“It's not very eco-friendly”: a ski resort in a Madrid shopping centre still attracts people even in the middle of summer

| August 22, 2024 | Health | No Comments

"It's not very eco-friendly": a ski resort in a Madrid shopping centre still attracts people even in the middle of summer

"It's not very eco-friendly": a ski resort in a Madrid shopping centre still attracts people even in the middle of summer

The indoor ski resort Snozone attracts up to 200,000 people each year. XinHua – Ahmed Gomaa

They take off their flip-flops and put on ski suits, click the hooks on their boots and pull on their gloves. It is over 30 degrees that afternoon in Madrid, but the guests of the indoor ski resort Snozone are oblivious to the summer doldrums… and environmental concerns.

A cold breeze hits visitors as soon as they enter the lobby. After the polar bear at the entrance, ski racks, non-slip mats and padlocked lockers immerse holidaymakers in another world.

In Arroyomolinos, about twenty kilometres south of Madrid, the Xanadu shopping centre has been home to Snozone since 2003, which offers a 250-metre-long inclined slope covered in artificial snow, open 365 days a year from 10am to 10pm.

Between a chairlift and a ski lift, by – 3°, about thirty skiers hurtle down the slope of the gigantic hangar under artificial light, and under the amused gaze of onlookers gathered behind the bay windows. For two hours of skiing, you have to count on about forty euros between the equipment and the clothes.

"Not too ecological"

The "Ski Club of Carcassonne&quot (south of France) has been coming here for seven years, explains Thomas Barataud, an instructor at the Angles resort in the Pyrénées Orientales: “Back then, we skied on glaciers in the summer, but the situation makes it a bit complicated. Here, we have hard snow and cold to keep the kids skiing, it's the best”.

The dozen or so students in the “competition section” will, for a week, chain together slaloms on the part reserved for clubs, with a very hard and more technical surface. “It's not very ecological”, admits this 43-year-old instructor, "but what we're looking for is performance and skiing. We adapt to what is offered to us, and that is a good alternative". "When we go out at 4 p.m., it's weird, we're in shorts and flip flops!", he said laughing.

One of his students, Cyrila Pena, also describes "a thermal shock : we get the sun in the face in the evening&quot ;. If the 18-year-old finds the setting "great", she admits that “When I talk about it to my friends, some of them say to me, “But aren't you ashamed to go skiing indoors”?””.

“I tell myself that if past generations had paid attention to ecology, we would have simply skied on glaciers,” she continues,. “Now, we have to come skiing indoors because otherwise, we start putting our skis on in December, and that's too much late”. The place welcomes about 200,000 people each year, 1,800 on a good day.

A fridge

The high season is the same as for the mountain resorts, from October to March, says Snozone director Javier Villar: “Either people come because they are beginners and want to get back into shape, or they are competition teams that come to us from France, England, all over Spain, Andorra to prepare, because there is no more snow in the mountains”.

He claims that water consumption is much lower than that of a gymnasium and that It is mainly electricity that represents a significant expense: “It is a fridge. If we had to turn it off and cool it down again, the energy expenditure would be huge, which is why we are open all year round”. The company has invested in solar panels, an investment that he describes as “very cost-effective, not only in terms of carbon footprint, but also economically”.

“Some people go to the pool, I take the car and go to the snow”

The Snozone group, which is owned by the British property company Capital & Regional, has two other indoor ski resorts, both in England. The world's largest indoor ski resort, which is also the most famous, is Ski Dubai in the Gulf. While outside the Madrid summer is oppressive, inside, noses are running.

A surfer tries a trick on the ramp. Izan Romano, a 20-year-old Madrid mason, is a regular. Thanks to his 600 euro annual subscription, he comes four to five times a week.

“Summer, winter, it doesn't matter, there's always snow, it's my bubble of oxygen, I forget what's outside”, and especially “the 38 degrees it is at my place”. “Some people go to the swimming pool, I take the car and go to the snow”. The environment ? He says “don't think about it”.

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