In March (before the Covid19 lockdown), we were invited to The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire for a 2 hour session of skiing. None of us have ever skied before, so myself and my husband were nervous and didn’t know what to expect, whereas Ita was so excited and couldn’t wait to get her equipment on and hit the snow.
We entered the Snow Centre half an hour before our allotted time (it gave us plenty of time to get our equipment and feel comfortable with our surroundings), we checked in and were told to head to a designated waiting area, which was next to the equipment rental area (helmets, boots and skis) and the locker room area.
We then got changed into our thermal outdoor wear, and finally our boots (this was not an easy process). We waited for our instructor to arrive and were then lead to the snow.
Our instructor was amazing, he was firstly so encouraging to Ita and made her feel so safe, he gave her the confidence to do loads of different activities on the snow, like jumping, turning, slowing down, etc.
He also could see our competence levels were quite low and was very accommodating. There was no pressure to do anything too extreme or beyond what we were capable of doing.
We started off by getting our skis on the snow and moving around, we then crab walked up the slope (harder then it sounds) so we could slowly glide down and come to a stop, we then added a jump (which Ita nailed completely), Daddy on the other hand, not so much.
We then used the lift to get us higher up the slope and proceeded to try and do turns and then eventually stop. Again, Ita was brilliant at this and managed to do it with little to no problems, Daddy again on the other hand could not HAHAHA.
The 2 hour session was really hard for us, we were really tired afterwards and our legs were in agony – but as beginners I believe the 2 hour session is essential as we got so much done and became quite comfortable on the snow at the end. My husband was getting so tired towards the end and he kept on falling over, so I think it was the perfect duration for us all.
The Ski Centre has 2 large slopes, one of which is for the more accomplished skier, and the other is mostly used for lessons, which is obviously where we were based. Both slopes are 30m wide, this came in handy with the amount of people doing lessons at one time. There is plenty of room to get used to being on the slope.
The Snow Centre offers a wide range of lessons for the complete beginner to the want-to-be professional. You can get a family lesson booking also which is what we did, the prices vary depending on the amount of hours you want to take and also the amount of people.
https://www.thesnowcentre.com/lessons/families
Also available are Snow Fun activities which include Snow Boarding, Free Styling and also a potential Birthday Party experience where kids and adults can go down the Ringo Slide (which looks like so much fun)
https://www.thesnowcentre.com/snow-fun/summer-2020-activities
Garcia Family UK 
This looks like such fun. Places like this offer an experience some may never get to do.
The instructor sounds like he made your experience even better. Well done Ita 👏 is Dad going to return for more practice?
LikeLike
Great stuff! We have a similar place about 10 miles away, but have never been. Reading your post has made me fancy a go at snowboarding!
LikeLike
This is really cool! I didn’t even know places like this exist!
LikeLike
I know right, it is a really cool experience!
LikeLike