World's Largest Indoor Ski Resort Opens

China has seen an explosion of interest in snow sports since Beijing was selected as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the country is now home to the world's largest indoor skiing facility.

The Shanghai L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort opened today, September 6, 2024, and has been certified by The Guinness World Records as the largest in the world.

The facility's total footprint is an astounding 1,063,783 square feet (98,828.7 square meters). To put that into perspective, Shanghai L*SNOW is roughly six times as large as Big SNOW American Dream (180,000 square feet), North America's lone indoor ski slope.

According to various Chinese news outlets (the resort doesn't have an official website or social media accounts on American platforms), the ski facility features a vertical drop of nearly 200 feet (60 meters), and three slopes totaling nearly 4,000 feet in length (1,200 meters).

L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort is conveniently located near China's largest city of Shanghai. With more than 40 million people estimated to live in the metro area, there are surely an abundance of skiers and snowboarders yearning for turns. In fact, the resort has already sold more than 100,000 tickets since presale ticketing began on August 8, 2024. The facility is expected to be visited by 15 million tourists annually by the end of 2025.

Based on a series of photos shared to Getty Images, the resort appears to have at least one four-person chairlift, a gondola that flies high overhead, and a 'snow train' that skirts the perimeter of the ski slopes. In summary, there's no other indoor ski resort like it on the planet.

L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort is attached to a larger facility that includes an outdoor theme park, water rides, a massive hotel, and various dining and shopping options. It's essentially a one-stop shop for amusement and entertainment.

A few personal thoughts, if you don't mind— One might question why a gondola would be built indoors, as the protective nature of the cabins is fairly useless in a climate controlled setting, but the novelty remains. Don't you want to ride a gondola at an indoor ski resort just to say you did? I hate to admit it, but I kind of do.

Indoor skiing will never scratch the itch like descending a real mountain with real snow, but it does offer a slew of opportunities to the masses who simply want the sensation of sliding downhill.

With the opening of L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort, China has firmly established itself on the forefront of the indoor skiing industry. Will other countries follow suit in the coming years?

Here's hoping that if more indoor ski resorts come to North America that they're built sustainably. Keeping a massive facility below freezing requires a lot of energy. The irony of keeping these facilities cold by burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouses gases that heat up the Earth, isn't lost on us.

Related: Colorado Ski Resorts Blasted With First Snow of the Season

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