WHY I HATE Sun, ski and sand
I’ve never been a skier. Have never really seen the point of getting yourself to the top of something simply to go back down again. And yes, I know that that is somewhat simplistic, and that if I had ever skied I would probably have caught the bug, as most people seem to do, and would be wanting to head off every winter to the French/Austrian/Swiss slopes.
But I never have, and now, with a slightly dodgy ankle from a bad multiple break ten years ago, and with so many other places to visit in the winter months, I’m not going to be starting now.
Not even in an indoor venue. Actually, especially not in an indoor venue. Yes, indoors. For indoor skiing is another off-shoot of this whole skiing wheeze. And if I don’t understand the appeal of actual skiing, the thought of partaking of the sport in an internal setting is utterly beyond me. It smacks of false tourism, of something totally makey-uppy, simply to attract the hordes and rake in the money. A bit like the Paris and Venetian hotel resorts in Las Vegas – but at least there, everyone is in on the joke.
To every place there is a purpose. So, no, you shouldn’t be able to go camel riding in Boston, or be in a position to visit an Arab souk, with all its authentic smells and sounds, in the heart of, say, Zurich. Likewise, in my opinion, nor should you be able to ski in Dubai.
But you can. Nor is it a new phenomenon there, for I witnessed it myself when I visited the United Arab Emirates some years ago. To be honest, I couldn’t believe my eyes at the time but there it was, a ski resort, just across the lobby from Debenhams department store in the Mall of the Emirates, one of the many shopping malls for which blingy Dubai is so famous.
Ski Dubai, first established in 2005, is a massive 22,500 sqm indoor ski area, complete with a mountain that’s 85m high and with a number of slopes that are suitable for different levels of skiing expertise. There’s a chairlift system in operation and all other kinds of snow activities on offer, including tobogganing. There are even reallife penguins pottering around. And yes, it’s totally bizarre.
I can still remember sitting at the table of a coffee shop in the lobby of the Mall of the Emirates and staring in through the glass, right beside me, straight into the ski slopes where people, kitted out in full ski gear, were to-ing and froing on the slopes.
Meanwhile, away from the air conditioning and outside the door of the mall in question, temperatures on the day I visited were in the mid 30s.
Basking, for many years, in its reputation as the world’s largest indoor ski resort, Dubai was superseded in the scale department by the indoor resort of Harbin Wanda when it opened in north-east China last year. And now, the biggest ever indoor ski resort in the world is planned for Shanghai. Work has already begun on Wintastar Shanghai, as it is called, and it will be three times the size of Ski Dubai when completed, with the developers of the Dubai project also involved in this Shanghai ski resort.
Skiing has become more popular in China in recent years but what I don’t really understand about the new indoor resort is that there is already plenty of opportunity to ski – for real – in the Shanghai area with a number of outdoor resorts attracting loads of skiers. Yes, you will be able to ski in the summer at Wintastar, but isn’t that somewhat contrary to the whole ethos and nature of skiing? It’s a winter sport, after all. Why can’t we just leave it at that?