Part of my xmas present from Claire was a day of Skiing at Chill Factor just outside Manchester. I would love to develop my prowess on ski's; to do back-country skiing and ski Munroing mainly!! so this was the perfect present.
Having previously only skied 'indoors' at Castleford and Glasgow this is a little different - it seems a little steeper for one; however it is also better organised (at least the shops etc in the rest of the complex) and is less of a rip-off in respect of the lockers as well.
I skied ok yesterday - Noel, the instructor of our group, was great with some excellent pointers indeed..the problem lay in the numbers - being the last day of the winter break the place was heaving; meaning too many queues to get back up the POMA lifts to the top. The other problem was that, after lunch, there was a group of young kids who kid not use the lifts - making the delays even worse. My skiing was ragged after lunch - I need to use my arms less and concentrate on my legs. That being said, it was a vast improvement on when I started the day - and it is an easy place to do a little practice.
Weather is still pretty wild here - hoping to get out for walkies tomorrow on the fells...
