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Ski Dubai

(15 Apr 2005)

Going on holiday? – Get a great deal on travel insurance

Going back-packing? – Get a great deal on travel insurance

Not normally regarded as an entirely appropriate place to enjoy a hot chocolate, Dubai is as far removed from a winter resort as is geographically possible.

All this is about to change, however, with the development of the Ski Dubai project which is currently under construction in the Emirates shopping mall in Dubai. In a country where few people will have ever seen snow and even fewer will be skiers, the project aims to bring the experience of skiing in a European resort to the desert, Metro reports.

Inside the complex is a 62-metre vertical drop and five separate ski trails up to 400 metres long. A series of air-conditioning machines will keep the internal temperature down to around minus one, while outside the midday sun could be raising temperatures to as high as 49 degrees. To complete the mountain experience, the roof is painted sky blue.

Visitors don't have to stick with skiing, however, as the complex also offers visitors the chance to go sledging, throw snowballs or stroll through glacial caverns.

Ski Dubai will be the first project of its kind in the Middle East, so much so that a special clothes shop providing warm clothes will have to be opened inside the complex, there being little call for them in Dubai normally!

The centre will open in September.

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