Customers take off their flip-flops, put on ski suits and gloves, and while it’s scorching outside the Madrid shopping mall, in the Snow Zone they ignore the summer heat and environmental concerns.
At the Xanadu shopping centre, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Madrid, a cool breeze in the lobby and a polar bear at the entrance transport summer visitors to another world.
The Snow Zone, which opened in 2003, features a 250-metre long ski slope covered in artificial snow and is open 365 days a year.
The temperature outside is 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) but inside the ski resort it’s -3 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit), and between the chairlifts and ski drags, about 30 skiers are gliding down the slopes as spectators watch.
Two hours of skiing costs about 40 euros ($44).
– Visit to a French ski club –
Members of the Carcassonne Ski Club in the south of France have been coming here for seven years, says Thomas Barrato, an instructor at the Les Angles ski resort in the eastern Pyrenees.
“Before, we used to ski on the glaciers (in summer), but the weather made it difficult. Here the snow is hard and the weather is cold so the kids can continue to ski, which is good,” he said.
About 10 students competing in ski races spend a week here slaloming on a club-only section with a harder, more technical surface.
“It’s not environmentally friendly,” acknowledges Barataud, 43. “But it’s what we want. We make do with what we have and it’s a good option.”
“When I leave at 4pm I feel a bit strange in my shorts and flip flops,” he laughs.
Student Cirila Pena talks about “heat shock when the sun is shining.”
The 18-year-old says it’s “amazing” to be here, but adds that some of her friends are surprised and ask her if she’s embarrassed to ski indoors.
“If previous generations had cared for the environment, we might have been able to ski on glaciers,” she retorts.
“But if I wait until December (to practice), it will be too late, so I have to ski indoors.”
200,000 people come here every year, and on a good day we can have 1,800 customers.
– “refrigerator” –
Snow Zone’s peak season runs from October to March, said director Javier Villar.
“The people who come here are either beginners looking to learn more than they know, or competitive teams from France, Great Britain, Spain and Andorra who come to practice because there is no snow on the mountains.”
He claims it uses much less water than a gym, but the biggest cost is electricity for the 18,000-square-metre venue, which is equivalent to 4.5 acres.
“It’s a refrigerator and if we had to turn it off and back on it would cost us a huge amount of money on the electricity bill, so we keep it open all year round,” says Biller, 55.
The company purchased solar panels, which was “very beneficial not only in terms of carbon footprint but also financially.”
Snowzone, a unit of British real estate investment trust Capital & Regional, owns two indoor ski resorts in Britain, in Milton Keynes, just north of London, and Castleford, near the northern city of Leeds.
The world’s largest indoor ski resort is Ski Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Snowboarder Isan Romano performs tricks on the slopes. The 20-year-old bricklayer has a €600 annual pass that takes him to the slopes four or five times a week.
“It’s the same in summer and winter, it’s always snowing. It’s an escape for me, I can forget about what’s outside,” says Romano, who lives in Madrid.
“I came here today because I was dying of heat at home. Some people go to the pool, but I’m driving out to the snow.”
What about the environment?
“What are you talking about? I don’t even want to think about it.”
MiG/HMW/CHZ/GV
