Chill Factore - Skiing in Manchester
The Chill Factore opened in 2007 and is the only indoor ski slope and resort in North West England.
Situated next to Manchester’s Trafford Centre it covers an area of more than 250,000 square feet and features a main ski slope, nursery slope, luge slide, tubing lane, climbing wall, and children’s snow play area. The main slope is 180 metres long.
Qualified instructors offer group ski and snowboarding lessons to suit all levels of ability. Private lessons are also available.
Experienced skiers (i.e. those who can control their speed and direction, link turns, and use the ski lift) can purchase lift passes to access the main slope. Passes can be purchased with various durations ranging from 1 hour to 3 month summer passes.
All activities (including ski and snowboard lessons, lift passes, tubing, luge, climbing, children’s parties etc.) can be booked online at the official Chill Factore website.
Discounts & Vouchers
Considerable savings can be made by visiting the Chill Factore during off-peak hours, i.e. before 6 pm on a weekday (excluding bank holidays and certain school holidays).
Regular users should consider joining the Chill Factore’s membership scheme. Members receive a 30% discount on lessons, lift passes and other activities. Full details are available on the official website.
Discount and promotional codes are available by following the links on this page. Offers are also posted on their official Facebook page.
Restaurants
The Chill Factore offers a good selection of Alpine-themed bars and restaurants, many with views overlooking the ski slopes.
Options include a Costa coffee shop, Café Extreme, the Mont Blanc family restaurant, Nando’s, a Frederick’s ice cream parlour, and Chilli’s sports bar. The Castle in the Air, a Wetherspoon’s pub, is also here.
Shops
Alpine Street is a small shopping mall at the Chill Factore with a number of stores offering ski and outdoor related products.
Shops include Snow + Rock, Dare 2b, The North Face (outdoor equipment and clothing), Surfanic (ski wear), Subvert (snowboard store), Quicksilver & Roxy, and Evans Cycles.
There’s also a branch of Crystal Ski here. Crystal Ski are the UK’s biggest ski tour operator and offer packages to almost every major ski resort in the world.
Opening Times
The Chill Factore is open 7 days a week from 8 am to 11 pm (Wednesdays 7 am, Sundays 6.30 am).
The main slope opens at 9 am and closes at 10 pm, except on Wednesdays when it opens at 7.30 am.
Location & Directions
The Chill Factore is located next to Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Junction 10 of the M60 motorway.
Car
Simply leave the M60 motorway at Junction 10. Visitors with satellite navigation systems should note that the postcode for the Chill Factore is M41 7JA.
The Chill Factore offers free car parking for over 300 vehicles.
Train/Metrolink
There is no direct train or Metrolink service to the Trafford Centre/Chill Factore, but the Trafford Centre Metrolink Shuttle Bus offers a service between Stretford Metrolink Station and the Trafford Centre. It runs every day of the week.
Bus
Bus services X50 and 250 depart from Piccadilly Gardens for the Trafford Centre.
Buses 100 and 110 run from the Shudehill Interchange (next to Victoria train station) to the Trafford Centre.
Reviews / Comments / Additional Information
Anyway - I came to make a point about the Chill Factor Eeee. We came as a couple and paid for the beginners lessons, over 3 evenings. There were 8 to 10 people in our group which was far too many. We all spent most of our time watching other people and got no personal tuition. We would have been better going for a 2 hour private lesson - we're sure we would have go more out of it.
The staff are dreadful. The front desk is understaffed and under trained. The queues are needlessly long. The people giving the clothes out don't seem to know the difference between mens and womens clothing, or when you ask for a large mens jacket, you mean a large mens jacket, not a small womens jacket, then a small mens jacket, but hey third time lucky, twice, is suppose isn't too bad.
And they are so rude and arrogant too. They presumably think that they are cool working there. They'd be cooler if they did their jobs properly.
I'm assuming that there isn't a manager.
