Hitting the
Slope...
Slope...
| Excited to get my 'ski on' while on the lift. |
November 24, 2007
This was one thing I knew I was going to do when coming to Dubai. I mean, let’s face it, how often can you go indoor skiing
smack in the middle of the Middle East? I think the answer is ‘Not often’.
Alex had absolutely no problem agreeing to this (which was a bit shocking considering what an incredibly touristy thing it is to
do). We headed to the Mall of the Emirates and all I had to do was bring some gloves and my socks. Nothing else was required.
The ski pass is for two hours of skiing. Didn’t sound like much but at least it was something. They gave me my jacket, pants,
boots and skis and then it was to the….escalator we went. Yup. This was a first. Going to the ski lift on an escalator in my boots
with skis in hand. It was like being at a mall. Wait. We were at a mall. But you know what I mean.
When we walked through the revolving door, I noticed quite a familiar smell – just like an ice-skating rink. And as someone
who spent everyday for ten years at skating rinks, I can truly attest to this. I guess you can say it was a change from the
Alpine air that most people are used to when going skiing.
We made our way for the one lift and headed to the top of the ‘mountain’. I have to say that I was a bit nervous when it came
time to go down the hill. It had been four years since I had been on skis. And, that being said, I suck at skiing and don’t really
go beyond the bunny slopes. But here I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t that steep…but that didn’t stop me from perfecting the
snowplow position down the entire slope. The snowplow is my security blanket – I know nothing can happen to me as long as I
have that. Does it earn me style points? Nope. But then again, it doesn’t earn me crutches either.
By the third time down, my skiing abilities had exponentially improved. My skis were even almost parallel when going down
the hill. Almost. I was at least looking more like I knew what I was doing. Yes, I was getting a bit cocky. But luckily not too
cocky where I would eventually wipe out. As I said, there was also a smidge of a snowplow that I just could not bear to part
with. Maybe this had to do with that snowboarders were just as crazy there as they are everywhere else. If I fell, I was far
from confident that these guys wouldn’t ram right into me.
Instead of getting warmer and warmer while skiing, I was getting colder and colder. My hands were numb. It was a fun time
but there was something a bit monotonous about having the option of going left or right when getting off the lift. At one point
we decided that we would go down a few more times since we had pretty much gotten our fix. At that point we still had 64
minutes left from our 120 minutes that we started with. I guess that 2-hour pass is not only enough…but it is more than
enough.
In the end, it was fun/funny skiing indoors while seeing people in different restaurants watching the skiers.
I have to say how quick and convenient everything was versus when I go skiing at real ski resorts – people are there to swoop
up your equipment almost immediately once you enter back into warmer territory.
One minute we were hitting the slopes; now, just a few minutes after skiing, we were ready to hit the stores…
This was one thing I knew I was going to do when coming to Dubai. I mean, let’s face it, how often can you go indoor skiing
smack in the middle of the Middle East? I think the answer is ‘Not often’.
Alex had absolutely no problem agreeing to this (which was a bit shocking considering what an incredibly touristy thing it is to
do). We headed to the Mall of the Emirates and all I had to do was bring some gloves and my socks. Nothing else was required.
The ski pass is for two hours of skiing. Didn’t sound like much but at least it was something. They gave me my jacket, pants,
boots and skis and then it was to the….escalator we went. Yup. This was a first. Going to the ski lift on an escalator in my boots
with skis in hand. It was like being at a mall. Wait. We were at a mall. But you know what I mean.
When we walked through the revolving door, I noticed quite a familiar smell – just like an ice-skating rink. And as someone
who spent everyday for ten years at skating rinks, I can truly attest to this. I guess you can say it was a change from the
Alpine air that most people are used to when going skiing.
We made our way for the one lift and headed to the top of the ‘mountain’. I have to say that I was a bit nervous when it came
time to go down the hill. It had been four years since I had been on skis. And, that being said, I suck at skiing and don’t really
go beyond the bunny slopes. But here I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t that steep…but that didn’t stop me from perfecting the
snowplow position down the entire slope. The snowplow is my security blanket – I know nothing can happen to me as long as I
have that. Does it earn me style points? Nope. But then again, it doesn’t earn me crutches either.
By the third time down, my skiing abilities had exponentially improved. My skis were even almost parallel when going down
the hill. Almost. I was at least looking more like I knew what I was doing. Yes, I was getting a bit cocky. But luckily not too
cocky where I would eventually wipe out. As I said, there was also a smidge of a snowplow that I just could not bear to part
with. Maybe this had to do with that snowboarders were just as crazy there as they are everywhere else. If I fell, I was far
from confident that these guys wouldn’t ram right into me.
Instead of getting warmer and warmer while skiing, I was getting colder and colder. My hands were numb. It was a fun time
but there was something a bit monotonous about having the option of going left or right when getting off the lift. At one point
we decided that we would go down a few more times since we had pretty much gotten our fix. At that point we still had 64
minutes left from our 120 minutes that we started with. I guess that 2-hour pass is not only enough…but it is more than
enough.
In the end, it was fun/funny skiing indoors while seeing people in different restaurants watching the skiers.
I have to say how quick and convenient everything was versus when I go skiing at real ski resorts – people are there to swoop
up your equipment almost immediately once you enter back into warmer territory.
One minute we were hitting the slopes; now, just a few minutes after skiing, we were ready to hit the stores…
| Skiing with Alex. |
| The Ski Dubai staff. |
