After 15 years, Liberty’s Snowflex Centre remains a hotspot for year-round recreation
The Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, which turned 15 at the start of the fall semester, continues to offer unique recreational opportunities for the community and the area’s most breathtaking sunset views of Liberty University’s thriving campus below.
The innovative year-round slopes — covered with Snowflex, a synthetic turf that simulates the slip and grip of snow with the help of a sub-surface misting system — attract area ski, snowboard, and tubing enthusiasts.
Besides riding on its terrain park features and jumps, students and visitors enjoy relaxing and studying in the Barrick-Falwell Lodge, surrounded by a variety of taxidermy donated by its namesake, Dr. Alan Barrick, mounted on its walls. The facility opened two years after the death of its other namesake, Liberty founder Dr. Jerry Falwell.
Snowflex has become a premier meeting location for the community, hosting everything from birthday parties to student events, camps, and competitions.
“We get a lot of traction and a lot of lodge reservations,” Director Derek Woods said. “As soon as the semester starts, we’ll be booked up in the upper lodge almost every day, whether that’s for a dorm activity, an academic class, or a department having an event.”
Woods learned to ski and snowboard on the Snowflex slopes as a student under the instruction of former Head Coach Isaac Gibson.
“It’s cool because a lot of freshmen will show up and hang out and watch people ride and get introduced to Snowflex,” he said. “I started as a student worker, flipping tubes, and I’ve rolled through just about every position here.”
Woods is looking to more effectively engage the Lynchburg community and Liberty’s student body this school year and throughout the summer months.
He said the facility remains open during large campus events like College For A Weekend (CFAW), which has drawn close to 500 prospective students and their families, with many taking advantage of group lessons and $10 two-hour passes.
“We’re always trying to get more students up here,” he said, noting on Mondays, the Snowflex staff offers free lessons for students as an informal way for them to learn how to ski and snowboard in a small group setting. “We see a lot of freshman use and a lot of novelty use among students.”
For the community, Snowflex has promotional packages that include $10 combo passes on Tuesdays and $25 any other day of the week, allowing visitors to use the slopes and tubing runs with rentals included for two hours.
“We really just want to make it cost-affordable and an enjoyable experience where you can participate in skiing and snowboarding with a minimal fare to enter,” Woods said.
Over the summer, the facility hosts its Next Level Day and Overnight Camps, drawing talented riders from all over the country, and has offered Family Fun Nights, attracting more than 1,000 people with passes offered for only $5.
In the fall, the Snowflex turf on the entire beginner’s slope in front of the lodge was replaced.
“The bunny hill is our most highly trafficked area, so it is very exciting to have fresh Snowflex material out there,” Woods said, noting that the slopes are on a 10-year lifecycle maintenance plan, rotating through the various sections. “We do a replacement every year, but this year is one of our largest.”
While many students and the general public are introduced to snow sports at Snowflex, the year-round nature of the facility gives members of Liberty’s ski & snowboard teams, part of the university’s Club Sports program, a leg up on their competition. They are thankful to have a consistent home base to train on throughout the school year. Most collegiate programs must wait until Thanksgiving or even Christmas to begin training for the new season that starts in January. By contrast, the Flames and Lady Flames can hit the slopes when they arrive on campus in August.
A Liberty skier soars above the campus below with the Peaks of Otter in the distance.
“It’s been amazing,” said Josie Rich, a senior skier pursuing a B.S. in Digital Media. “A lot of what I’ve learned trick-wise, I learned at Snowflex. We definitely have an advantage over a lot of other teams because they don’t get to practice in the fall like we do, so it’s a huge blessing to be able to have that opportunity to keep riding in 90-degree heat.”
Rich, who won silver medals in Rail Jam and Slopestyle at the USCSA National Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., last March, enjoys the fellowship among her teammates as much as the riding time.
“I’ve definitely grown a lot and met a lot of my closest friends here, and we definitely sharpen each other in our faith,” Rich said.
Over Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 13-14, former and current team members and coaches attended the first alumni event at Snowflex. The facility also hosted the second annual Mountain Mayhem competition, drawing a crowd of 400. Former Liberty snowboarder and second-year Head Coach Tyler Sherbine (’22) served as emcee. Tim Steltzer (’14) won the men’s skiing division of the Big Air event.
Flames ski & snowboard team members Jesse Mast, Isabella Tinney, and Tate Gardner all won gold medals at last season’s USCSA National Championships. (Photo by Kendall Tidwell)
“Snowflex took my freestyle riding to the next level,” said Ian Rosario, who rode for the Flames from 2019-22 and is in his third season serving as an assistant coach. “When you’re riding every day for a couple months solid, you progress really, really fast, especially with everyone around. It’s just an environment that creates a lot of friend groups when you’re practicing four days a week up here, and you get close to people fast. It creates a lot of camaraderie, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s awesome, a real blessing.”
Liberty’s teams are coming off their most successful seasons in program history, with the men’s snowboarders landing atop the Slopestyle and Rail Jam podiums as individuals and as a team for the first time at the USCSA Nationals. The women’s ski & snowboard teams have experienced even more gold medal success in recent seasons, with snowboarders and skiers also posting individual and team first-place finishes at Lake Placid.
Snowflex hosted the USCSA Southeast Conference Rail Jam and Big Air competitions on Feb. 8-9, and Liberty’s teams are now preparing for the USCSA Mid-Atlantic/Southeast Regionals on Feb. 22 at Wintergreen Resort in nearby Nelson County, Va. The event serves as the qualifier for the March 10-15 USCSA Nationals at Mt. Batchelor in Oregon.
