 Poster: A snowHead
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Paul Mason, have a good one. A day ticket covers 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. so potentially a lot of skiing. All the kit is Rossignol so don't expect comparative ski testing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Here's an interesting preview of Ski Dubai, in today's Observer.
A couple of observations by the authors, Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb:
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| For now this is as far as we are allowed to go, but around the corner, at the very top of the 85-metre high building, lies Ski Dubai's longest run. Pitched as the world's first indoor black run, it stretches for 400 metres with a fall of over 60 metres - some way from the downhill terror of Portes du Soleil, and probably more of a red or blue route for any experienced skier. |
... and ...
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| ... the kids' facilities - a 3,000 square metre ice cave, billed as the 'largest indoor snow park in the world' - are a child's fantasy of Dahl-esque ingenuity. Based beneath the slopes and already open to the public, they offer bobsleds, custom-built hills for tobogganing, a snowball shooting range and dedicated spaces for the construction of snowmen. Inside the 'snow cavern', chilly kids blunder their way around an ice maze, try to keep their balance on a wobbling 'ice-floe', and make friends with an enormous dragon constructed from large blocks of sculpted ice. |
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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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Just back from Dubai on a pre Xmas sun holiday. Whilst there took a trip to the Mall of the Emirates which bills itself as "the biggest mall in the Middle East", which it may be for a few months until another, bigger, one opens in Dubai. The amount of construction going on there is mind boggling.
Anyway the ski dome is tacked onto the side of the Mall and there are viewing facilities. It is only open for toboganning at present, which the local kids were enjoying, as were their parents looking at them. Some of the parents who were inside looked a bit incongrous with the ski jacket etc sitting on top of traditional Arab clothing !
Couldnt see much of the ski slope from where I was, but it may be worth a visit as a change from the sun etc (temps in the 80s when I was there last week).
The skidome is very near the hotels on Jumeirah Beach and as said is just off a motorway. The airport is 20-30mins away in light traffic, in heavy traffic (ie most of the time) a good bit longer. Doubtless parents with kids might see it as a good idea one day instead of the beach or the Wild Wadi water park ie a change of scene and in out of the sun.
You can hire all the kit you need there (apart maybe from hats/gloves, that wasnt too clear).
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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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The opening date of Ski Dubai seems to be slipping again. No official date, so no sign of the 2 December opening being met.
This report from The Electric New Paper, Singapore talks of "... teething problems. Several giant glass panels have already cracked, raising concern in the local media."
Glass has previously been reported as a cause of construction delays, partly due to heavy demands from Dubai's booming construction industry.
Other reports continue to reflect the magic of the building. Here's one from Independent Online, South Africa.
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| It really is hard not to marvel at the engineering ability that went into creating an indoor snow park, in the middle of what used to be mostly desert - where winters are still a "cool" 35°C and the summertime mercury reaches a tyre-melting 50°C. |
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well, with no advance notice from the project's website, it seems that Ski Dubai actually opened yesterday 30 November.
SnowboardClubUK has this scoop.
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| UAE school children had the inaugural ski-down and then the VIP guests were entertained by a laser and pyrotechnic show followed by the Flying Ace All-Stars, a group of professional skiers with experience ranging from the Winter Olympics to the X-games. |
For full details of the facilities, hours, prices and other details: http://www.skidubai.ae
Any reports from the desert snows are very welcome!
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There was a fantastic programme on it yesterday, showing all the problems during construction
Weds 30 Nov
Kings of Construction
The building of the seemingly impossible, an indoor alpine resort in the deserts of Dubai.
Discovery Channel 10pm-11pm
Also discussed in this thread here:
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=10881
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Converting Dirhams prices on SkiDubai's site to GBP divide by 7. (It's a little better than that but that's good enough for quick calcs.)
No new pics on the website yet. Looks like Beardy Branson didn't make his planned visit.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There still seems some doubt about exactly what's open at Ski Dubai.
This report from Yahoo! News last Sunday 27 November - which has a photo of someone skiing - suggests that the top (steepest) section of the dome won't open until 14 December - reporting comments of the chief executive Phil Taylor (who apparently doesn't ski, and was previously involved with Disneyland Paris and the London Eye).
