4SeasonAlpine: Doylestown now has new year-round snow sports virtual simulator

Interested in learning to ski without the fear of hitting a tree?

4SeasonAlpine, Bucks County’s first indoor ski and snowboard school, might be the place to start.

The school, located on North Main Street near Buckman’s Ski and Snowboard Shop, hosted its grand opening Oct. 29 and 30. It features a virtual snow sports simulator for new and experienced skiers.

The experience offered by this nearly 20-foot-long simulator developed by SkyTechSport, provides people of all ages and experience levels the chance to feel and see what it’s like to race down slalom courses all over the world — minus the snow.

The closest thing to skiing on the slopes?

“As far as the movement, it’s the closest I’ve ever felt to skiing without actually skiing,” said Hannah Forte, children’s programs manager at Blue Mountain Resort in the Poconos. “There’s a lot of movement on the machine to simulate the feel of the snow.”

Andrey Yunusov, founder of 4SeasonAlpine, said this same simulator technology has been used by Olympians and he’s happy to make it accessible to the public.

“Now kids and adults, from no skiing and snowboarding experience to those experts today in our class, can use this machine, experience all sensations and prep them for a really successful upcoming ‘22-‘23 ski and snowboard season,” Yunusov said, as he led a class made up of Blue Mountain’s instructional leadership team.

The technology combined with coaching offered at 4SeasonAlpine, allows beginners to learn the basics, experienced skiers and riders to get conditioned in the preseason and competitive racers to train year-round.

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Winter sports comes to Bucks County

4SeasonAlpine, is the first business venture for Yunosov, who started skiing when he was a 6-year-old boy growing up in Uzbekistan, where he had many opportunities to hit the impressive slopes of the Chimgan and Beldersoy mountains.

Coming to the U.S. in 2008, he continued to ski and passed his love of winter sports along to his wife and their five kids.

“I just see myself as a happy kid when I’m skiing. I feel like I’m flying,” Yunusov said.

A joy like no other, he wanted to find a way for him and his family to chase that feeling of flying any time of year. Opening 4SeasonAlpine allows him to do just that.

“You can come to the studio and within a half hour session, you don’t have a lift and you don’t have lines and you can ski nonstop,” he said.

Tina Buckley, training supervisor at Blue Mountain Resort, was impressed by how well the simulator replicated the sensations of skiing.

“All those actions that you bring on the real snow, you can get with this machine. It trains your muscles to get ready for the season. I just love it,” Buckley said.

There to test out the snowboard feature of the simulator, Clayton Ayers, training supervisor and snowboard technical director at Blue Mountain Resort, found the machine to be a good workout, while also a lot of fun.

“I feel like I am snowboarding, and I get the same type of excitement and thrill from it. So, I feel like it will prepare me for a good snowboard season,” Ayers said.

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Virtual simulator can prevent injuries leaing up to ski season?

With the off-season lasting around seven months, it can take weeks to get warmed up when skiers and riders first hit the slopes each year, which can often lead to injuries, said Joe Forte, director of snow sports at Blue Mountain Resort.

He feels places like 4SeasonAlpine gives people a chance to properly condition themselves well ahead of the season.

“Most skiers wait until there’s snow to prepare to ski and that first month, they’re very prone to injury because they’re out of shape,” Forte said. “Using a simulator like this, lets you hit the snow ready to ski and you can enjoy it from the start.”

Go: 4SeasonAlpine is located at 641 N. Main St. Suite D in Doylestown; 4seasonalpine.com

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: New indoor ski and snowboard school opens in Doylestown