REVIEW: The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead

If you’ve got clients who are dithering about booking their first ever winter sports holiday, suggest they book a ski or snowboard lesson at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead and I can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be back to book that overseas trip the very next day.

I’d decided not to take my two teenagers skiing as usual this February half-term because a/ I couldn’t afford it and b/ having skied since they were little, they seemed to have lost interest.

Instead, I took them to The Snow Centre for an hour’s boarding lesson and afterwards we couldn’t get back home fast enough to start looking for a (cheap) snowboarding holiday at Easter.

(I would say that we were "stoked", but I already embarrassed my kids enough by singing at the top of my voice in the car all the way home.)

Hemel Hempstead has the largest lesson slope in the UK, plus a trainer slope, and, unlike the dry ski slopes closer to where I live in London, they’re covered in real snow, so the experience you get is just like the real thing. In fact, it’s better than the real thing for beginners because the conditions are perfect with plenty of soft snow, no protruding rocks to worry about, no bare patches to avoid and no biting winds or fog to stress you out.

Plus, only competent boarders and skiers are allowed on to the main slope without an instructor, so there’s less danger of someone slamming into you.

Qualified instructors are on hand to offer group lessons, from 90 minutes to five hours, or private lessons if you prefer. All equipment and a lift pass are included in the price. Ski jackets and salopettes are also available for hire and you can buy gloves at the reception. It really couldn’t be easier, even for absolutely beginners.

Our instructor Chris met us in the changing rooms where he helped us lace up our boots before taking us out to the trainer slope. He wasted no time in showing us how to "walk" up a small incline with one boot fastened into our boards, then showed us how to slide down with one foot loose so we could steady ourselves if we thought we were going to fall over. I fell over.

Once we’d mastered walking up and sliding down with only one foot strapped onto the board, Chris said we were ready to try two-footed sliding, so we trudged up to the top of the trainer slope.

Starting with our boards lying horizontal across the slope, Chris taught us the slide-and-stop technique. Tilting our weight slightly forwards we slid a foot or so downhill, then pressed down on the back of the board to stop, counted to five, then slid a little further.

"I’ll hold on to you if you’re nervous," he offered. Yeah right, humiliate myself in front of the kids? Not a chance. Besides, it wasn’t nearly as tricky as I thought it would be. The slope was pretty gentle and there was an abundance of powdery snow to guarantee a soft landing if I fell (again). I felt in safe hands without those hands actually holding on to me.

Within 40 minutes we were zigzagging precariously across the slope, shifting our weight first to the left, then to the right. "Always look ahead, keep your back straight, knees bent, arms relaxed," instructed Chris.

He was full of encouragement, even when I fell and my daughter crashed into the padded bumpers and got tangled in some netting. We were "naturals", he said, but he might have had his fingers crossed behind his back, I couldn’t tell.

Prior to the lesson I’d been eyeing up The Lodge restaurant, which overlooks the slope, planning to escape there for a cup of tea if the lesson was too difficult/painful/frightening. In the end, it went far too fast and none of us wanted to leave when our hour was up.

We’re now all level one snowboarders, but more importantly our trip to The Snow Centre has rekindled the kids’ enthusiasm for the ski slopes. "Snowboarding is sooo much more fun than skiiing," declared my daughter in the car on the way home. "Oh yeah, way better," agreed her brother.

So if anyone knows of a great, affordable resort for beginner boarders, with a great track record for late spring snow, we’d love to hear from you!

www.thesnowcentre.com