Ski Club Junior Training, the ski team that I race for, and they train 8 – 18 year olds most weeks on the real snow giving them the absolute best possible UK based training on a regular basis.

The Snow Centre is also the only BASI Centre of Excellence in the South of the country, it’s a good location and a much cheaper place to train as a ski instructor than out in The Alps.

I had a wonderful afternoon on the snow with some friends and the excitement of skiing on real snow in England didn’t really wear off, but I’ll be totally honest; it wasn’t quite The Alps.

Despite the images of the mountains on the wall, having only one piste did get slightly monotonous, but I really can’t complain – it’s an impressive facility with a massive potential, be it for someone learning to ski or an Olympic hopefull.

The Snow Centre offers it all.

Don’t foreget to check out the video and story of a fund raising event for Britain’s No 1 male ski racer, Ed Drake, at The Snow Centre last week.

Recreational skiing starts from £22 for one hour at weekends and ski and snowboarding taster classes start from £24.

For more information on prices, instruction, school holiday activities and special offers visit www.thesnowcentre.com