Wycombe Summit, Dry Ski Slope, August 2014

[candleface]

Wycombe Summit is our first report and even though it has been reported before, it was of interest to us as we are from the area. Much of the history below is courtesy of Wikipedia.

The ski slope opened in 1994 and was situated just south of High Wycombe. The main slope was one of England's longest dry ski slopes, at 300m long.

In 1998 a 13 year old was killed at the ski centre after a foreseeable accident. A prosecution by the HSE led to fines of £13,500 and payment of costs of £10,000. local people lost confidence in the ability of the Ski Centre to take care of the safety of skiers.

The summit was liable for £2 million of debt from its construction costs, and in 2003 was briefly closed down and placed into receivership. However it reopened later that year under the management of SnowDome Group Ltd, who also own and operate the Tamworth SnowDome. The Wycombe Summit then continued trading until 2006, when a fire ripped through the chalet style building, housing the facilities at the slope. The site is still owned by the SnowDome group but plans to re-build the slopes have come to a halt.

The site today is in a sorry state, nothing of the original chalet building remains, the site is heavily overgrown, and has been stripped of anything of any value and it is slowly becoming the victim of vandalism, with evidence of graffiti and a number of fires.

The Banner at the entrance

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Emergency Vehicles Only

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Chair Lift Stanchion

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Childs Glove

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Video Camera at the bottom of the main slope

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View up the main slope from the bottom

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Burnt out part of the main slope

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Just in case.....

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View of the middle slope from a viewing platform

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Discarded ski equipment

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Dusty floodlights

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A fallen chair lift cable

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Thanks for looking, enjoy

For the full set, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/127025179@N08/

 

[Landie_Man]

You need to fix the links mate.

It's a derp but I enjoyed riding my purpose built sledge here and also the sheffield slope

 

[candleface]

Thanks for the heads up, the links have all been fixed now

 

[DirtyJigsaw]

Something different this! Nice one

 

[night crawler]

Thats a sad looking place which I never knew exsited, best of all I don't live that far from the place.

 

[sweet pea]

Great stuff i must drive straight past this every day

 

[AveVecron]

For a second there, I thought image 7 was the slope and this was a prank, haha!

Good post regardless, thanks for sharing!