SKI Dubai: Snow Abounds In The Middle East

TV shows around the world have featured SKI Dubai's outrageous indoor snow extravaganza as an example of the extraordinary emphasis that the Emirates place on being the biggest and the best at everything. There are 64 indoor ski parks worldwide, but SKI Dubai is the biggest and most profitable, even during the recent world recession.

Jack Nesgos, Deputy Operations Manager for SKI Dubai, graciously took us on an insider's tour of the facility and told us all of their dirty little secrets about making snow, conserving energy and handling up to 8000 guests per day.

Jack is originally from Australia, but spent years in the UK and Scotland so his accent is an interesting blend of influences, and highly entertaining as he shares his excitment and endless ideas about ways to grow the SKI Dubai brand.

Any skier who understands snow fever will recognize the signs of someone who succumbed to it. I couldn't help but admire and identify with the love Jack has for his little snow-covered part of the world.

SKI Dubai's base snow depth averages 40 cm, and the top layer is continuously scraped off and replaced with new snow every evening after the park closes to guests. The 400-meter run has two levels, one for beginners and another for experts. I'd rank the inclines as Green and Blue for US skiers.

If you're big into skiing like I am, you won't want to spend the money on SKI Dubai unless you want the notoriety of saying you skied in the Middle East. A full-access pass to the park costs 285 AED, around $85 USD, and the snow [for ski conditions] is best described as overly-groomed, packed powder with a healthy amount of crunch. Yuck.

But for Arabs and others who have never seen snow a day in their lives, it's a freakin' winter wonderland complete with a kitschy chalet, igloos, tubing runs and ski instructors to help you snowplow down the hill.

The park has a full wall of windows at the end where passersby in the Mall of the Emirates can look in, and several restaurants surround the complex so you can enjoy dinner while watching Emiratis have a garage sale on the side of the hill. {that's a joke for skiers...if you've ever had one yourself, you know what I mean!}

Obviously, no one in Dubai except expatriates has ski gear laying around the house. So SKI Dubai provides full gear for guests, but you have to buy your own gloves and hats if you want them. That's probably a wise choice as the inside temperature averages -4 Celsius.

Think about the mountains of laundry that must pile up through the day as guests leave! We got to see them for ourselves, along with the biggest washing machines I've ever encountered. SKI Dubai washes and dries every outfit before recycling it back out to visitors. We're hoping ours were freshly laundered. :)

Want to see more? Check out this home video I swiped from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34A18CtfVaY