Learn to Ski, Snowboard or Enhance Your Skills at Snobahn's Indoor Simulators

Walk into Snobahn Action Sports Center in Thornton and it’s a whirl of activity: kids practicing skateboard tricks in a freestyle park, others jumping on a trampoline, and a few skiers and snowboarders honing their turns on high-tech slope simulators. Above it all, there’s a second-level terrace for watching the athletes at work, as well as a bar and café. 

Founder Sadler Merrill first learned of the slope simulators with treadmill-like technology in 2014.

“They’ve been around since the late ’80s, and there are 150 centers in Europe,” he says. 

While the concept had gained traction in Switzerland and other ski meccas across the Atlantic, it was nonexistent in the United States — until Merrilll opened the first Snobahn just south of Denver in Centennial in 2016. 

A big impetus was the challenges associated with teaching kids how to ski or snowboard, says Merrill. A first day on the slopes might involve several hours of driving, a few temper tantrums and hot chocolate breaks, and a half-hour of actual skiing and snowboarding. 

The question that catalyzed Snobahn's startup involved changing that kind of math.

Most Skiers Live in Urban Areas

“What if you could bring skiing to people's backyards?” says Merrill. “Ninety-five percent of skiers live in urban and suburban areas, not in the mountains.” 

The model evolved after the Centennial location’s grand opening, when business dipped in the summer.

“In Colorado in the summer, people want to be outside,” says Merrill. “As ski season ended, kids’ sports started. There’s soccer and baseball and everything else, and you can’t hold back the sun. Adults are golfing, hiking, biking, skiing, rock climbing, rafting, fishing.” 

Snobahn subsequently expanded from 9,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet and added skateboarding ramps, trampolines and airbags. “That enabled us to really create a viable, sustainable, 12-month business model with a very fun summer camp offering. That opened in 2018 and changed the business.” 

Kids Camps Help Develop a Variety of Skills

Once the model proved itself in Centennial, Merrill built out a 38,000-square-foot location in Thornton that opened in early 2024. About 800 kids will attend the one-week camps at both locations in 2025. 

“They get an hour of skiing every day, but they also do trampolines, and that’s not just bouncing,” says Merrill. “We’re teaching them how to do flips and different tricks and teaching them how to skateboard. So it’s a very interesting, dynamic summer camp with multiple activities to keep kids engaged throughout the day.” 

Customers can also drop in for private or semi-private lessons on the revolving slopes or buy membership packages to access the freestyle park and other features. About 75 percent of the ski and snowboard customers are beginners, says Merrill.

“When kids age into it, they can teach them here during the week, and then when they go up to the mountain on the weekend, the whole family can ski together,” he explains. “They leave Snobahn as a lower intermediate skier, but we take them from that first turn to there, so then they have the proper fundamentals, proper mechanics to go refine and practice on the slopes.... On day one, you’re able to ski right out of the gate, and then they have fun and many are skiing blues at the end of the first day.” 

Easy Access, Safe Learning Environment

The easy access to Denver is a big lure to many customers, he adds. “At each location, we teach about 6,000 people a year how to ski and snowboard, and 12 percent of our customers said they would have never learned to ski or snowboard if it wasn’t for Snobahn.” 

Many customers opt for an eight-pack or a 12-pack of lessons, but others are just looking for a tune-up en route to the slopes.

Action sports aside, Snobahn is also a unique event venue for groups of up to 45 people.

“For business presentations, we have an 18-foot diagonal video wall where we can do presentations up there,” says Merrill. “Then just for general team-building or corporate events, we can have everyone try skiing and snowboarding, or we can do instruction in skate, scooter, BMX, trampoline. A lot of people have never tried to backflip, and we can teach them a safe progression to learn their first backflip.” 

It’s not that different from the beginners who learn how to ski or skateboard at Snobahn.

“All of these sports are intimidating,” notes Merrill. “Participation is prohibitive for various reasons, whether it’s intimidation, access, cost or equipment, and we can break down all of those barriers and teach you how to skateboard or ski or snowboard or learn a backflip. We're trying to inspire a life of adventure in the outdoors. We’re just a stepping stone to the outdoor experience.” 

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