SNOWFLEX MACHINE-MADE SNOW

SNOWFLEX MACHINE-MADE SNOW
New Snow Invention Allows for Hot Summer Nights

Words: Justin Adams
Photos: Courtesy of Snowflex

Imagine ripping a mogul line on a hot summer night, boosting the kicker shirtless, and rail sliding onto perfect corduroy. You heard right. Snowflex is “machine made” snow with padding underneath to protect you from getting gutter stomped. So when you are throwing a 5 off the kicker, you will end up riding back to the top for another session and not taking a ride to the hospital.

Leave it to the Europeans to come up with the artificial incline. Invented by Brian Thomas of Briton Engineering, Snowflex is a multi-layer, synthetic material that simulates the effects of snow, allowing maximum speed and edge control for carving turns, according to the Liberty Mountain’s Snowflex website. Snowflex will soon be in the U.S. at Liberty Mountain in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The all-weather carpeting looks like white astroturf. It was designed with a foam shock pad underneath that is made to absorb falls. The material has the slick feature of snow due to sprinkler systems that continually spray the slope. Accordingly, Snowflex has the grip quality of snow, so you can hold an edge and not slide out as if you were on a carpet. According to L.U., the total skiable area at Liberty is 40,537 square feet. The total slope length will be in the region of 450 to 500 feet. The center will have a main slope, nursery slope, two jumps, (a tabletop and kicker) 11-foot high elliptical quarter pipe with hip grind rails, (flat box, down-flat-down, and up-flat-down) cornice drop off, (possibly) bowl counter slope, intermediate areas, (blue/green/red runs) extreme tube chute, ski lodge and other possible jibbing features.

Liberty Mountain’s Snowflex area will be open to Liberty University’s current students, faculty, alumni and their families. The mountain plans on opening for the public on various times, but will be primarily used by prospective and current students.

In fact, the Discovery Channel will be documenting the construction of the Liberty Mountain Snowflex center for an episode of the Daily Planet. You can check out videos, photos and maps of the historic ski center on www.liberty.edu/snowflex.