The Irish Development Agency has rejected a planning application for the Snowtopia indoor ski slope plan for Tyrrelstown in the country’s capital, Dublin, saying it was unsustainable and contrary to existing development plan requirements for the region.

[It] would be in conflict with the council’s land use zoning policy in the area and would represent an unsustainable form of development by reason of its location in an area with an inadequate public transportation infrastructure which would be unable to service satisfactorily the needs of the development,”

said the organisation.

“It would thereby be in conflict with the proper planning and sustainable development in the area.”
However local council chiefs are reported to be generally in favour of the development, citing the example of the success of ChillFactore in Manchester.

The new Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead have announced a deal with leading sportswear supplier Columbia to provide all their clothing for the next three years.
Renowned for their innovative style and excellent reputation for quality and value, Columbia will be providing not just their rental snow sports clothing but full clothing for Snow Centre Instructors and Snow Patrol Teams.

The deal involves the supply of around 500 rental outfits in a comprehensive range of sizes from infant to adult with a choice of colours and 100 outfits for the Snow Teams – which will be designed for maximum visibility as well as technical excellence.

A significant element of the agreement will allow Columbia to design the entire wall at the foot of the new slope, giving them a unique opportunity to promote the brand to snow sports enthusiasts using the Snow Centre.

The wall is some 65metres wide and will provide scope for some highly visible graphic designs.

Dan Trapp, Columbia’s UK and Ireland Country Manager, says this is a unique deal for the brand.

We have commissioned our new global media agency in Portland Oregon to design the wall as we are looking for something truly special. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to promote the brand at the best real snow slope in the UK – especially as it is so close to London . The Snow Centre promises to be a real centre of excellence for snow sports enthusiasts and we’re really excited to be part of the whole project.”

Columbia clothing will be available for sale in the Snow and Rock outlet at the Snow Centre so after trying the clothes on the slopes people who like what they’ve worn will be able to purchase something similar for themselves.

The £23 million Snow Centre is due to open in April. Already designated a Centre of Excellence by the British Association of Snow Sports Instructors (BASI), the Snow Centre will offer facilities for skiers and snowboarders from novice to competition standard.

Just off the M1 and less than ten miles north of the M25 the Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead is the first in the UK to be built on a natural hill, offering scope for some challenging indoor skiing and snowboarding. With over 8000m2 of real snow the main slope is 160 metres long with an additional 100 metre nursery slope for lessons.
Snow sports enthusiasts can guarantee priority sessions at the Centre and benefit from some fantastic discounts by becoming Founding Members. The first members to sign up will receive an additional 25% discount on the membership cost.

Membership is already available at a cost of £100 for adults, with concessions for under 18’s, senior citizens and families – a 25% discount on this price is available but only to those that purchase before January 20th.

www.thesnowcentre.com / www.columbiasportswear.com

The latest proposals for a new indoor snow centre in Ireland’s capital, Dublin have been published.

Little information about the proposed snow centre itself have been published with planners concentrating on winning hearts and minds by announcing that 1,000 jobs to be created at the indoor ski resort and that it would inject €30m annually in to the local economy.

The €100m facility is due to be constructed in Tyrellstown, to the West of the city with work set to begin this year.

The proposal is the latest of several in the past decade for Ireland, which does not currently have an indoor snow facility. Most recently the local government in County Wicklow gave the go ahead to an indoor snow centre there several years ago, against advice from its own planning inspector who warned about the dangers of excess traffic and of flooding. The complex wwas to be built on a 35 hectare (84 acre) site including a disused quarry in the Dublin “green belt” area, creating 500 jobs.
The centre, which had been planned for nearly ten years, was to have a nursery run, snow play area and two main ski slopes descending from a top height of140m. The developers claimed the runs would be the longest indoors in the world.

With the end of March, SportsRebel Media Ventures (SMV) Ltd. is happy to announce that it broke an all time record for monthly unique visitors with a whopping 666.78 % to SkiRebel Magazine in March 2008 to the same period a year earlier. This staggering growth was led with incredible traffic increases of more than 2000 % on March 28th alone.

Continue reading ’666.78% more visitors come to SkiRebel Magazine in March’

Since the relaunch of the popular skirebel.com portal in February 2007, SkiRebel Magazine has managed to attract more than 22,658 unique visitors with some 67,000 page impressions.

Since migrating the PDF only online ski magazine to a more user friendly online format, magazine management is ecstatic with the initial results. So far 2008, SportsRebel Media Ventures (SMV) Ltd., the main shareholder of the online property is forecasting tripling online visits. So far the first week forecast is blowing that forecast out of the water.
Continue reading ‘SkiRebel Magazine Celebrates 1st Year…’

For the seventh year, independent ski area research company Snow24 plc, based in Scotland, Great Britain, have published their unique comparison of six-day lift ticket prices worldwide. The World Lift Ticket Price Report, sponsored by Liftopia.com, compares the high season, non-discounted, prices of ski passes at more than 550 ski areas in 40 countries* around the world in US Dollars, European Euros and British Pounds. Continue reading ‘WORLD LIFT TICKET PRICE REPORT 2008 PUBLISHED’

• Canadian resorts move in to the list of the world’s 10 most expensive tickets.
• Canadian ticket may be northern hemisphere’s most expensive outside peak season.

For the seventh year, independent ski area research company Snow24 plc, based in
Scotland, Great Britain, have published their unique comparison of six-day lift ticket prices worldwide. The World Lift Ticket Price Report, sponsored by Liftopia.com, compares the high season, non-discounted, prices of ski passes at more than 550 ski areas in 40 countries* around the world in US Dollars, European Euros and British Pounds. Continue reading ‘WORLD LIFT TICKET PRICE REPORT 2008 PUBLISHED’