January 7, 2010 Dubai, UAE

I was going to be in Dubai for the week for work so I thought I would make the best of the trip and check out  Ski Dubai.  It's an indoor ski area attached to the Mall of the Emirates.  I finally finished up my work at 9pm on Thursday, caught a cab to the mall and was skiing by 9:30.  For $50, they provide basic rental gear, a coat, pants, and a two-hour lift ticket.  For "hygienic" reasons, you need to use your own hat and gloves.

The snow was of course man made, the quad chair was the slowest I've been on, and the runs took about 20-30 seconds. There were a few rails and features and even a "mid-mountain" stop called the Avalanche Cafe.  After skiing in the US, Europe, New Zealand and Japan, this was the most surreal ski experience ever.  It was compounded even more by seeing the diners of a TGI Fridays look through windows into the ski area.

My phone died while there so I could not take any pictures but you can see some here:  www.skidxb.com/English/default.aspx   Hit "mute" before you hit the link.

But hey, skiing is skiing as far I'm concerned.  I had fun, met some interesting folks, and did some shopping at the mall within minutes after finishing.

James

Given the condition here, you may have actually have had better skiing than the rest of us.

I don't imagine that they see many telemarkers there. Not that we represent a significant proportion of any ski hill's population.