Tag: indoor

Sledging in April at the Snow Centre, Hemel

It appears that my 3.5 year old daughter has absolutely no concept of fear.  People often comment how great it is but I’m not convinced.  It’s a bloody miracle that we haven’t been to A & E yet!  She runs up to random dogs, has been skiing, quad biking with her dad in Canada, tubing behind a speed boat and has held a rather large snake.  The only thing I’ve ever seen her balk at is spiders, but I think she gets this from her father.

In the video, you’ll see her hurling herself down the Cresta Run at the Snow Centre in Hemel on a Ringo.  As she was not quite four, I had to give special permission for her to go.  I did a quick mum health and safety check, which usually involves me asking myself ‘will she be killed or seriously maimed’ and the answer to that was a resounding ‘no’ as it was perfectly safe.

I only had to go down with her once and then she insisted on doing it by herself as she was a ‘big girl’.  If they would’ve let her, I’m sure she would’ve went down on a Zipfy (5+) or a Airboard (16+) and too be honest I probably would’ve let her.

I don’t want a clingy nervous child but somewhere in the middle would be great.

Thanks to everyone at the Snow Centre, Chris Bennett from F!nn Communications Ltd and Fabiola Franco from Arena Quantum for a great day out!

 

UK’s Lesser Known Tourist Attractions

Most of you know that I’m Canadian.  Contrary to popular belief Maple Syrup doesn’t flow through our veins nor are we born with skis strapped to our feet.  I can ski although not brilliantly and I’ve never needed the services of Mountain Rescue.

I grew up 45 minutes away from Sun Peaks ski resort which is currently being developed in conjunction with Nancy Green of Olympic Gold Medal Fame.  When I was growing up it was called Todd Mountain, but apparently Tod means death in German, so to attract more tourists they changed it.

So, I have to admit when I first moved to the UK and came across a dry ski slope I fell about laughing.  Who in their right mind would make a ski hill out of washing up brushes?  Let me think about it, white fluffy powdery snow…..abrasive material used to scour pans.  There doesn’t seem to be any logic in it.

When my family comes to visit, I always take them to the main UK attractions like the Changing of the Guard, the London Eye, Stratford upon Avon, etc but I always have to take them to see the local dry slope and of course we go via the Magic Roundabout in Hemel!  They always have the same reaction as me and jump out to take a photo in disbelief.

We’re hoping to go on our first skiing holiday in February so I’m really looking forward to Madame’s first ski lesson, at the Hemel Snow Centre.  Apparently, they have real snow…

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