So maybe contact them first to check, if you're making an expensive journey!
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Sky News is showing footage of the new slope now. The boarders seem to outnumber skiers.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| All clothing and equipment is provided in the entrance price of $35, including black, knee-length padded coats for any Arabs who prefer to wear their traditional kandouras to visit the snow - but skiing in the robes will be banned. |
from the BBC article. I've never heard them called kandouras - everybody calls the robes dishdashers. I suppose trying to ski in them would be worse than a kilt. And boarding would be a bum numbing experience. 
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The Guardian has this short article today, linking Ski Dubai's extraordinary birth with the use of energy and desalinated water (probably just as well that it's desalinated!).
The Independent says "It [Ski Dubai] has got electricity companies rubbing their hands with glee and environmentalists apoplectic with rage" ... and quote Friends of the Earth saying "This is an incredibly wasteful use of resources and it will have a big impact on the environment." Click here.
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The water consumption of Ski Dubai is probably not that high. Its electricity consumption (probably vast for the initial temperature reduction, but maybe not that massive for maintaining the sub-zero climate) would be interesting to know - I wonder if the operators would disclose these figures?
Certainly the burgeoning boom of Dubai as a pleasure paradise must be demanding vast resources. Maybe its government has an environmental 'payback' policy - which would be a good thing for all governments.
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You know it makes sense.
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I feel its my duty to check it out.....flying out on the 15th December for 6 nights.....and my family think we are going to get a weeks sun and swimming before Christmas tee hee
Will pack my gloves along with the swimming costume!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Just talked to a non-skiing friend in Dubai who confirms the whole slope is open for business. Re electricity consumption, the single biggest consumer and polluter in Dubai by a very long way is the aluminium smelter. The snow dome, once down to temperature, won't need a great deal of power. Any airconditioned space which has doors to the outside world - i.e. all of the shopping malls and hotels - will have a high power requirement for the additional cooling load imposed by letting hot and humid air in. Whatever FOTE think, tourist facilities are far less harmful than heavy industry. Dubai realises it cannot depend on oil (of which it has very little anyway) and must diversify to survive.
Next spring, the onsite hotel for SkiDubai is due to open - a 5* Kempinski (pun intended ??) in Swiss chalet style. Could even be a sensible place for absolute beginners to take their 1st ski holiday? Consistent snow and weather conditions. Much depends on the quality of the ski school.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Sean Newsom of The Sunday Times has this review of Ski Dubai. The article ends as follows:
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But I won’t be coming back.
Sean Newsom flew to Dubai as a guest of British Airways, and stayed at the Grosvenor House hotel courtesy of Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts |
He also states:
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| The winter-sports industry is already more guilty of suspect ecological practice than most. We don’t need to be schlepping across four time zones to go skiing in the desert. |
If he's genuinely that concerned, why on earth did he go in the first place? Did 'British Airways' and 'Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts' force this eco-savaging freebie on him?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| kuwait_ian wrote: |
| The snow dome, once down to temperature, won't need a great deal of power. Any airconditioned space which has doors to the outside world - i.e. all of the shopping malls and hotels - will have a high power requirement for the additional cooling load imposed by letting hot and humid air in. Whatever FOTE think, tourist facilities are far less harmful than heavy industry. |
Sounds like Friends of The Earth are exaggerating their case (Not unheard of )
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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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Well, the atmospheric impact of thousands of people flying to Dubai - which Sean Newson alludes to above - is probably more significant than the energy burn and CO2 emissions of Ski Dubai itself. But FOE were only answering a question, and the answer "... it will have a big impact on the environment" is obviously relative and arbitrary, hingeing on the word "big".
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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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Three more photos of Ski Dubai, and a report from EV World Blogs.
Anyone skied it yet?
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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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Barely a month after Ski Dubai opened, the death of the ruler of Dubai - Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum - was announced today.
His 15 year reign saw the boom in tourism symbolised by the huge snowdome and other wildly ambitious schemes.
This report from Times Online.
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FAQ
