Discover Benelux | Dutch Industry and Innovation | Made in the Netherlands
MAXXTRACKS:
Skiing whatever the weather TEXT: STUART FORSTER | PHOTOS: MAXXTRACKS
Maxxtracks is a Dutch company whose ski slope simulators are used within approximately 250 indoor ski centres around the world. From China to South Africa, the treadmill-like simulators, whose speed and incline can be changed at the touch of a button by instructors, can currently be found in 26 countries. About 50 are operational within the Netherlands. Their locations include Amsterdam’s Ski Inn and the Skicentrum Heemskerk. Heemskerk, a town 15 kilometres north-west of the Dutch capital, is home to Maxxtracks, a company that started operating in 1991 and now employs around 150 staff. Within the United Kingdom you can find Maxxtracks’ simulators in use at several locations, including the Chel-Ski ski cen26 | Issue 53 | May 2018
tre in the Chelsea area of London, Skizone at Basingstoke, plus Summit Indoor Adventure in Selby, North Yorkshire. There’s also a slope within the Help for Heroes Recovery Centre at Tidworth in Wiltshire. Jan L.F. Bos is Maxxtracks’ vice-president of marketing and sales. His background is in aviation, as an aircraft engineer, pilot instructor and Fokker’s director of marketing and sales. “Where can you learn flying an airplane best? On a simulator. Why? Because you can repeat exercises and say ‘go again’. That’s precisely what the benefit of this equipment is. You can set the angle and set the speed to meet the requirements of everyone. That’s children of four or five years old to Olympic and World Cup skiers,” he says. In addition to giving everyone from beginners to advanced skiers or snowboard-
ers opportunities to undertake exercises suited to their level of experience, the simulators allow people to pull on their equipment independent of weather and location. “Even if you have a small building you can put one in,” explains Mr Bos, who cites the example of Skieasy at Dukes Meadows in Chiswick: a Maxxtrack ski slope simulator was installed into an area previously utilised as a squash court. “It’s not a gadget, it’s a training apparatus that is meant for people who want to improve their physical and technical skills. We see that people use it every week or every two weeks — like going to the gym — so that once they go to the snow they are very proficient,” says Mr Bos. The ‘speed under ski’ experienced on Maxxtracks’ simulators depends, to a large part, upon the ability of the skier. If