Indoor skiing Manchester

Chill Factore is located in Manchester, and is the largest indoor ski slope in England, and the UK. The main ski slope in Chill Factore is 180m long. A 1 hour ski pass can be purchased for £28. Longer sessions can be purchased for a small amount of extra money, costing up to £43 for a 4 hour pass.

If you live in England and are interested in getting some skiing practise before jetting off on a ski holiday, it is definitely worth your while booking yourself into an indoor ski slope for a couple of hours to practise. This will save you lots of valuable time out on the slopes, by helping you to learn the basics, find your balance on skis and get used to the feeling of sliding downhill. There is also absolutely nothing stopping you from simply taking a nice day out with your family to the indoor ski slopes to have fun, even if you have no intention of going to ski in the mountains! It’s a fun day out either way, and certainly a lot cheaper of an option if you want to find out whether your children enjoy it or not.

How much does Chill Factore cost?

For adults skiing or snowboarding at Chill Factore, a 1 hour pass costs £27. The longer you want to stay at the ski slope the cheaper each extra hour gets, with a 2 hour pass only costing £32.40 and a 3 hour pass only costing £37.80 for off peak times for adults. This pricing structure is the same for children's tickets, though much cheaper as you might expect. For children under 16 years, prices are £22.50 for a 1 hour session at off peak times, £27.90 & £33.30 for 2 hours and 3 respectively at off peak times.

These prices are very cheap compared to what you would be paying per person for 1 day of skiing in the French Alps or any other ski resort. Given that these prices in Chill Factore also include skis, boots, poles & helmet rental, by visiting the indoor skiing park before going on holiday you will be saving yourself close to £100 when you take into consideration the time you would waste on your first day skiing in the mountains, learning all this basic stuff. You will be saving yourself even more money if it turns out you or your children hate skiing and never want to try it again (although this is very unlikely – skiing is a lot of fun).

Is Chill Factore real snow?

The snow is Chill Factore is real snow produced from snow making machines. What I mean by this is that the snow is real, as it is water that has been turned into snow. Obviously it is not natural in that it has not fallen from the sky because it is both indoors and located in the UK (where it barely ever snows), instead it has been artificially created by snow cannons. It is cold, wet real snow.

What should I wear to Chill Factore?

As the snow in Chill Factore is real snow, and the snow is therefore cold and wet, the environment you are skiing in must also be kept at cool temperatures to ensure the snow does not melt. For this reason the temperature at Chill Factore is kept at around –2 degrees. Given these temperatures and the fact that the snow is wet, it is important that you wear warm and waterproof clothing for you day of indoor skiing, otherwise I can guarantee you will have a rather miserable day of skiing. At Chill Factore it is possible to rent all the warm and waterproof clothing you need for your day of indoor skiing, so if you are only planning on skiing here as a one off and don’t really want to splash out on purchasing brand new equipment, renting ski clothing is your best option.

Activities for kids at Chill Factore

As well as skiing, there are other fun activities for children to do at Chill Factore. The Snow Park offer children and families from 4 years old upwards to play around in the snow with an Ice Slide, Downhill Dohnuts & Sledge 'n’ Slide on offer as a little extra activity to keep the family amused for 60 mins for £20.

Can I get lessons at Chill Factore?

Yes, ski and snowboard lessons are available for individuals as well as groups, children as well as adults. These lessons last for 1 hour and cost from £99 for one adult up to £225 for 5 adults in group lessons. Kids ski school cost £39 for 1 child for 1 hour.

Lessons are a really important part of learning to ski. I would highly recommend taking as many lessons as possible, as it will allow you to get the most out of your ski holiday, and help you progress to the more difficult runs much quicker than if you were trying to figure it out by yourself. Figuring it out by yourself and trying to teach yourself how to ski seems like a much cheaper and easier way of learning, but trust me that learning to ski or snowboard is more difficult than it looks. Even if you are with someone who knows how to ski and they have offered their advice, you will learn more, and learn it quicker if you pay a little extra for proper lessons from qualified instructors. I took lessons for a few days on each of my first 6 ski holidays, and it helped my skiing technique a lot!