SnowTime

Sick or not sick, I was determined to experience -4 degrees C in the middle of the desert, so this morning I resorted to Plan B and took the kids with me to Ski Dubai.  Obviously I couldn't ski (which maybe after 20+ years is not a bad thing!), so instead we opted to play in the world's largest indoor Snow Park.

Ski Dubai is an indoor ski resort with 22,500 square meters of indoor ski area.  It is part of the Mall of the Emirates (first time we've been there too), one of the largest shopping malls in the world, located in Dubai.  Opened in November 2005, it features an 85-meter high indoor mountain with 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty, and includes a 400m-long run, the world's first indoor black diamond run.  A quad lift and a tow lift carry skiers and snowboarders up the mountain.  Adjoining the slopes is a 3,000 square meter Snow Park play area comprising sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, climbing towers, giant snowballs and an ice cave.

Ski Dubai also houses a number of penguins who are let out of their enclosures several times a day, but we didn't see them.  I mean we can do that in Edinburgh Zoo!

Inside the giant snowballs... That Joe is a brave one! Only with his helmet on did he make the 1m height requirement.

An extremely efficient insulation system helps the facility maintain a temperature of -1 degree C (30F) during the day and -6C (21F) at night when the snow is produced.  But the snow is not the snow that we know - maybe too dry? - so it wasn't really playable snow, much to the kids disappointment.  They were convinced we'd be able to have snow ball fights and make a snow man and snow angels, but the snow just didn't stick together, and it was also pretty compacted.  All in all that side of it was a bit of a disappointment, though not so much as it'll be if we don't get any snow in Scotland this winter now we've bought our cold weather gear!

And after that photo my phone packed in - I thought from lack of battery since it's now crap, but maybe it was the cold? because when got home later and I finally managed to plug it in it was still at like 80%.  Grrrrr.  So I don't have any more photos of the luge riding the kids did (another brave Joe!), or the snow wall climbing, or the other fun tube rides that the kids did over and over again.  Or the chairlift we took right to the top, which gave us a pretty impressive view of the place.  But there's always Google Images for all that.

Anyway, I think there will be no surprises when I say that the ninety minutes I spent inside confirmed to me that I really don't like the cold.  Even when properly kitted out.  I just don't have the body for it: my feet and hands are too far away from my heart, I don't have enough padding, and once I'm cold I can't make myself warm again, whatever I try.  All-in-all, I'm a hot weather girl.

*sob*