Ski Dubai is an indoor ski resort with 22,500 square meters of indoor ski area. It is a part of the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
So 11 weeks after i moved to the UAE my best friend from London decided to pay me a visit.
The initial idea was to commute from Abu Dhabi where we were staying to Dubai to visit the landmarks and hit up the JBR beach. Jumeirah Beach Residence is a 1.7 kilometres long, 2 square kilometres gross floor area waterfront community located against the Arabian Gulf in Dubai Marina.
We were en route from the Burj Khalifa to the Burj Al Arab area, we caught the metro from Burj Khalifa to The Mall of the Emirates with the intention to grab a taxi to take us to JBR walk. However as soon as we saw the big sign "SkiDubai" we just kinda had to.
Next thing you know we are snowboarding and skiing down some steep ass slopes in artificially induced temperatures at -4ºC! This phenomenon is to be found in a massive dome-like shape at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
I'm not really sure why you would want to go skiing in Dubai but i guess that's kinda the whole point. The fact that it's so unusual and unique makes it a tourist hotspot. The idea that you can Ski and Snowboard in -4ºC temperatures and then go Quadbiking/Dirtbiking in the desert 20 minutes later is all part of the crazy Dubai lifestyle.
When we arrived we were told we needed previous experience and that without that experience we would need to pay 150DH = £30 for a one hour crash course on skiing or snowboarding.
The Arab in me of course claimed that i was a pro at Snowboarding and that the Swiss Alps were no match for me.
Unfortunately (for me) this was not true...
To be honest we were terrible on the slopes... i must have landed on my face at least twice and countless times on my hands and back. It was torture and with no gloves i was finding it hard maintain motivation on the slopes. After we basically died on the snowboard we switched to skis which were so much easier to use (even with no experience) and allot of fun.
I only got the footage of my death on the snowboard and with some heavy editing skills it turned out OK. But trust me in reality it was so much worse.
Looking back at it now next time i will definitely mount the GoPro onto my head/chest and choose the skis, overall it was awesome!
Check out the short video we made below!
