An Australian company is preparing to roll out a series of giant, rotating ski barrels designed to make the experience of carving endless fresh snow available to city folk without a long drive. We talk to Snowtunnel co-founder and CEO Scott Kessler.
Indoor ski training is nothing new – but the space and cost requirements of a state-of-the-art indoor ski slope are getting pretty extreme. Take the mammoth facility under construction in Shenzhen, China, which features a 441 m (1,447 ft) ski slope covering an area equivalent to 11 soccer fields, complete with ski lifts ready to tow visitors up the 83 m (272 ft) vertical climb to the starting line.
The shot below, from last September, gives some insight into the scale of spectacular developments like this, and perhaps a sense of the enormous upfront land and construction costs involved... let alone the ongoing energy expenses involved in keeping such a massive volume chilled to the right temperature.
"How's indoor skiing normally done? Big buildings, huge temperature controlled environments and chillers, as big a slope as possible, and full scale lifts," says Kessler over a phone call. "Large amounts of land, typically a bit further out from key urban centers. High CAPEX."
Hence the idea of the Snowtunnel - a smaller ski training facility built around a rotating barrel that puts skiers and snowboarders inside an endless slope where the snow's perpetually freshly groomed, while asking far less in terms of land requirements and upfront costs.
Which is not to say these snowy hamster wheels will be small – each massive cylinder has a 12.5-m (41-ft) diameter and extends some 16 m (52.5 ft) across - roughly as wide as an average ski run, Kessler tells me, so you'll still need a facility big enough to enclose something roughly the size of a four-story apartment block.
"You use the power of the rotation," says Kessler. "The tunnel will typically be spinning towards you as you stand in it. And as you'd normally do in any technique of skiing or snowboarding, you use your edge to maneuver side to side, width-wise in the tunnel. It's not too dissimilar to riding a wave on a surfboard."
The rotating tunnels will each have a driver, who'll control the effective ground speed for people in the tunnel. That'll start out at below walking pace for real newbies (who can also hang onto a "specially designed apparatus" that comes through the tunnel for beginner lessons) – but the tunnel can be spun up as quick as 8-9 rpm, representing a ground speed over 50 km/h (31 mph) for experienced snow bunnies.
Kessler tells me riders will constantly have 70-100 mm (3-4 inches) of freshly groomed, real snow to ride on – more than enough considering there aren't any rocks or logs to cover over.
So... How do they keep it from falling on your head as the barrel rotates? "There's a bit of secret sauce in that," he grins. "Let's say this: the rotating tunnel in itself has a layer applied that allows us to give the snow some structure. We use real snow from snow guns. The structure holds the snow, and depending on the moisture levels, we're able to get a surface that can sit at or above the substrate surface. Then we've got gantries that sit above the rider around the ceiling that protect riders from any snowfall, if there are snowfall areas."
The tunnels break down into a Lego-like set of pieces, allowing them to be shipped worldwide. In terms of how Snowtunnel has built these things, Kessler tells me that some of the tech has been redesigned and repurposed from industrial mining technology, and adapted to fit the safety standards for an amusement ride.
"We hand-built the first 10-m (33-ft)-diameter prototype," says Kessler. "But that was built on a different technology – effectively an ice-based, glycol-cooled surface. You could think of a rolled-up ice skating rink, for want of a better term. The purpose of that test was to validate the physics of being able to link turns, getting a realistic experience of what it's like to ride. But the surface is so critical. Now, we have a 1/6th scale version of the tunnel with real snow being groomed, which shows you the rotation and the actual groomed snow surface you'll see in commercial models."
You can see that 1/6th scale prototype in action above; while it's not the most riveting viewing, it does look like it delivers a reasonably consistent surface to ski on.
The first Snowtunnel Park is scheduled to open in 2027, most likely in Australia, with the location to be announced next year. The facility will also house a small, regular indoor graded ski slope, as well as snow play zones, gear hire and "iconic alpine food and drinks" in an après-ski (or avant-ski) area with a fireplace, overlooking the snow. This is contingent on the results of an open capital raising round.
As our chat comes to a close, Kessler asks me a question: "What do you think about what we're doing? Because no-one else has ever done this before - it's a pretty unique idea to explain to people!"
I'm a little stuck for an answer. The last time I went skiing was in the mid-90s on a week-long high school snow camp. I don't remember being much good at skiing – indeed, my chief recollection from that experience is what a snow cave smells like when four teenage boys sleep in it after eating nothing but muesli and pizza for several days. That's a brutally powerful and indelible memory that still brings a tear to my eye, but it's not one I can leverage to help Kessler out here.
I guess part of me finds the idea of indoor skiing, removed as it is from the majesty, awe and genuine risk of actual mountains, kinda sad... Perhaps another example of how, as Tim Minchin puts it, "humans do seem dead set on conveniencing themselves into meaninglessness."
But on the other hand, not everyone lives within reach of a mountain, and most of the world can't afford the scandalous prices they're apparently asking for lift tickets these days... So I can certainly see the wisdom of getting some skills together in town so you can get out and enjoy yourself once you're up there rather than piddling about going toddler-bowling at the beginner slopes as you learn to "pizza" and "french fries" your way down the hill.
I can see the economics of this design being a lot more friendly than bigger indoor ski centers – but I can't really get my head around what it might feel like to ride.
Thus, it's over to you, dear readers! How would you feel about learning to ski or practicing your skills in a 41-foot-high hamster wheel? Do you reckon this would make a nice addition to your local indoor ski training facility? Can you think of some fun ways of riding this thing that couldn't be done anywhere else?
We'll be sure to stay in the loop, so to speak, as things progress.
Source: Snowtunnel
