Ski Dubai is MINE! For those who know me, it's understood what a hurculean feat I accomplished by not knocking over every person in my path from the airport straight to the indoor ski slopes. Instead I managed to make it FOUR WHOLE DAYS before I stopped "waiting for the foursome."
You see I'm working with a group...a group of guys who are not from the US, which means that Futbol, a.k.a. Soccer, is a religion and the Euro Cup tournament is happening right now. More importantly, the match between Italy and France for who gets to advance to the next tourney level was last night. Who do you root for Taunya? Um, yeah...about that...whatever makes you happy Luigi. So, I chose to stay at the hotel last night as they happily trooped off to the bar to watch the game.
Normally we all operate under the rules of the Kindergarten buddy system. Hold hands, look both ways, don't take candy from strangers and don't go to strange places alone. As I walked into my room I saw my boarding gear and thought to myself, "What the hell are you doing here?!" Having no good answer, I put on my layers, grabbed my gear bag and hailed a cab to the mall.
Shall I discuss the looks that a single white girl gets when she walks through an Arab country's largest mall, dressed in workout clothes plus hoodie and carrying snow gear? I think we all get the picture. There were looks, there were eyebrows, there were side glances at friends. I didn't care...I was on a MISSION to check something off my life list!
Was Ski Dubai all I thought it would be? YUP! Unlike most things you build up in your head that turn out to be disappointing, the UAE is good...REALLY good at building "big." Think Texas on steroids with 100 times the money to throw at any problem or challenge. Of the 5 runs, 2 were legitimate runs for a good skier/boarder. There's a 3 minute ride to the top, and about 45 seconds to a minute down.
All in all...I was boarding for 2 hours, did 24 runs with jumps, there was NO (do you hear that Colorado?!) lift line, and I was the only one on my chairlift seat almost everytime. Oh, and for the first time in almost a week I wasn't hot.
Pure snow bliss.
10 comments:
The video up the mountain, going throught the twists and turns reminded of the old wild west ride at Elitch's. how many people at Ski Dubai were are UAE citizens?
It's still wrong . . . just wrong!!!
It's not so tough standing in a lift line when you're in the middle of the Rockies :-)
OK, it almost KILLED me watching that video - I only made it half way trhoguh . . . I would have had to get off and run to the top :-)
I know...after you get used to the superchairs there's just really no going back. But, just like I said in the beginning, it's so wrong it's right!
UAE citizens? I'd say 25 to 30% but mostly tourists or expats.
I want to go! I want to go!
The slopes look very zen to me, perfect for my downhill meditation.
Heck, the lift ride seemed to be perfect for getting a little meditation in, too. Maybe a short nap, a cup of coffee, and squeeze in a couple of chapters of my latest book club book. :-)
So what's it like to board at sea level for the first time?
Awesome Taunya!!!!
Snowboarding in Dubai. I know I'll get kicked off the blog, but....THIS is a sign of the imminence of the Eschaton.
And I'm so happy you got to do it, Taunya! I'm sure you've given the locals plenty of scandalous conversation fodder, too!
I actually gave out Breckenridge trail maps to some of the staff. They FREAKED out! You'd have thought I was giving them gold.
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