Chill Factore (Photo: Creative Commons)
The Manchester Ski slope has been temporarily closed, with plans to reopen on Saturday morning after many customer complaints of slush, icy patches & metal pipework becoming visible. One customer described the 180m long main slope as going from “great to grim”, another describing conditions as “horrendous”.
Chill Factore have released a statement addressing concerns:
Morwenna Angove, CEO of Chill Factore, said: “We are experiencing technical difficulties which are affecting the base layer of the snow. Therefore, we have decided to close the slope in order to rebuild that layer and to add fresh snow.
“We expect this work to last three days and plan to re-open the slope to lift pass users on Saturday (February 4).
“Guests affected by the closure are in the process of being contacted by our team.
“Our beginner slope remains open for lessons, as well as our Snow Park and Mini Moose Land for snow fun activities. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Some of the recent customers to Britain’s answer to a ski resort have had this to say:
Lewis Barrow wrote on facebook: “The slope has bit by bit fallen apart…The quality of the slope is disgusting with slush, patches of ice, metal pipes exposed and huge black areas.”
Chris Vernon posted: “Went Saturday morning at 8am and the snow was cr*p !!!!, bits of black matting showing, snow around the lift areas was ankle deep which made hard work for getting to lift. Love to know if the piste had been groomed from night before ??? overall not a good visit this time, sorry.”
And Chris Brown said: “Almost 80 per cent ice at the top of the slope, you could see rubber matting poking through the snow which people were falling over. Then they closed half the slope entry at the top because one side was almost complete ice and pretty much everyone was falling on it.”
With the current issues Chill Factore have been having on their main slopes we took a quick look at how they describe their snow making facilities on their website, this is how they describe it.
‘Real snow is what we pride ourselves on, as it gives all our guests an altogether better experience.
The snow is made from compressed air and water, which are blasted into a chilled atmosphere. On hitting the freezing air temperature snowflakes are formed. This process takes place every night producing a fresh covering of 5mm ready for our guests the next day.
Fact: It snows every night in Manchester!
The composition of real and artificially produced snowflakes is the same; the physical difference can only be spotted under a microscope. However, whereas real snowflakes take hours to form, artificially produced real snow takes just seconds, meaning you can enjoy our amazing slope all year round.’
Having skied the slopes of Manchester over the decade it has been open I have always found snow conditions great so this avid skier is certainly hoping for a return to the powdery conditions customer are used to!
