Indoor skiing
Indoor skiing is done in a climate-controlled environment with snowmaking. This enables skiing and snowboarding to take place regardless of outdoor temperatures. Facilities for both alpine skiing and nordic skiing are available.
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History
The first known ski hall, called Schneepalast (German: Snow Palace) was opened in the Austrian capital Vienna in 1927 in the abandoned Vienna Northwest Railway Station established by the Norwegian ski jumper Dagfinn Carlsen.[1][2] The track in the 3,000-square-metre (32,000 sq ft) ski area was built on a wooden ramp. A ski jump made it possible to jump up to 20 metres (66 ft). Skiers had to walk up the artificial mountain, because there was no ski lift.[3] However, sledges could be pulled up with an electrically-operated system. The artificial snow had been made by the English experimenter James Ayscough from soda. The hall remained in operation until May 1928.[4]
Alpine ski halls
- Mt Thebarton Snow and Ice, Adelaide. Operated 1987 - 2005. Built in a state without any ski resorts, it was probably the world's first indoor ski slope on artificial snow.[5]
- Swiss Pavilion at World Expo 88, Brisbane. Two lifts operated for six months. Included a ski slope on artificial snow serviced by a handle tow and a double chairlift operating on a rectangular route.[6][7]
- Snow Valley, Peer http://www.snowvalley.be
- Ice Mountain, Comines
- Harbin Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort located in Harbin, Heilongjiang, world's largest indoor ski resort with 72,600 m2 (17.9 acres; 781,000 sq ft) of indoor snow.[8]
- Yinqixing indoor skiing, Shanghai
- SnowHall, SnowHall Amnéville, France
- alpinCenter Bottrop in the SnowFunPark in Wittenburg with a 640-metre (2,100 ft) slope and a 31 percent grade.
- SnowDome Bispingen, Bispingen.
- Alpenpark Neuss, 300m slope.
- Trans Snow World in Bekasi, first of a series of snow parks that are opening across Indonesia, which includes also a ski slope and ski lifts. It is possible to ski and learn skiing by Ski Club Indonesia, first Ski operator and association in Indonesia
- Sayama ski resort, Tokorozawa
- SnowWorld, Landgraaf with a total of 35,000 square metres (8.6 acres; 380,000 sq ft) of snow. In 2003, the first indoor snowboard FIS WorldCup contest was held here.
- SnowWorld, Zoetermeer
- Skidome, Rucphen
- Skidome, Terneuzen
- De Uithof, Den Haag
- Snowplanet, Spaarnwoude
- Snowplanet, Auckland
- SNØ, Lørenskog with a total of 50,000 square metres (12 acres; 540,000 sq ft). Has a 505-metre-long (1,657 ft) alpine ski track and a one-kilometre-long (0.62 mi) cross-country skiing track suspended from the roof. One-of-a-kind combination of these winter sports. Opened January 2020. https://snooslo.no
- Snejcom, Moscow. http://www.snej.com
- SnowZone, in Madrid, has 18,000 square metres (4.4 acres; 190,000 sq ft) of snow areas, including a 250-by-50-metre (820 ft × 160 ft) slope (over 25% grade), a 100-by-40-metre (330 ft × 130 ft) slope, chairlifts, and other winter sports facilities.[9]
- Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai.
- Ski Egypt, Mall of Egypt, 6th of October City. It has the only indoor ski slope in Africa with the main slope being 210 metres (690 ft) long.
- Chill Factore, 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) outside Manchester,[10] with a 180-metre-long (590 ft) main slope.
- Snowzone Castleford, near Leeds with a 170-metre-long (560 ft) main slope.[11]
- Snowzone, near Milton Keynes with a 170-metre-long (560 ft) main slope.[12]
- Snowdome at Tamworth, near Birmingham with a 170-metre-long (560 ft) slope and two smaller beginner areas 25 and 30 metres (82 and 98 ft) long.[13]
- Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead[14]
- Snow Factor at Braehead Soar[15]
United States of America
- SnowLand /SkiTexas, Austin, Texas (In progress)
- Big SNOW American Dream, American Dream Meadowlands, (Meadowlands Sports Complex), East Rutherford, New Jersey (Opened on December 5 2019)[16]
The first indoor ski slope, "Schneepalast" (German for snow palace) operated from 26 November 1927 to May 1928 in Vienna in an abandoned railway station, the Nordwestbahnhof. The snow was made of soda.[17] The world's first commercial indoor ski slope operated from 1987 to 2005 at Mount Thebarton, in Adelaide, South Australia.[18]
Nordic ski tunnels (Cross-country skiing )
Location | Name | Length | Opened |
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DNA Ski Tunnel | 1,200 m (3,937 ft) | 1997 |
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Jämi Ski Tunnel | 1,250 m (4,101 ft) | 2002 |
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Vahterus Ring and Vahterus Ring II | 1,000 m (3,281 ft) | Nov 2005 |
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Ski Tunnel Paippi and Ski Tunnel Paippi II | 700 m (2,297 ft) | before 2006 |
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Vesileppis Ski Arena | before 2006 | |
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Fortum Ski Tunnel Torsby | 1,287 m (4,222 ft) | 16 Jun 2006 |
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DKB Skisport-Halle Oberhof | 1,754 m (5,755 ft) | 24 Aug 2009 |
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Kivikko ski hall | 1,100 m (3,609 ft) | 1 Sep 2009 |
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Skidome | 1,200 m | July 2015 |
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Planica Underground XC tunnel | 800 m | 2016 |
References
- http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Pages/ImageDetail.aspx?p_iBildID=1105032
- https://austria-forum.org/af/Heimatlexikon/Schneepalast_-_Wien
- https://diepresse.com/home/zeitgeschichte/5175240/Wien-feiert-seinen-Schneepalast-doch-dann-fallen-Schuesse
- https://www.oe24.at/old-channel/wissen/Wien-hatte-schon-1927-eine-Skihalle/452358
- Australian Ski Lift Directory, section 18. https://www.australianmountains.com/australianskilifts/
- Australian Ski Lift Directory notes on Expo '88 lifts
- http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/04/29/3747349.htm?site=undefined&xml=3747349-mediarss.xml
- "China's Harbin Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort set to open". www.fis-ski.com. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- "Snowzone". Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- "Chill Factore". Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- http://www.xscape.co.uk/yorkshire/concessions/sno-zone
- http://www.xscape.co.uk/milton-keynes/concessions/sno-zone
- http://www.snowdome.co.uk/ski-snowboard/
- http://www.thesnowcentre.com/info/about
- https://soar.intu.co.uk/Play/Snow-FactorBraehead%20Soar
- "Grand opening: Big SNOW American Dream to open to public today at American Dream". newjersey.news12.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- Von Bernhard Ichner (26 January 2014). "Die Skistadt Wien - ein historischer Rückblick". Kurier.At. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- https://www.australianmountains.com/australianskilifts/#18