Indoor Ski Slopes

Gone are the days of careening down a dry ski slopewith the optimum ambient temperatures, creates the
like a maniac, safe in the knowledge that should yousnow.
come a cropper, it isn't just a broken leg or twoAs the technology improved (early uses required
you'd crawl away with but also a nasty rope burnreservoirs or lakes to provide the necessary water),
from the very mesh put down to ensure yourthe next logical step was to bring the snow cannon
speedy descent to a warm hospital bed.indoors to artificially created ski slopes, thus providing
In this day and age we can not only buy bread thatthe avid ski fanatic, the snowboard enthusiast, the
requires no knife interaction on our part and bakedamateur and virgin skier the opportunity to polish
beans that skip the need for a pan and hob, but wetheir technique at the drop of a ski hat. The
can also cheat nature and make snow. The real stufftemperature controlled environment ensuring a
(almost), like what falls from the skies.perpetual supply of snow.
Whereas in the olden days man was expected toAs far as setting the bar amongst the indoor ski
slice his own bread, bake his own beans and in thefraternity, the world's longest slope can be found at
absence of any ready snow, ski on a dry slope,the AlpinCenter in Bottrop, Germany, measuring in at
nowadays he can cruise down a sharp incline, withan impressive 640m. The UK's Chill Factore in
neither care for his nor anybody else's safety, on realManchester boasts the widest indoor ski slope at
snow. In the middle of summer. In Dubai!100m.
Indoor ski slopes and ski resorts provide all yearThe latest development in man's love of the
round access to that most exhilarating of pastimes,impossible is the indoor ski resort. The experience of
meaning that even when it's touching 50°Ca holiday freezing one's ski poles off on the side of a
outside (in the case of Dubai) you can ski to yourmountain in notoriously snow-shy locations such as
heart's content inside.the United Arab Emirates.
The first indoor ski slope opened in 1987 at MtSki Dubai was opened in 2005 and is the world's
Thebarton Snow & Ice, giving the good peoplelargest snowdome, boasting five runs of varying
of Adelaide, Australia, the chance to experience thedifficulty and an area the equivalent of three football
thrill of hurtling headfirst down the side of a mountainfields. The temperature is kept at -1°C to
whenever the fancy took them, without having to-2°C throughout the day and goes down to
travel to the Alpine range on the other side of the-6°C at night when the snow cannons are
country. Since then they have sprung up at variousunleashed and the slopes replenished. Just like a real
locations across the world, including the UK, France,ski resort there are chairlifts, tow lifts, freestyle
Japan and South Korea.areas, restaurants and even indoor "ski chalets"
So what devilry is it that allows humble man to magicwhich, keeping with the theme, overlook the piste,
snow from the sky regardless of temperature oroffering views of the ski slopes.
roof?So there it is, living proof that necessity is the
Snow cannons were first developed in the 1950s butmother of invention. Man's driving compulsion to stare
weren't adopted as a commercial venture until theinto the abyss and take one step forward, even
1970s when ski resorts began using them on their skiwhen there's no snow at hand, has not only created
trails to improve the quality of the runs and prolongthe indoor ski slope, complete with indoor ski snow,
the season. They work by forcing water andbut banished ski-related rope burns to the dustbin of
compressed air through a nozzle, which combinedhistory.