• That's the brilliant thing about it, there is so much scope to give people different experiences.
    – John Larkin
    Founder & Ex-Chairman Kendal Ski Club
  • The repeat business has been unbelievable, tasters develop to plough II, plough II's develop to plough III and they develop up to basic swings and even parallels, on a nursery slope!
    – Steve Foulkes - Director Rossendale Ski Centre
  • for the first time we have a safe, clean surface that people will come back to time and time again.
    – John Shedden
    Director of Coaching for the English Ski Council
  • I can see it's better just looking out of my window because people are learning quicker.
    – John Fleetham
    former Managing Director of Sheffield Ski Village
  • The key to the future of snowboarding is Snowflex. I mean you just wouldn’t dream of doing some of the things they are doing without Snowflex.
    – Adrian Cairns
    Photographer and Snowsports writer
  • The Snowflex tubing Hill is a lot of fun! Everyone we've had visit, has left with a smile on their face.

    We are extremely pleased with the outcome.
    – Craig Combs
    Owner Wolfe Mountain Tubing Slope, Branson, Missouri, USA
  • A final note to all would be developers, build a slope like this and people will visit - it's really that simple
    – Russ Shea, Document Snowboard
  • Snowflex is a great place for all levels of skiing and snowboarding. It provides and safe and fun environment that is extremely affordable.
    – Drew Sherwood
    General Manager, Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, Lynchburg, VA
  • Snowflex has changed the future of the ski, and snowboard industry forever.
    – Drew Sherwood
    General Manager, Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, Lynchburg, VA
  • "Thank you Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre for the good times today. Can't wait to come back!!!"
    – Louie Vito
    American professional snowboarder, Olympian, Winter X Games and U.S. Grand Prix Champion.
  • We are very happy with our Snowflex summer tubing hill. It is attracting visitors from across the country!
    – Trueman E. Hoffmeister
    Center Director
    Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of the Rockies
  • If Snowflex® had been available 12 years ago, I would have not bothered with snow. This is fantastic.
    – Cor Mollin, Proprietor of the Belgian Indoor Snow Centres

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Professional snowboarder Louie Vito visits Snowflex Centre

December 16, 2014 : By Ted Allen/Liberty University News Service

 

Louie Vito practices on one of the box features at Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre.
Louie Vito lands a trick on one of the box features at Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre's rail park on Monday.

Since its opening day on Aug. 29, 2009, when it was introduced as the first and only year-round ski and snowboard resort of its kind in North America, Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre has attracted an array of professional skiers and snowboarders.

On Monday, Louie Vito, one of the biggest names in snowboarding, took a detour from competing on the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colo., before gearing up for the Jan. 22-25 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., to test the synthetic slopes for the first time.

“This was my first time ever riding on Snowflex” said Vito, “I didn’t really know what to expect. Seeing it first hand, it’s really sick. There’s not even snow on the ground and you can still do whatever you want to do. It’s been super fun.”

He toured the facility to offer Briton Engineering, manufacturer of Snowflex, feedback and creative input into plans for building a similar project in Castle Rock, Colo., between Denver and Colorado Springs.

“He’s here to test out what the product will do, its capabilities, and see if it’s a good fit for him and his team and where he’s going in his career,” said Drew Sherwood, Snowflex’s general manager. “The response we got from him, from his coach, from his dad, and his manager, is they really love it. They can see the benefit from having a Snowflex Centre.

“We’ve always said Snowflex has something to offer the industry that no other place can offer,” he added. “It’s a year-round ski/snowboard park that’s consistent and will develop athletes the way they need to be developed. He’s one of the best snowboarders in the world, so to have his name behind the facility says a lot for the product and says a lot for where it’s going.”

Vito is one of the best snowboarders of his generation on the Super half pipe, winning four of the past five U.S. Grand Prix overall championships, two Winter Dew Tour Cup overall titles, and two Winter X Games gold medals. He finished fifth at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, and narrowly missed making the U.S. team for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Off the slopes, Vito co-hosted NBC’s coverage of this year’s Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., and Summer X Games in Austin, Texas. In 2009, he competed with professional dancer Chelsie Hightower on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

He works with the same personal trainer, John Schaeffer, as retired Winter Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno and this fall was named one of the 50 fittest athletes in the world by Men’s Health magazine.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Vito grew up riding at nearby Mad River Mountain, which has a 300-foot vertical drop, only twice that offered at Snowflex Centre, before his parents sent him off to ski school in Vermont from age 12 through his high school graduation.

He is the first snowboarder in the world to land a double-cork maneuver on the half pipe in competition after crashing onto the professional snowboarding scene at age 17 by completing the first backside 1080-degree spin in competition at the Australian Open.

Vito exercised caution on the jumps and rails as he acclimated to Snowflex, but showcased some of his tricks, including his trademark hand plant, on the quarter pipe at the base of the slope.

“There was definitely a transition time for him, but he didn’t have any hiccups at all,” Sherwood said. “He really seemed to enjoy it. He was hitting the rails and the slopes with our guys, laughing and having a great time.”

Vito was wowed by some of the stunts performed by Liberty ski & snowboard team coaches Ryan Leeds, Kevin Manguiob, Dave Promnitz, and Brent Washburn, and riders Isaac Gibson and Kevin Hoff.

“It’s always fun having a good crew around you,” Vito said. “It kind of pushes you and you have fun. This is their park and those guys rip. It’s been fun to ride with them. It’s pretty sick to see them riding and like, ‘Holy Cow.’ It really does open up my mind that this stuff’s legit. These kids are doing legit tricks on the jumps, on the rails, anything, it can be done.”

While Snowflex lacks his specialty feature, the half pipe, Vito was impressed with the wide range of rails and jumps the compact complex has to offer.

“There are tons of features, with three rails across and more options you can do down below,” he said. “These guys just build whatever they want. I think it’s cool to have that creative control, that the university and the whole complex let the riders do that and that right from the beginning, they’ve had that vision.”

He came away with some fresh ideas of how he would envision a new Snowflex park in Colorado.

“I’m really stoked because it’s cool to have options and different types of terrain to ride,” Vito said. “Castle Rock’s is going to be sick, too, and I want to work with them and make it sweet, to make something fun for everybody. My thing is to introduce snowboarding to as many people as possible and show them why I love it so much.”

Snowflex Centre remains open from 2-10 p.m. weekdays and Sundays and from noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays throughout Liberty’s Christmas break.

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