I think the price is a bit steep, but I understand it costs everyone in rip off Britain to do anything, so it must cost the place a bomb in tax and electricity like it does for the man in the street.
Customer service was non-existent and staff either useless or rude. I got aggressively stared out by one of the managers as he gave me a refund for food I ordered that never arrived. Then he walked off while I was (reasonably) trying to complain.
10 days and no response to phone calls or emails. Truly terrible ignorant arrogant people.
Work out how much an all day skiing session would cost at this rip off place in Manchester and compare it to return flights, all day skiing, food, beer, accommodation etc.. You are being ripped off people. I live in Germany and come from Manchester. I know first hand.
As far as the general set up goes its a pretty slick place, although didn't try out any of the lessons or hire facilities.
Not impressed by having to get your ticket out every time I used the lift though. I would say the large beginners' area is worth while and the extra width of the slope compared to other domes gives it an edge for beginners, but unfortunately it was a bit of a turkey as far as the freestyle went.
Also worth mentioning are the amazing hand dryers in Nandos. They were the best thing there!
The lesson began at 10, so I arrived at 9:30 with my receipt from when I bought the lessons, and I went to the desk and they gave me my ski-pass in under 20 seconds.
Next, I had to go and get my kit. I went to the desk and was told to go on the weight/height machines. After getting my receipt thing you get, I was promptly given my equipment by the staff and told to wait in the ski-school waiting area.
The lesson was fantastic and using the nursery slope to learn the trade really improved my confidence on the snow.
We skied for about 2 and a half hours, before having an hours lunch break. After having lunch in Nando's, it was back out to the slopes at 1:30. My instructor (Stewart) was fantastic and really helpful. He took us through some more excersises and methods, and at around 3:00 we had another 20 minute break.
Once back on the slopes, Stewart felt we'd progressed enough to put us on the big slope. We were about half way up the slope and doing basic link turns and moving onto parallel turns.
My only flaw was that at around 4 o'clock onwards the main slope becomes quite busy with people finishing work etc.. and with more experienced skiers and snowboarders zooming past, it got quite nerve-racking.
At the end of my lesson, I gave my equipment back in and booked for Friday during the day as I enjoyed it so much. I paid £14 for Friday, as it's an 'off-peak' time. So everyone moaning at £22, go at on off-peak time and it's £14 for an hour and a half.
Finally we got out, now being off the snow for 2 years, I thought I'd hit the left hand side 'beginners slope'. After setting my bindings (snowboard), I was approached by a 'teacher'. He told me this area was for lessons only, please move to the main slope and find a similar gradient to the left side. That actually set me off, there is no indication on any plan that says 'paying tuition area only' . I can board, but I wanted a safe environment to do my 1st run !
We moved onto the main area (after I put my board on and went down the payment only slope (apparently). From there on it was absolutely fantastic, snow, cold, snow. Apart from button lifts, which tend to kill my inner thigh, ask any boarder. Anyway I caught air 5 times my 1st in quite a while, and the 10 - till 11 was no queue no hassle.
I now need 15 more peak trips to make my membership worthwhile.
Can I say, most of the people I saw were well up for a chat and happy to be there.
First up Lessons. You're probably better off spending a week on a skiing holiday to learn, but that can be a bit pricey all up front.
So Xscape charge £27 for an hour lesson. You need 5 lessons to complete the course though you can hit the slopes yourself after 3. So that's around £81 - £135
Chill factor charge £60 for one hour fifty minutes and have 3 beginners lessons and 3 development. I've not tried Chill factors lessons yet but I'd assume two lessons would be best before tackling the slope alone. So that's £120 - £360
So Id say Xscape was the better price for lessons.
It's £21 an hour recreational at Xscape and £22 for an hour and a half at Chill Factore so its cheaper at Chill Factore.
