Europe Euphoria

For those who cannot make it to the snow covered slopes of the Alps for a winter skiing experience, you can walk into a mall in Manchester. If it seems a bit confusing on how to relate a mall with the Alpine slopes, well Manchester’s Trafford Centre houses the Chill Factore – Britain’s newest and longest indoor ski slope. It took four years to build the Chill Factore at a whopping cost of ₤31 million. To provide its customers an experience close to the Alpine skiing extravaganza, the place is covered with 1,600 tons of man-made snow. There are two drag-lifts serving as the main slope, a moving carpet next to the beginners’ area and a mini-luge and tubing run. To create a more authentic Alpine ambiance there are bars and restaurants made of cedar shingles, oak and stone. There is a roaring fire in one of the restaurants and even a terrace outside one of the bars where you can sit and watch skiing. Above all the slope at 180 meters is the longest in the UK and is comparable with the side of a proper mountain. Indoor snow slopes are very popular through out the world. Britain already has four indoor snow slopes in Tamworth, Staffordshire, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Castleford, West Yorkshire and Braehead, Renfrew.