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Ever fancied being a bloodwagon operator in the Persian Gulf? Or a chairlift attendant? How about a specialist skiboot fitter? Until just a few months ago, your career options would have been pretty limited, not to say nonexistent, but that’s all changed with the opening late 2005 of Ski Dubai, the world’s largest indoor snow dome.
Given our presence in Dubai to catch some winter sun, the possibility of lying on the beach at lunchtime and then being on the slopes within 15 minutes proved too strong to resist.
 Ski Dubai is part of the Mall of the Emirates, currently the UAE’s largest shopping and entertainment mall (although that title changes hands almost yearly) and from the outside the “resort” looks like an oblong-shaped box tilted to one side.
All inclusive package
The owners have obviously put some thought into it: very little kit is needed, the rental of skis or board, boots, jacket and trousers is all included in the price. Gloves would be a useful inclusion in the package but given they were being sold for less than £2 in the winter shop next door that wasn’t too big an issue. Friendly staff (some of them Scottish – is it because of Ski Dubai’s better snow record?) help newcomers find their feet.
Non-skiers can get a snow pass, which gives you access to a snow park with a toboggan run, mini climbing wall and a bridge where you can stand and watch the people on the chairlift and skiing down the lower half of the slopes.
 Brochure promises...
I say slopes because the brochure promises 5 runs, including the world’s only indoor black run. After extensive investigation, I generously counted 4 runs – the chairlift has a halfway point at which you can get off, so if you count a lower slope on each side of the chair and an upper slope on each side that makes four – and as for the black run the UAE Ski Federation’s classification system clearly has little in common with most Alpine ones. The total elevation change is just over 60metres.
For skiers, the 2 hour pass is largely sufficient (and at around £20, pretty pricey). The snow quality is excellent, better than most artificial snow I’ve been on. Possibly in order to maximise the contrast with the bright sunshine outside, the lighting inside the dome is set to that overcast murky late afternoon midwinter light disguising all contours which would not have facilitated mogul skiing had there been any.
Realistic atmosphere...
Other touches were also surprisingly realistic in recreating the feeling of an Alpine skiing resort – the chairlift stopped regularly and for no apparent reason, a draglift running forlornly up one wall did not work at all and it was too cold to sit at the sweetly named “Avalanche Café” halfway up the slope.
So it’s clearly not like standing at the top of the back bowls in Vail in glorious sunshine just after a powder dump. But as a way of introducing the joys of mountain sport to a new audience it’s fantastic – learning at Ski Dubai compared to doing so at a rubber-matted “dry” slope in the pouring rain is like comparing the white sands of the Gulf beaches to the pebbles on the English south coast – on one chair ride I sat next to a 10year old who had was on his 6th day, loving every moment of it and couldn’t wait for his first sight of proper snow in Canada next year.
Watch out for the desert...
The snow dome is clearly drawing a lot of attention, judging by the crowds of locals gawping from behind a glass window at the skiers and boarders within (The Truman Show springs to mind and there is a real sense that if you were to slam too hard into the walls alongside the slopes, you’d go right through and ski straight on into the desert outside).
 The downside of having 95% of people wear exactly the small blue and red outfit is of course that it’s hard to distinguish your mates on the slope; fortunately my wife was able to spot me thanks to, as she so tactfully put it, my “distinctive style”.
So how would I rate Ski Dubai? To use the Michelin red tourist guide system, it’s not worth a journey (3 stars) or even a detour (2 stars) but I would certainly give a star, as being worth a visit if you’re in the area!
Report by Jan Gooze-Zijl
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