Ski Dubai

[snowwjob1]

So I traveled to Uganda this summer and spent 2 days in Dubai. Well if you love the snow you have to go right? Well I did. To start the equipment is horrible, I know it has been a while since a dawned soft boots but wow noodle is a word. 

If you are a germaphobe you should dress warm and avoid the rental clothes. It is like pulling a bowling shoe over your body. But the experience is great. It was 115 deg. outside and 25 deg. inside. Quit a thermo engineering marvel.

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by snowwjob1
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[Dan]

Awesome! Good on you for making it happen - I've always been curious about what those indoor slopes are like. 

[philw]

The Dubai slope is way bigger than the ones we have here, but I shot this last Saturday. It was busier earlier, and later, but quiet for this.

As I happen to have this handy from my phone...

There's a beginner slope with a magic carpet down out to the left at the bottom. Poma lifts left and right. The lifts are very slow, but I think that helps them increase capacity. It takes about 5 times as long to get up as it does to get back down, with a cycle time of about one lap every 4 minutes. The snow is kind of weird - like artificial stuff outdoors, but I think it maybe has chemicals in it also. It's about zero C in there. You can see a few small humps build up during the day. They're soft and friendly enough to hit any way you like including completely cranked over. Naturally I was the only one with hard boots/ race board. These places are mostly used for learning - they have multiple group lessons on here sometimes.

Helmets are sadly mandatory here, as are gloves. Years ago this same slope was a plastic outdoor slope - that was more challenging and had bigger bumps.

[davekempmeister]

7 hours ago, philw said:

The Dubai slope is way bigger than the ones we have here, but I shot this last Saturday. It was busier earlier, and later, but quiet for this.

As I happen to have this handy from my phone...

There's a beginner slope with a magic carpet down out to the left at the bottom. Poma lifts left and right. The lifts are very slow, but I think that helps them increase capacity. It takes about 5 times as long to get up as it does to get back down, with a cycle time of about one lap every 4 minutes. The snow is kind of weird - like artificial stuff outdoors, but I think it maybe has chemicals in it also. It's about zero C in there. You can see a few small humps build up during the day. They're soft and friendly enough to hit any way you like including completely cranked over. Naturally I was the only one with hard boots/ race board. These places are mostly used for learning - they have multiple group lessons on here sometimes.

Helmets are sadly mandatory here, as are gloves. Years ago this same slope was a plastic outdoor slope - that was more challenging and had bigger bumps.

Is there any variability in the texture, one visit to the next ?  Like, occasionally maybe they inject some water to firm it up ?

or is it always the same ?  looks like sugar.    for about the last 20 years I have heard there will be one near the Meadowlands in NJ, just outside of the city.  it is still not up and running.

[philw]

11 hours ago, davekempmeister said:

Is there any variability in the texture, one visit to the next ?  Like, occasionally maybe they inject some water to firm it up ?

or is it always the same ?  looks like sugar.    for about the last 20 years I have heard there will be one near the Meadowlands in NJ, just outside of the city.  it is still not up and running.

I don't go that often, but it does vary. Some times it feels "stickier" than others, and people whine when they get it wrong now and then. It's different from artificial snow at a resort - I suspect that they probably put some chemical in it. It does look (and feel) a bit like sugar, although it does not feel the same as natural "sugary" snow, which would be wetter. This is not at all wet.

The surface varies - this had reasonably-fun small bumps on it, which I'd guess is because it's 20:00 at night and they'd probably built up through the day. The "scraped" bits are like scraped-artificial at a resort; the soft stuff is like cruddy snow - you can slap your board around in it just like the real thing, or carve it.

There are a handful of these in the UK. Bigger slopes are in Holland and Dubai. Ours are all about this size and they seem reasonably financially stable - I went to the opening of this one which was... 7 years ago I think. There's another one 30 minutes from this one, but these are all in relatively rich parts of the country.