 Poster: A snowHead
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Ski Dubai Snow Park, due to open next September and claimed to be the largest indoor snow play area in the world, has unveiled its range of attractions. Features will "re-create an authentic mountain environment with frozen waterfalls, rocky outcrops, tree formations and fresh snow everyday." The snow attractions will include "tobogganing hills, twin track bobsled racing, and a snowball shooting gallery"...
The facility's snow technology is being installed by Acer Snowmec, the UK company which built the snowguns into the British snowdomes at Milton Keynes and Castleford. Before that, Snowmec built a prototype snow facility in Telford which pioneered the idea of sub-slope freezing to create a type of artificial glacier on which the snowcover is laid.
This report on the Ski Dubai Snow Park from Strategiy.
There are links to architects' impressions of the Dubai dome on this previous snowHeads thread.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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More on this from skipressworld The coolest thing to do in Dubai.
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| With these variations in widths and the 60 degree bend, British company Acer Snowmec (who were responsible for the slope geometry and building design) designed in both left and right turns, the bottom of the slope cannot be seen from the top, which was a requirement of the project’s backer as he observed that on a mountain you can rarely see the bottom of a run from the top. |
Call me an old cycnic if you like but putting a big bend in is more likely to be a sneaky way of maximizing run length within a given size of building. Whatever - it sounds impressive. And skiers and sliders will use separate areas.
The Dubai snowdome's own web site is in it's infancy on www.skidxb.com Warning it's a flash animation at present with no way I know to skip the intro and virtually no content afterwards.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Here is the explanation of how it gets to being ranked 3rd
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The snow centre is 60m (200 feet) wide at the top, then widens to 80m (250 feet) wide in the “midstation” area where the slope turns 60 degrees then reduces to 60m again before opening up into the “snowbowl” which is 80m wide and has an arched ceiling over 25m (80 feet) high. A high speed quad chair lift will take skiers up the slope, with a mid station at the left turn point of the slope. A second button lift provides additional uplift for the five ski slopes designed to offer something for all ability levels. Up to 1,500 people will be able to use the ski slopes at any one time.
The height difference from top to bottom of the ski slope is over 60m (200 feet) and the longest of the ski runs, a combination of red and blue gradients, is 400m (1250 feet). That maximum slope length and the total snow area of 22,500 square metres places Ski Dubai in the world top three for size. |
A high speed quad with a mid station and a poma. No troublesome T-bar tows there.  And boarders and the competitive side haven't been forgotten
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For boarders there’s the permanent snowboarding quarter pipe running at the side of the upper slope and an area set aside for a snowboarding park with jumps and rails for those that want to practice their stunts.. The design allows for a temporary ramp to be added to make a full half pipe set out to official competition dimensions. Snowboarding, freestyle jumping, slalom runs - can all be catered for.
The design and facilities of the Dubai centre will be so good that it is capable of following the example set by Snow World in Holland in hosting professional winter sports events including FIS credited ski or board contests at top level. |
Full story also including news of a possible snow dome in Snowdonia in this {long} article from skipressworld
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Some people in that area count their wealth by the number of camels in the yard. I think in future they could also count the number of skies and snowboards they keep. I do fancy carrying a pair of skies on the back of a camel to this snowdome.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Strategiy.com: Middle East’s first indoor ski resort nears completion
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Construction of the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort at the Majid Al Futtaim Investments project, the Mall of the Emirates saw a major milestone achieved with the final section of the ski slope raised into place.
Utilising a technique known as ‘strandjacking’, a section of the slope, weighing 3000 tonnes (the equivalent of 500 elephants), was lifted 30m into the air and connected to the main framework of the ski hill structure. The completion of this phase signals a significant landmark in the construction process of the Mall of the Emirates project, which continues on track for opening on 3 September 2005.
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