In the not so distant future we could see the next Shaun White spawn from a place where the annual snowfall is not even a line item on the weather records. In the recent years, we have seen grand openings and proposals for indoor snowboarding resorts all over the world. In many cases, these ‘snow domes’ are even opening in deserts and cities where you wouldn’t even imagine snowboarding could happen.
One of the more notable indoor resorts, SkiDubai, opened its doors in November of 2005. Set in the sandy lands of the Middle East where the temperature averages 90ºF year round with average summer temperatures over 100ºF, this indoor park has opened the sport to a whole new culture of people who might never have had a chance to try it. Many of these parks don’t really cater to advanced level riding but they do the job of catering to the level an emerging market of riders and at growing the awareness of the sport in general.
The most interesting part of all of this is that the USA’s own city of sin, Las Vegas, is planning on opening a resort and casino with a similar snow dome in 2013. Called Las Vegas Wet, the new desert destination will feature an indoor/outdoor water park, amusement park, surfing wave pool and a full featured snow park. The plans are still in the works for this mega amusement resort but the fact that another snow park in the desert is included is pretty interesting. East Rutherford in New Jersey is also planning on opening 250,000 sq ft indoor ski resort in Fall 2013 which would be the first planned opening in the USA.
Is this trend of indoor snow resorts going to catch on? As these resorts get less expensive to build I would be surprised if we don’t start seeing these snow resorts pop up like skate parks across America. Don’t get me wrong, an indoor spot will never compare to the back bowls of Whistler or any real mountain terrain for that matter. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to head down to the local snow dome and hit some rails or a mega kicker into a foam pit in the middle of summer. The future looks bright for all of you that want to wear your sandals in the sand on the way to your next snowboarding session.
If you are curious you can see a list of indoor snow parks across the world on wikipedia or browse some indoor resorts in the gallery below.
