Many ski and snowboard lovers dream to have the opportunity to hit the slopes all year round, but sadly, the winter season is always so short. This year, Buck Hill Ski and Snowboard Area has introduced artificial snow, which will allow recreational and competitive ski and snowboarders the opportunity to ski year-round.

Sophomore Bailey Donovan is on the U.S. Ski Team (USSA), a highly competitive alpine ski team, that practices at Buck Hill. She notes that skiing on the artificial snow is a lot harder than she imagined.

“Skiing on the artificial snow was a lot like skiing on sheer ice. There is no way that you can carve the tops of your turns, and when you carve the bottom your ski gets caught and you can’t really transfer over to the other ski very quickly,” Donovan said.

As, an advanced skier, Donovan doesn’t recommend artificial snow to beginning skiers.

“It’s not the easiest surface to stop on, and as I said before it can be really hard to turn,” Donovan said.

Donovan also mentioned how falling on this new type of skiing surface can be more painful than regular snow.

“Personally I have not fallen on it yet, but I have heard some first hand experiences from people that have. They say that it’s not really fun. You just slide and create a lot of friction, and [you also] get a giant bruise if [the artificial snow] doesn’t end up cutting your skin,” Donovan said.  

For the warmer months, the best clothing to wear would be items that cover yourself to prevent harm.

“The clothing that you should wear ranges from jeans to sweatpants. There is no stopping you from wearing any sort of pants, as long as they’re pants. It would not be the smartest thing to wear shorts, if you fall you would rip up your legs very badly,” Donovan said.

As someone who values and keeps their skis in great condition, Donovan assures that there has been little to no damage done to her skis.

“It’s not the best for your skis and it’s not the worst for your skis. There was no base damage after I skied on it, but it does leave these little pieces of the plastic that you’re skiing on and they can be hard to get off,” Donovan said.

Donovan also mentioned how alpine gate training is very tough and unproductive to pull off in artificial snow.

“For USSA training we did one day of training with gates and the coaches decided after that day that we would never again train gates. It did not help us with our technique and our turns were terrible,” Donovan said.

Buck Hill is located at 15400 Buck Hill Rd in Burnsville Minnesota. It will be open year round.