After 15 years, Liberty’s Snowflex Centre remains a hotspot for year-round recreation

The Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this fall, continues to offer unique recreational opportunities 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 and snowboard enthusiasts and those seeking adventure on its tubing runs.

Besides riding on its terrain park features and jumps, visitors and students enjoy lounging and studying in the Barrick-Falwell Lodge, surrounded by a variety of taxidermy donated by its first namesake, Dr. Alan Barrick, mounted on its walls. The facility opened two years after the death of its second namesake, Liberty co-founder Dr. Jerry Falwell.

Snowflex has become a premiere meeting location for everything from birthday parties for the public 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.”

While many students and the general public are introduced to snow sports at the LMSC, the year-round nature of the facility gives members of Liberty’s ski and 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 as they prepare for USCSA Nationals at Mt. Batchelor in Oregon in the spring.

Over Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 13-14, the men’s and women’s ski and snowboard teams held their first alumni event, open to any of the 230 former and 40 current team members and coaches, and Snowflex 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

“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.”

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.

“It’s been amazing,” said Josie Rich, a senior 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 definitely a huge blessing to be able to have that opportunity to keep riding in 90-degree heat.”

She enjoys the fellowship amongst her teammates as much as the riding time she gets in at Snowflex.

“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.

Liberty’s teams are coming off their most successful seasons in program history, with the Flames’ men’s snowboarders landing atop the Slopestyle and Rail Jam podiums as individuals and a team for the first time at the USCSA National Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., last March. The women’s ski and snowboard teams have experienced even more gold medal success in recent seasons, with the Lady Flames’ snowboarders and skiers also posting individual and team first-place finishes at Lake Placid.

“Last year was just an amazing year,” Rosario said. “It was truly something special.”

The New York native works primarily with the men’s snowboarders and enjoys his job as much as he loved competing for the Flames.

“Coaching is honestly a lot more fun than riding for me right now,” Rosario said. “It’s good to see them progressing and get them to be way better snowboarders than I am.”

Woods learned to ski and snowboard on the LMSC slopes as a student under the instruction of his brother-in-law, former Head Coach Isaac Gibson. He has moved up the ranks on staff even faster than he has progressed on its slopes.

“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 throughout the 2024-25 school year and through 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 freshmen 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 a total of more than 1,000 people with passes offered for only $5.

This month, the Snowflex turf on the entire beginner’s slope in front of the lodge will be replaced.

“The bunny hill is our most highly trafficked area, so it will be 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 it will be one of our largest.”