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.

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. The track in the 3000 m2 ski area was built on a wooden ramp. A ski jump made it possible to jump up to 20 m. Skiers had to walk up the artificial mountain, because there was no ski lift. 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.

Alpine ski halls
Australia
 * 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.
 * 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.

Belgium
 * Snow Valley, Peer http://www.snowvalley.be
 * Ice Mountain, Comines

China
 * Harbin Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort located in Harbin, Heilongjiang, world's largest indoor ski resort with 72600 m2 of indoor snow.
 * Yinqixing indoor skiing, Shanghai

France
 * SnowHall, SnowHall Amnéville, France

Germany
 * alpinCenter Bottrop in the SnowFunPark in Wittenburg with a 640 m slope and a 31 percent grade.
 * SnowDome Bispingen, Bispingen.

Indonesia
 * 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

Japan
 * Sayama ski resort, Tokorozawa

Lithuania
 * Snow Arena, Druskininkai

Netherlands
 * SnowWorld, Landgraaf with a total of 35000 m2 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

New Zealand


 * Snowplanet, Auckland

Norway
 * SNØ, Lørenskog with a total of 50000 m2. Has a 505 m alpine ski track and a 1 km cross-country skiing track suspended from the roof. One-of-a-kind combination of these winter sports. To be opened 2020. Building in progress.

Russia
 * Snej, Moscow. http://www.snej.com

Spain
 * SnowZone, in Madrid, has 18000 m2 of snow areas, including a 250x50 m slope (over 25% grade), a 100x40 m slope, chairlifts, and other winter sports facilities.

United Arab Emirates
 * Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai.

Egypt
 * Ski Egypt, Mall of Egypt, 6th of October City. It has the only indoor ski slope in Africa with the main slope being 210 m long.

United Kingdom
 * Chill Factore, 4 mi outside Manchester, with a 180 m main slope.
 * Snowzone Castleford, near Leeds with a 170 m main slope.
 * Snowzone, near Milton Keynes with a 170 m main slope.
 * Snowdome at Tamworth, near Birmingham with a 170 m slope and two smaller beginner areas 25 and 30 m long.
 * Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead

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)

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. The world's first commercial indoor ski slope operated from 1987 to 2005 at Mount Thebarton, in Adelaide, South Australia.