# Liberty University Snowflex Center - 8/26/09



## PomfretPlunge (Aug 27, 2009)

*Date(s) Skied: 8/26/09 *

*Resort or Ski Area: Liberty University *

*Conditions: Snowflex carpet, 80 degrees and breezy*

*Trip Report: Is Lynchburg, Virginia part of the Northeast?  Y'all decide.. *


I drove down to Lynchburg yesterday evening and checked out their new year-round artificial skislope.  It's made of "Snowflex" -- plastic mats that are basically like a zillion toothbrushes all packed together, with little built-in water sprinklers to keep the surface
slippery.  Underneath the bristles is a 2-inch layer of soft padding, and then a plastic membrane which captures the water and recycles it back to the sprinklers.

Skiing on it takes some getting used to.  It's kindof slow, a bit like the dragging feeling from spring slush.  It also catches edges in strange ways.  Like if you head straight downhill, your skis end up matching the rows of little bristles and then you can catch an edge when you try to change direction.  So you always have to keep your skis at a bit of an angle.  It is also harder to do quick turns.  You gotta hold each angle for a while and build up enough speed to make the turn easy.

DO NOT FALL!  The layer of padding is soft and prevents banging, but the bristles dig in and scrape somethin' fierce!

I skied some mogul drills and found that it was most fun to practice turns at half- or full absorption.  That kept enough angle on the skis to make 'em run smoothly and allow quicker turns than when I was standing up.  The slope also has several pitch changes which make for useful practice for forward-leaning mogul stance.  The ski lift is a rope tow with a hanging poma.  So fairly hard work going up the lift, 'cause of the high drag of the carpet all the way up.

Brian Thomas, the inventor of the plastic material, was there to put the finishing touches on the construction and for the Grand Opening scheduled for this weekend.  He said it always gives him a thrill when people start to use each of his slopes.  He's done about 30 projects over the last 15 years.

They have some very high jumps & a wide quarter-pipe.  They had some X-Games types tooling around and practicing for the Grand Opening show.  Some pretty awesome air, one guy doing old-school stuff like monster double-daffies and a bunch of younger folks doing all kinds of 720s , flips and off-axis tricks. Wild to watch!  I talked to one of the kids, a Brit of about 17 who had just gotten a pro sponsorship.  He said he "basically spends all day in the air, either on a trampoline or on jumps".

There's a brand new lodge with fireplaces, armchairs, mooseheads & bearskins, old skis from the 1920s...opening out onto an astroturf lawn and the artificial slope :-o

The overall impression was like a mom & pop ski area.  Fun!  They are gonna do their grand opening for the media this weekend, then close down for a couple of months while they put carpets on more of the hill.  They had about 30% of the area open and
the rest was still being graded out & prepped.

This place is gonna be open year-round so I think I'll probably come back from time to time during the offseasons when the Jones hits.  It's a long way to go from DC but worth it for kicks & curiosity once in a while.

Peace
Plunge


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Aug 27, 2009)

Wow..that doesn't sound fun to me...I tried grass-skiing a couple summer ago and that was sort of herky jerky as well..I'm holding out for Xanadu probably by 2020


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## wa-loaf (Aug 27, 2009)

No Pics? I just got new boots and would love to be able to try them out ...


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## thetrailboss (Aug 27, 2009)

Nice TR.  Any pics?


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## thetrailboss (Aug 27, 2009)

And did you bring your own skis (doubtful) or do you rent them there?


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## PomfretPlunge (Aug 27, 2009)

1) I have a hard time doing pix, guys. It's more psychological/logistical than anything.  Haven't figured out which pocket to put the camera in.  And I have too much fun skiing!  

Pix on the web at

http://www.liberty.edu/snowflex/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWYjsoM35Sw

2) I took my rock skis -- wouldn't risk da Twistas on carpet.   Rock skis are Ninthward Rooky 176 twintips from a coupla years ago.

They do have a nice rental shop and peeps were renting.  Also one 15 year-old learning on skinny old Head 190s, mustve been his dad's


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## deadheadskier (Aug 27, 2009)

some of the snowflex areas I've seen pictures of have bump lines.  Not at Liberty I take it though?


how were the views? 
(i.e. college chicks in bikinis)


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## Dr Skimeister (Aug 27, 2009)

deadheadskier said:


> some of the snowflex areas I've seen pictures of have bump lines.  Not at Liberty I take it though?
> 
> 
> how were the views?
> (i.e. college chicks in bikinis)



Just my guess....
But, being that Liberty U. was founded by Jerry Falwell of televangelist and Baptist minister fame, college chicks in bikinis might not be a common sight on this campus. 

As I said, just my guess.....


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## TheBEast (Aug 27, 2009)

interesting.....need photos!


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## bvibert (Aug 27, 2009)

Nice!  Way to get out and make some turns, that's more than most of us can say!

Any nice bump lines??


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## PomfretPlunge (Aug 27, 2009)

Nope, no bump lines and no plans to build 'em.  Just Big Air already and a lot more flats to add.  If there were bumps I'd go back more often.  As it is, let's do Stein's again this year, and you guys gotta show me around Sundown sometime :beer:

There was a crowd of about a hundred people all very excited to see the place.  Quite a lot of families with small children.  A lot of snowboarders -- college guys in their early twenties.  They were awed by the pros doing inverted trixx.  Maybe now they'll have a good place to practice a lot themselves and build up their skills.


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## bvibert (Aug 28, 2009)

I'm definitely up for a Sugarbush trip or two again this season.  We'll show your around Sundown whenever you want, as long as by 'show you around' you mean lead you to the bump trail and lap that all day.


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## PomfretPlunge (Aug 28, 2009)

That is **exactly** what I mean


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## Glenn (Aug 31, 2009)

That's cool. I'd like to try out a surface like that some time.


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