# artifical slope vs snow??



## Nitrogen (Feb 10, 2010)

Real is the best. Nuff said. 
ahah jokes. But man made snow is abrasive, gritty, and wears down the board much faster than regular snow.
Real snow, like the name says, is real, the crystals aren't sharp and edgy and don't rape your wax job in a day or so.


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

Nitrogen said:


> ahah jokes. But man made snow is abrasive, gritty, and wears down the board much faster than regular snow.
> Real snow, like the name says, is real, the crystals aren't sharp and edgy and don't rape your wax job in a day or so.


True enough, but there's all kinds of natural snow as well. The Inuit have like a hundred different words for snow.

That said, I'm sure anything you learn on a frozen water surface will be good for you, especially if you have no alternative.


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## TomNZ (Aug 10, 2009)

By "artificial slope" do you mean snow made from snow machines ("man-made snow"), or a Snowflex slope?


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2010)

sorry yes i didnt make myself clear. the surface i'm talking about is the snowflex slope, which is a completely different story again i'm presuming.


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## Reede (Feb 16, 2009)

i met some people from the UK who had learned to ski on a dry slope and they made the transition to real snow almost seamlessley. I was very surprised.

I have never ridden on a dryslope but would like to give it a try just to see how it goes. I bet it's hell on your base and edges tho. Unless you use special boards on it.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2010)

thanks reede thats good to know. yeah well thats why you cant get rented boards at these places. and anyway i'm not at the level were i have bought my own board yet


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## oxi (Oct 17, 2009)

hey watsup man, i feel ur pain.. i live in liverpool. i go to chillfactore in manchester sometimes and they have the man made snow. anyways, i find dryslopes are good for practicin park but it's hard to get any good freeriding on the small slopes. nothin beats real snow but dryslopes are better than nothin and the techniquie is pretty much the same.

if you are gonna get a board though, it's probably better to get a cheap board off the internet just for dryslopes and get a better one for real snow.


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## G2309 (Oct 22, 2009)

I learnt on Southampton dry slope but they do rentals, I'm surprised your place expects people to take their own stuff on it. Its an ok place to practice technique and keep your confidence up. Most importantly it's still fun even if it does make you pine to back on the mountain.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2010)

sorry ha ha i really need to learn to type. yeah the place i learnt does do rental boards so when i get back on my feet i'll do a few more advanced lessons with them. thanks for the info guys


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## bordnut (Mar 18, 2010)

Check out Ryan Air flights to finland next season .You can fly Dublin-tampere ..theres a couple of resorts nearby within 1hour of airport(Himsos and sapee)..I think your better off with the real thing and easy for you to get there..


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2010)

cool i've always wanted to check out finland. i've heard you's drink as much as us irish over there ;-)

ah yeah i'll be heading back to snow resorts in the season of course but in the mean time i'd like to be practising during the year somewhere thats why i was asking about practising only on artifical slopes.


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## bordnut (Mar 18, 2010)

true about the drinking!!!!


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## cargo2k (Feb 26, 2010)

anyone know it there are any dry slopes in North America? I am curious to ride one and won't make it over seas anytime soon.


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## ollie (Mar 30, 2008)

hey matrixblack,
im guessing youve been going to Kiltiernan just outside dublin? for the record its Dendix, not snowflex that they have there (but they are in the process of installing snowflex beginner slopes there) regarding these two surfaces, dendix is more injury prone, due to its hard bristles and diamond pattern which is well known for its finger breaking goodness! while snowflex has no holes and is generallly a lot softer to fall on. dendix is better for carving whilst snowflex is better for beginners and freestyle. 
both are definately harder to use and are less forgiving that snow, but where this comes in handy is the fact that if you can do something or have learnt to ski/board entirely on the artifical surfaces then when you hit the real stuff it is MUCH better and easier - not to mention softer on the landings (ice excluded)

i know load of people who learned on the stuff, as i was the head of my uni's snowsports club so i went there a lot but it does take a while to get the hang of boarding on it if your used to snow.. on dendex it is very hard to stop quickly as you cant get enough grip on it which means youll see pleanty of people sliding on their asses trying to stop quickly, and carving on it is more like sliding - there just isnt enough grip

id invest in a pair of mitts over gloves for sure on it as LOADS of people catch fingers in the holes in it when falling and impact shorts, reason stated above.. besides from that a lot of people use helmets n wrist guards on it as its wasy to bust yourself on it.

if you get a shiny new board, id recommend you resist the temptation to use it up there as the heat generated from the plastic basically burns the pores in the ptex which effects the amount of wax the base can absorb, that and a wax job would last the whole of 20 seconds on it! def get a rock board to use on it which your not bothered about trashing

anyhoo that was a bit of a rant, but by all means go up there! for the last two years id usually be there 3 times a week, but im in the alps doing a season now so ill take the snow here anyday! and just to let you know, the 'season' there is over in about a week, as itll only become available to members during the summer 2 nights a week until september (makes sense right?? only having an artifical slope open only during the winter)

oh and finland have more expensive drinks than dublin, if oyu can believe it!


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## Guest (Apr 3, 2010)

There's a dry slope in Virginia. Looks like a jump run and a box run with a 1/4 at the bottom. They charge by the hour and rent out boards. The surface gets sprayed down with water to reduce friction. Go to Liberty Univ. Website. I'm thinking about going there this summer.


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## gezsweet (Sep 1, 2007)

ollie said:


> hey matrixblack,
> im guessing youve been going to Kiltiernan just outside dublin? for the record its Dendix, not snowflex that they have there (but they are in the process of installing snowflex beginner slopes there) regarding these two surfaces, dendix is more injury prone, due to its hard bristles and diamond pattern which is well known for its finger breaking goodness! while snowflex has no holes and is generallly a lot softer to fall on. dendix is better for carving whilst snowflex is better for beginners and freestyle.
> both are definately harder to use and are less forgiving that snow, but where this comes in handy is the fact that if you can do something or have learnt to ski/board entirely on the artifical surfaces then when you hit the real stuff it is MUCH better and easier - not to mention softer on the landings (ice excluded)


argh, dendix. I ended up with ligament contusions once when I bailed and my knee got caught in a hole. extremely unforgiving anytime you fall!

now thankful for the chill factore in Manchester


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