I have to say the booking process is far inferior at Chill Factor and is unclear from the off where your supposed to queue and a 1 month waiting time for the tubing for kids is a little over the top. Granted you get 60 mins for £10 whereas Xscape give you 30 mins for £8 or £9 for peek times. Chill Factore should cut the time down to 30 mins like Xscape, as that's probably all kids need as they'd get bored and non skiing parents would freeze.
So its an impressive slope in a desirable location but it really does need to improve it's booking system.
My only suggestion for this place would be for advanced skiers or boarders to be able to have smaller allocated freestyle sessions. I would gladly pay £22 for an hour to work on tricks but would not expect to get any kind of carving pleasure. scale is everything - relative to crowds. Blackcombe Vancouver is still the best resort I have even visited (peak to peak 3km of football field wide run with loads of sections).
Can you even comprehend what it must have cost to build that place and what it must cost to run it!?! Probably not, oh small minded ones.
Good afternoon. Myself and my partner visited your new complex on Friday 16th opening day. We handed over our cash and received our plastic lift pass and had an excellent time. Alas, we visited last night and what a difference! We went to pay and was amazed to find the price had risen. We were told it was because we were running over the 6 o clock peak time and the price alters accordingly! Where on your website or within the building itself is this information displayed, explaining that you have to pay part off peak and part peak? Lucky i hadn't travelled for over an hour with just the correct amount of money in my pocket! We were given cardboard lift passes which as soon as got wet started to disintegrate - i can only assume there were not enough plastic ones to go around, or was it the fact the slope was seriously over crowded. As soon as we entered the slope area the right hand lift broke down, leaving around 80 people queuing for the left one - long waiting times and no skiing. We did two runs each on what what can only be described as a terrible, cordoned off, icy slope and that took 25 minutes of our valuable lift pass up. We decided to return to reception and ask for a refund, simple we thought, until we discovered we hadn't been given a receipt. After being offered our passes to be transfered, or vouchers, which we refused, we managed to get our cash back with the help of a very understanding girl who was in charge of the float last night. There was no trace of us on the computer system which caused confusion as we have never, and still haven't put our details on! both times we just turned up and payed, although we were told we should have had to book in and give all our details? We were the lucky ones, as half hour later they closed the slope completely and reception was chaotic! This was a good call as the slope was in very poor condition, icy, dangerous and overcrowded. Even when we were leaving the slope, there must have been at least another 40+ people just about to go on. No room to ski, long waiting times, broken lifts and no snow do not make a good experience. I'm just glad we didn't purchase membership on day one, as we are in two minds whether to even bother again after the farce we experienced. A lot of people were very disappointed yesterday and i hope this email doesn't fall on deaf ears.
Someone in promotions needs a rocket! The place looks absolutely fabulous! Can't wait to try it.
As for it being pointless, well I can ski and I think it is a great idea to get back into the swing of things before a trip to the Alps. Personally I wouldn't touch dry slopes, they're enough to put people off skiing for life.
Manchester would be better for me to travel to, but until Chill Factore price sessions/deals that are attractive, I won't bother.
and £22 is a bit expensive for 1.5 hours. We need more time than that.
Why is there no info?
Web site good, however there needs to be more pictures and video clips added soon now it is open .. Who needs the French Alps when we have Urmston and Trafford !!!!
ADULT 1.5 HOURS £22 PEAK, £17 OFF-PEAK
JUNIOR/OAP 1.5 HOURS £18 PEAK, £14 OFF-PEAK
CLOTHING HIRE £5
AWESOME, CANT WAIT FOR THIS TO OPEN, SICK OF TRAVELLING OVER TO LEEDS TO SNOWDOME.
ADULT 1.5 HOURS £22 PEAK, £17 OFF-PEAK
JUNIOR/OAP 1.5 HOURS £18 PEAK, £14 OFF-PEAK
CLOTHING HIRE £5
Keep the prices competitive & offer membership schemes.
What about the introduction of congestion charging? The Chill Factore is inside the outer boundary so it will cost every vehicle £2 to get from the M60 to the Chill Factore.