Mehnaz

Oh my, this certainly looks like fun, but I don't know about skiing in a full length robe like the arabs in these pictures.

The largest indoor snow park in the world opens on Friday in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai.

Built on what was previously desert sand, the slopes are to be covered with manufactured snow all year round.

The centre will have green, blue, red and black runs, chairlifts and snow patrols, like any other ski resort.

The area under snow is the equivalent of three football pitches, with runs built inside a giant, slanting metal tube around 25 floors high.

Ski school

A snow park next door has tobogganing, icy bobsleigh runs and a ski school.

Anyone wanting to ski on the main slopes will have to prove their confidence before being allowed to do so.

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.

The snow is made by shooting water at high pressure into an atmosphere maintained at around freezing point by coolers both below and above the slopes.

Until now Dubai has been a destination for warm beach holidays. But the ski slope is likely to be most popular, especially for residents, during Dubai's harsh summer when temperatures reach well above 40C.

Pictures can be seen here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4491210.stm

Femme Fatale

God I thought this was going to have something to do with global warming Looks like fun. Not sure if they should be wearing the long robes in their considering they COULD slip and u probably don;t want to be in a long dress when u fall flat.

Mr Fraudia

yeah the in the arabic long dresses the spread eagle pose to get up after a fall aint gonna be too good for the aesthetic senses of others

Kaleem

Tauba Tauba ...Spread eagle....Why do you want to spread the eagle in Snow?

bollybuster

Did they also import genetically modified Snow Camels?

Sadaf

Oh i thought there was snow fall in dubai and I missed it

Yeah I have heard about it. They have money, they can do anything.

underthedome

Go Dubai!

..............
DUBAI (AFP) - Skiing has officially started at Dubai's new indoor Alpine ski resort, offering the world's first indoor black-run just minutes away from the Arabian desert emirate's sun-baked beaches.

The lower level slopes started welcoming skiers on Friday, while the upper ones were due to be open on December 14, Ski Dubai chief executive Phil Taylor told AFP.
Snowboarders can also test their skills on a 90-meter-long (300 feet) quarter pipe, as well as jumps and rails at the ski dome nestled inside the brand-new, gigantic Mall of the Emirates.

"I am now rushing to take a skiing lesson before heading back to a business meeting," said one Emirati national, who will have to swap his Arab traditional robe for warm ski gear before hitting the slopes.

Snowboarder Johnny Yammine, who usually spends his free time on motocross and mountain climbing expeditions in the Emirati desert, is "ecstatic about the good quality of snow and the varied terrain which is far better than indoor skiing I have tried in Europe."

The 272-million-dollar resort is but the latest extravagant project in the Gulf emirate seeking to become a major tourism hub, following on from the world's tallest tower and only undersea hotel.

Ski Dubai, a man-made mountain scene as big as three football fields that can hold up to 1,500 visitors, will have five slopes of different degrees of difficulty, the longest being 400 meters (yards) with a fall of 62 meters.

The powdery snow slopes have been intentionally laid in terraces to avoid the risk of avalanches at the Ski Dubai dome due to hold 6,000 tonnes of real snow when fully operational later this month.

In the insulated dome, jets continue to pulverize real snow onto the slopes, much to the pleasure of the first visitors, many of whom are Gulf Arabs touching snow for the first time.

Snow here is made the same way as in nature, with water atomized to create a cloud of tiny ice particles that allow snow crystals to form and fall on the slopes, lodges and plastic trees.

The resort includes a snow park of ice caverns complete with howling wind where the young and less young can daub graffiti with their fingers on a frosted wall or play on a wall of acrylic icicles.

Apres-ski pleasures are also catered for, whether it be drinking a hot chocolate or savoring a fondue by a crackling fireplace at either the Avalanche or St Moritz cafes, perched on the slopes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051202...yleuaedubaiski

coolmunda

WoW, I'd like to visit this!

Femme Fatale

I guess u can merge this with ur own thread now Mehnaz.

Fret Wizard

I was reading an article on this the other day. The amount of development going on in Dubai is incredible.

Puchi Kuchi

Dubai is gonna be the new London......seriously, its a happenin place...

Captain Lota

Um yeah dubai this dubai that. Its all imported technology. They have zero R&D. They have all the money in the world so theyre lavishing Dubai with all these man made wonders. Wait till we run out of oil then we'll see where Dubai stands.

Sorry that was my anti-dubai rant.

Sincerely,
Captain Lota

_Lahore_Ka_Cheetah

UAE's economy depends less than 50% on oil, unlike other Arab countries. I think Dubai is doing much better than the rest of the Arab world.

Also, Dubai had a joint-venture with the United States (or maybe only got help) in developing the APG-80 Radar (One of the finest radars in the world), for fighter aircrafts.
Just wanted to point this out.

BoReD iN BrIsBaNe

Dubai has no oil left ... the only oil which is present in the emirates is that wat is ledt in Abudhabi and Alain.. Dubai is being developed totally on investments made by internationals.. mostly Indian buisness tycoons like TATA and all..

Sadaf

^^ you're right!

Rukhsarbibi

wow - seems oddly bizarre, fake, and fun all at the same time!

MysticPapaya

don't mean to be a party pooper, but isn't that one of the signs of qiyamat? ---> snow in the desert...?