Dry Slope Ski-ing has been around for many
years now, and is carried out on a plastic matting surface designed to mimic real
snow. There are two basic types of Dry Slope Matting.
The older type is
called Dendix, and is made of hollow hexagons of upturned white plastic bristles.
For those who have never seen it before, imagine and upturned very stiff yard brush with
bristles around 25mm long (1 inch), and you will have a good idea of how it looks.
Because of the holes in the construction of the matting, and the way it is laid, it hurts
if you fall on it at high speed.
The second and newest type of matting is called SnowFlex. It is manufactured and
designed by a company local to me called Briton Engineering Developments. This
material is a completely flat matting, like a carpet, with thinner bristles that are only
about 10-12mm long (approx. 0.5 inch). This is laid on a soft foamy material that
makes it a lot softer to fall on. Many slopes around the country have now, or have
got plans to, used the SnowFlex on their beginner slopes. Only a few have actually
changed the whole of the main slope with SnowFlex. As examples, Kendal Ski Club now
has everything made out of SnowFlex. Halifax Ski & Snowboard Centre has the main
slope in SnowFlex but the up-lift tracks and beginners slope are still made out of Dendix.
Sheffield Ski Village has SnowFlex on their Half-Pipe, Terrain Park and most of its
beginners areas but the main slope is still Dendix.
Although both types of slope are collectively called Dry Slopes, most slopes have a
water sprinkler system that lubricates the ski's on the slope. It makes both the
ski's and slope material last longer and is much more like snow.
