Christmas events and the January sales had serious competition in the North West this year as people from all over the region flocked to the UK’s first real snow Alpine village and snowsports centre, Chill Factore, say its operators.

The enthusiasm of local people for Chill Factore‘s mix of snowsports, slope-side restaurants and active lifestyle shopping has been matched by that of developers in other parts of the country to such an extent that the company is expanding its executive team and bringing forward its plans to launch a new development division, the company reports.

Former Airtours (now MyTravel) and Football League chief executive David Burns comes on board as Chief Executive at Chill Factore in Manchester while current Managing Director David Sterland becomes MD of the new development division which will concentrate on rolling out the Alpine village concept initially in the UK.

David Sterland said, “The first six weeks of Chill Factore were phenomenally busy. We were confident that we would have large numbers of experienced skiers and snowboarders coming along to test the slope, but we were delighted at the number of first time skiers who booked our taster sessions to get their first feel of the snow.

“As regards expansion, we have several sites in mind but we are keeping an open mind about all opportunities at the moment, looking at both the potential for new centres like Chill Factore in Manchester or for developing an existing facility. But the enthusiasm for the concept of Chill Factore is huge, so we are extremely excited about the future.”

David Burns was most recently director of leisure with the Trevor Hemmings group (which includes hotels, theme parks and Blackpool Tower) and chief executive of cruise and escorted travel specialists Page and Moy, ahead of the company’s recent successful sale as part of the Travelsphere Group.

He said he was delighted to be involved with what he described as “one of the most exciting innovations in the leisure industry in the last 10 years.”

He went on: “Chill Factore is a fabulous visitor destination offering a snow experience second to none, allied with quality restaurants and leading brand retailers. There is a great atmosphere in the bars and restaurants – friendly, welcoming and a real flavour of the Alpine ski villages I have experienced.”

The £31million Chill Factore is off J10 of the M60 and is right next door to the giant Trafford Centre shopping mall. Chill Factore owns and operates a range of food and beverage outlets within the Alpine village, with balconies and views over the slopes. These including the Eiger, its fine dining restaurant, the Mont Blanc crêperie, ski/sports bar Chilli’s and the Café Extreme slope-side coffee shop.

Shops in the Alpine street are leased to big brand names. Anchored by the UK’s leading wintersports and outdoor specialist retailer, Snow+Rock, the outlets include Adrenaline Junkie, Subvert, Evans Cycles, Wetherspoons (Castle in the Air), Nandos, Chiquito’s, Gloria Jean’s Coffee, Boost Juice bar and North-West favourite Frederick’s Ice Cream. Dare2B, the Manchester-based active sports brand, selected Chill Factore as the venue for its first dedicated store.

Chill Factore has a highly qualified instructing and coaching team. Snowsport GB – the body that represents all competition racing and snowboarding at international level – has established its UK national training centre at Chill Factore, while the British Disabled Ski Team will use the venue for training ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Salomon has also established its only UK on-site test centre at Chill Factore, where customers can try out the latest technology and equipment.