Fresh Snow In North London on May Day

The May Bank Holiday Monday May 6^th saw highs of 20 degrees, so far the hottest day of 2013, but there was still snow on the ground in Hemel Hempstead.

To celebrate their 4^th Birthday, The Snow Centre (www.thesnowcentre.com), the UK’s newest indoor snowsports destination took the snow party outside. Using real snow to create a freestyle park in the sunshine, The Snow Centre Team invited all to watch skiers and snowboarders ride the boxes and rails or to have a go themselves at many other  activities on offer.

Home to the closest real snow to London, The Snow Centre has fast become the greatest skiing, snowboarding and sledging revelry this side of the Alps. Starting it’s days as a skate park in 1975, before becoming a dry ski slope and then finally re-opening 4 years ago with fresh snow on the indoor slopes, The Snow centre reached a million visitors in 2013 and has become the heart of the community for many.

May Day birthday festivities included free Birthday cake for all, piste basher rides, a treasure hunt, a summer ski, snowboard and boot sale and a balloon release. What’s more several adults and children were lucky enough to gain a sneaky peak behind the scenes and some even skied during the on slope snow making while snow was falling.

The Snow Centre’s Managing Director, Ian Brown reflected, “It was a pleasure to share The Snow Centre’s 4^th Birthday Weekend with snowsports lovers, our 300 staff members and the local community alike. Over  230,000 ski & snowboard lessons have taken place on the slopes of Hemel Hempstead since it opened on May 6^th 2009, introducing over 100,000 people to snowsports on real snow, and our 4^th Birthday successfully brought the community together to celebrate that.”

During the past 4 years The Snow Centre has been recognised as the UK’s only Centre of Excellence by BASI (British Association of Snow Sport Instructors), with 250 schools visiting each year and instructors ageing from 18 to 70 the venue continues to offer a wide variety of ski and snowboard lessons, lift passes and sledging sessions all year round.