1001Places - Snow In The Desert , The ski fields of... Dubai.

The Mall of the Emirates is one of Dubai's many shopping malls. There's something strange, however, about the architecture of the place. It has a large tubular structure sticking out of its roof like some malformed
appendage. This structure houses "Ski Dubai", a ski slope in the middle of the desert. I found the sheer novelty value irresistable and gave it a go.

Ski Dubai is basically one big fridge, maintained at -1°C during the day, and about -7°C during the night when they turn the snowmakers on. Apparently the place consumes something in the order of 3000 barrels of oil a day.

The slope is about 400 metres long, comes with a quad chairlift, a cafe at the midway point and a run they've overrated as black(!). It's truly bizarre. You get up to the top of the run and there's a door marked as a fire exit off to one side.

They hire out all the gear you need (clothing, boots, skis, stocks and snowboards) - A$55 will buy you two hours on the slope.
You get given this card which you swipe at the turnstiles just before the chairlift. It takes about 30 seconds to ski from top to bottom. It takes about 30 minutes before the novelty starts to wear thin.