The indoor Ski Dubai

During a trip to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in June 2018, my husband, George, and I flew to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where we spent the night before continuing on to Azerbaijan.

For our return trip, I added a second night in Dubai. On our extra day there, we hired a taxi for a short city tour, then were dropped off at Mall of the Emirates to go to Ski Dubai (Sheikh Zayed Rd.; www.theplaymania.com/skidubai), a huge, indoor snowy mountain for skiing and snowboarding.

The cost for two hours was $80 each and included skis, poles, boots, ski pants, parkas and helmets. Gloves cost extra.

The facility had a quad chairlift with a rise of 280 feet and a midway get-off. The run down was 400 meters (a quarter mile); we would call it "intermediate" level. The snow was fine — similar to snow in the Rockies or Sierras.

There were a lot of people, both skiers as well as sightseers who were just taking a round trip on the lift. