Indoor Skiing, One of the Eight Wonders of The Modern World

By Shefler Carl

Every year my mother does individual activities with us for Mother’s Day and this year my activity that I was going to do was go to Dave and Buster’s. Unfortunately, due to a crazy work schedule and school events, we weren’t able to go to Dave and Buster’s. A month later in Manchester, UK, while trying to find something to do, Mom ran across the perfect Mother’s Day event, indoor skiing. My mother and I love skiing down tough ski slopes, and we love to do all sorts of crazy things on skis, so when we saw that there was an opportunity to go skiing indoors, we knew that it was the perfect Mother’s Day activity.

The first ever indoor skiing was in Vienna. The hall was in an abandoned train station and the resort ran from 1927-1928. The skiing was very limited because there was only real snow. Later, Mt. Thebarton Snow and Ice was the first indoor ski hall with artificial snow. Built in Australia, it was operated from 1987 until 2005. The worlds largest indoor ski resort was recently opened in Harbin, China. Harbin boasts 6 different runs with the longest being 500 meters with 80 meters of vertical drop. The resort can accommodate up to 3000 people, and I am hoping that when we visit China we will be able to ski there.

When we arrived at the indoor skiing, we stared in awe as we looked up at the massive sloped building, and we rushed inside. After speeding to get our skis and ski clothing on we headed to the slope and I was amazed. The slope was pretty steep for an artificial slope and was pretty long, but there was one problem, the rope tow. I am a pretty experienced skier, but one thing that I have never used in skiing is a rope tow and of course, when I first got on I fell off almost immediately. On the next try, I got it perfectly and didn’t have much trouble for the rest of the time, except for once where I fell, but luckily I was able to get back on. I wish that they had a lift like other indoor resorts instead of two rope tows. The skiing wasn’t great, but it was pretty cool which made it so much more fun. One great thing about the resort was the après ski, with tons of shops and pubs and cafés the resort had an authentic feeling.

I really am hoping that we get to go skiing in Harbin, China. I really recommend indoor skiing and I hope you give it a try.

Peace