The Rocket's modest launch pad

PENDLE, England — Nestled in the rolling countryside of Ribble Valley in northwest England is a modest ski slope about 140 meters long, 10 meters wide and surrounded by roaming sheep.

It's a gentle hill, featuring three tiny inclines at the start and a mostly flat section to finish. In parts, grass protrudes through the plastic matting that provides the rough, bristly surface for the course.

There is no snow here. There's rarely any of that in England, after all.

One word is often used to describe Pendle Ski Club: humble.

"And I don't think we'd change it for the world," says John Holmes, an instructor and volunteer at the facility. "It's a unique environment, but it's one where you can succeed. You really can."

Dave "The Rocket" Ryding is proof of that.

To the astonishment of many of his rivals who grew up in classic winter-sports countries like Sweden, Austria and Norway, Ryding has risen to become Britain's most decorated slalom racer after starting out on Pendle's quaint, unassuming dry slope from the age of six, and continuing well into his teens.

His resume includes being the only British winner in the nearly 60-year history of the Alpine skiing World Cup. That victory came in Kitzbuhel, Austria, one of the world's most famous and challenging circuits.

Ryding is now 39 and, in the final weeks of his career, a potential medal contender at the upcoming Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

"People know my story and they can't really believe that it was possible," Ryding told reporters.

"It has definitely defined who I am as a ski racer, and also has got me a lot more credit than, say, if I was from Austria or somewhere like that.

"I'll be known as the guy who grew up on the dry slopes. It has never been done before and, hopefully, it keeps influencing the next generation."

Sheep crossing

Britain, with its temperate climate, hardly jumps out as a skier's paradise. The country gets on average 13 days of lying snow a year, according to the Met Office — Britain's national meteorological service.

There are 67 slopes in the country, according to the Ski Club website, and they include just a handful of indoor snowdomes. The odds, then, of Ryding making it to the top of the sport were low when he first put on a pair of skis.

He remembers turning up for lessons in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeve T-shirt, and getting friction burns off the coarse surface whenever he fell.

Practice sessions and races would often take place on warm summer days. Occasionally, they'd be interrupted by sheep idling across the slope from nearby fields in a region designated by the government as "an area of outstanding natural beauty".

"It's in a national park, so the sheep were free to roam and do their business or whatever on the slopes," Ryding recalled. "If they chose during the training session that they wanted to cross the slope, respectfully, you had to give them time."

Fast starts

The slope is so short that it would take Ryding barely 12 seconds to get from the top to the bottom.

He believes that has helped, not hindered, his professional career.

"When I was first on snow — and still to this day — if there's a flat section, or a particularly flat start to a race, then I'm very, very fast compared to most other people," he said.

Holmes closely monitored Ryding's progress through his teenage years to the point where he could take on Europe's best skiers, all with the technique honed on a dry slope.

"We sometimes get members turning up who have had a couple of ski holidays, they slide about on the bristles and they don't tend to enjoy it," he said.

"But the people who start on the bristles learn the technique of weight on the outside ski, getting a good edge set ... direction and turn shape. So it does instill the fundamental skills."

An inspiration

It's a journey that has proved to be motivating for Pendle Ski Club's 600 members — mostly young, but some into their 70s — who come for weekly lessons and races.

Walk into the small clubhouse beside the slope and there is a large Union Jack flag draped on the wall with "Rocket" — Ryding's nickname — across the middle. Next to it is a photo of Ryding, whose pointed finger is above the words: "Your Ski Club Needs You."

When Ryding competes in World Cup races on a Sunday morning, kids gather around the TV at the club to cheer him on.

"You've got to start somewhere — he was here and he's been able to get to the Olympics," said 16-year-old Jayden Cuttriss, who was speaking at a race night at the club that took place in driving rain, but with no complaints from the youngsters involved. "It shows it's possible for anyone."

Jonathan Fenton, the club's oldest pupil at age 77, said of Ryding: "He's the best British skier we've ever had. An inspiration for one and all."

Last shot

Ryding is retiring at the end of the season, so this will be his fifth and last Olympics.

When he races in the slalom in Bormio on Feb 16, he'll try to improve on his best individual Olympic finish of ninth place in 2018 and win the country's first ever medal in Alpine skiing. Alain Baxter won bronze in the slalom in 2002, but was stripped of the medal after failing a drug test.

Then, Ryding wants to give something back to skiing and help forge a path for a future Olympic champion from Britain.

"No one has ever done it from the dry slopes before. In a sense, no one knows as well as me what it takes at each level, at each stage, to make that difference," Ryding said.

"If I can bring back the pathway that I took and then encourage kids to give it a go, and try, somehow, to create a financial structure that can help as well, I think I can make a big difference in the British skiing scene."

Agencies Via Xinhua