I hadn't expected much from Ski Dubai. It probably had something to do with its location in the Mall of the Emirates: shopping malls usually encourage you to expend only one sort of resource, the monetary kind, and at best I imagined a cheap, tacky playground with disappointing "real" snow. But last weekend there was more snow and better skiing on Sheikh Zayed Road than the last time I was in St Anton, Austria - at an altitude of 1,300 metres, usually one of Europe's most snow-sure resorts. There, even the all-night whirr of snow machines wasn't enough to coat the resort's pitifully bare slopes. Here, at the "mountain-themed attraction" Ski Dubai, a 400m indoor ramp is covered with a 70-centimetre-thick layer of packed snow - some 6,000 tonnes in total.
Every night, chilled water is sent through a system of pipes to a series of giant snow guns, which blow the water out into the freezing cold atmosphere to make real snow. Yes, environmentalists complain about its carbon footprint, but it has to be better than flying everyone to Europe and back. There are slopes, ski lifts, toboggan runs and a mini-Alpine village. You go up an escalator and through a revolving door to get there, but after that it's a surprisingly authentic and uniquely multicultural experience. There are ski instructors from Britain, Morocco, South Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, France, Romania, and, most incongruously, the Philippines. At the Avalanche Cafe, a delightful chalet-style hut perched halfway up the main slope, women in padded abayas sip hot chocolate and taste cheese fondue.
The clientele, too, are from everywhere, although the base of the slope, which houses the Snow Park, is most popular with Emiratis, while their European brothers dominate the runs. All, however, are invigorated by the deliciously cool, pure-tasting air - an experience some Gulf residents, especially children, have never had before. Sitting at one of the many cafes and restaurants inside the mall, separated from the ski slope by a glass wall, it's fun to just observe the smiles, laughter and sheer joy as lads - and girls - have furious snowball fights.
The skiing isn't bad, either - the world's only indoor black run and a generously wide, two-stage main slope - and all to an uplifting soundtrack including Green Day, U2, Peter Bjorn and John, Jack Penate and an ever-so-slightly less choice selection of R & B. My only complaint was with the light - reflecting off a pale blue ceiling, it's very flat, and made me lose my focus a couple of times. But the view directly across the slope into the Kempinski Hotel, with its direct cross-section of Alpine-style ski chalets full of corporate clients eating strudel and cured meats, is better than watching Rear Window.
Yes, I'll say it: Ski Dubai is the best thing in Dubai. @Email:rbehan@thenational.ae