On Thursday afternoon, here in Dubai, it was over 40° Celsius, or 105° Fahrenheit for you Yanks. Instead of taking in the melanoma at the pool, I went skiing. For those of you who don’t know, the very rich and very futuristic leaders of Dubai build a giant refrigerator and put a ski slope in it. If you haven’t seen it, there’s an awesome Discovery Channel “Modern Marvels” about how they did it. Of all the cockamamy things I’ve seen here in Dubai, from Palm-shaped islands to 7 star hotels, this is by far the most well thought out, enjoyable, excellent use of time and resources. It is actually awesome, and I am not kidding at all.

Some of you know that I have been learning to snowboard, one trip at a time, one trip per season, for about 6 years. NOT the way to do it. Well, 20 minutes from my desert apartment, in the middle of the Middle East, for about $50 including equipment AND clothes rental, I can snowboard for 2 hours, under ideal conditions, without wind, with a bunch of Arab beginners, in a Mall. Fucking surreal.

It’s impossible to take a decent photo in this place, but here is the “mountain” from the bottom looking up. Down the middle is the lift, and to the left is the steeper, advanced run. On the right is the more beginner run, where I fell a few times, but actually did better than ever before. Click for larger version (no flickr).

Here is the “mountain” from the top. You can see the lift and Snickers rail obstacle. They are building a half-pipe down the left side, but only a small section is currently open. Eventually it will run down most of the length of the slope. Click for larger version (no flickr).

In case you’re wondering how long it takes to get down this “mountain”… the answer is, not long. For anyone who doesn’t fall, it is no longer than 2 minutes top to bottom. For me it was more like 6 or 8 minutes, but even when I don’t fall, I go pretty slow. The lift lines were very short, and the lift haul takes about 5 or 6 minutes. But you can do that over and over and over again, until you get tired of doing your bindings, seriously the most exhausting part of the experience.

Rumor has it that they are now building a new HUGE facility, with literally a mountain in the middle. I don’t know how many runs there will be, but if common sense is abandoned as usual, you can bet they’ll find a way to have a black diamond in there somewhere.

Only in Dubai.