In the United Arab Emirates, it’s 80 degrees and sunny.
And it’s snowing in the desert.
The flakes, of course, are man-made, but who cares when you’re skiing in one of the most exotic places on Earth?
Ski Dubai, a 25-story indoor mountain, is part amusement park, part engineering wonder.
“We came because we wanted to see ice, like the movies,” explained 17-year-old Kuwaiti Omar Kemal, who stood in line on a recent evening with three friends. “It blows your mind. There’s nothing that can beat this. Not Hollywood. Not Las Vegas.”
Mind-blowing is a common adjective to describe Dubai, which during the past decade has gone from a sleepy village to a modern city apart from the terrorism and instability found elsewhere in the Middle East.
Dubai also is the Middle East capital of glitz. It hosts the world’s first underwater hotel, the largest man-made island chain and a $1 million golf tournament.
Ski Dubai, which is attached to the biggest shopping mall outside the U.S., is just the latest example of how money is no object when fantasy is involved.
To build the $83 million project, more than 1,200 laborers on 24-hour shifts worked nearly two years to make the five ski slopes, snowboard run and children’s ice palace. Once construction was complete, it took six more weeks to produce the snow base.
The center finally opened to the public a few weeks ago–just in time for Christmas.
In this man-made winter, the air temperature is a constant 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s always sunny. The snow-covered fir trees are fake.
“It’s the ideal situation all the time. … You can ski here for four or five hours without getting frozen or any headaches,” said Ski Dubai General Manager Younis al Mulla.
Tickets for skiing are $41 for a two-hour session. To play in the snow costs approximately $11. Customers can rent snow bibs, jackets, gloves, boots and skis on site.
The snow-frolickers are being watched all the while through observation windows by hordes of mallgoers dressed in T-shirts and summer skirts.
For a skier who has experienced the Rockies, swooshing down these well-manicured slopes could be underwhelming.
But the weirdness of snow in the desert was enough to lure 60,000 visitors in the first three weeks of operation, about 70 percent of whom were Arabs, according to ticket-takers at the center.
Demand is expected to remain high despite mixed reviews from admittedly amateur skiers about the quality of powder at the mall versus a real mountain.
But it might be worth a swoosh if you’re traveling in the area.
Go to www.skidubai.ae for more information.
HOW DO THEY DO IT?
The snow machines at Ski Dubai are surprisingly small and adapted from technology used to keep warehouses of food from spoiling. The secret is the miles of piping. During the night the temperature in the center drops to around 20 degrees. Then, large amounts of water are pumped into a high-pressure gun that cools the liquid and then atomizes it as ice crystals.
Each night the hoses produce 3,000 tons of fresh snow, and the melted run-off is recycled to the mall’s air conditioning systems.
WHICH WAY TO DUBAI?
From Chicago, you can get to Dubai on several airlines. It can get pricey, but use the trip to explore other parts of Dubai as well.
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KLM $847
United $892
Air France $899
British Airways $1,074
American $1,317
Delta $1,435
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(TICKET PRICES ARE FOR ROUND-TRIP TICKETS DEPARTING JAN. 21 AND RETURNING JAN. 29, ACCORDING TO RECENT FARES ON TRAVELOCITY AND CHEAPTICKETS.COM)
