The Liberty Snowflex Needs Your Support

Snowflex is the only year-round slope on the east coast, with the exception of Big Snow American Dream in New Jersey, but that deserves its own category. There’s a smaller introductory area at the base, complete with a drop-in ramp and flatboxes. There’s a big air jump, and plenty of hearty features for those brave enough to try them. Lessons start at just $30 to the public, or $25 to Liberty University students. Rentals are just another $16. Summer day camps are offered for four weeks in the summer. For someone looking to learn the basics, it does not get cheaper than the Snowflex.

Even snacks are cheap. I paid $2 for a coffee. Branded hoodies sold for $25.

I first learned about the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Center when I was in college. My roommate had a lacrosse game against Liberty, and while they were in the neighborhood, they rented some boards on an off day. A few years later, a different college friend was road tripping from his hometown in New Hampshire to a new home in Indianapolis. His skis were in the car, and he made a slight detour to link some turns and slide some rails.

Then while at Beech Mountain for Zeb and Cac’s Pop Out, I rode the chairlift with Noah Alston and his friend. Noah is the programming coordinator at Liberty. He coached me up a little bit about the differences between sliding on snow and the toothbrush bristles he makes his living on. There’s without a doubt a learning curve, but when November rolls around and everyone on the rope tow is getting their fitness back, Noah’s typically in mid-season form already.

Now here’s what’s happening: Liberty Snowflex’s existence is being threatened. Those in charge are talking about shutting it down, and those who love it (locals, students, alumni, team riders, and campers) are asking for help keeping it open.

You can sign a petition to help save it here.

The facility is important for a few reasons. The college ski and snowboard team consistently finish the USCSA National Championships with skiers and riders on the podium. The year-round training facility is a big reason why.

It deserves to keep going for this most of all: it has developed an entire generation of snowboarders and freestyle skiers who otherwise probably wouldn’t have been able to progress.

I’m going to say something you already know: trips to New Zealand and Chile to chase winter are expensive. So are flights to Japan for airbag repetitions. Riders from modest families on the east coast can dial in their trip selection all summer long for $30 a day. Best of all, it’s just a few hours from D.C., Philadelphia, and North Carolina.

Most of your favorite riders who have come out of the south have ridden at Liberty Snowflex. In a promotional video for the dryslope from over a year ago, Luke Winkelmann appears seemingly out of nowhere, and is listed as an “up-and-comer.” Kaden Rusinko coached at summer camp there just last year. Brantley Mullins has one of the gnarliest bails I’ve ever seen in my life on that slope.

Like I said earlier, the Snowflex is cheap, and there’s nothing on the entire east coast like it. It’s not even being used to its complete potential. When I was talking with some members of the U.S. Olympic halfpipe team, they lamented the fact that they had to travel all the way to Japan to get reps on an airbag. Liberty Snowflex is halfway there. All the university needs to do is strike a deal with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, and Americans presence on the podium would increase.

There are ways to make this work, and there are people willing to do the work. Count me among them. Because with all the progress snowboarding has made in the southeast, I would hate for this to be a reason it took a step backward.

Go ahead. Sign the petition.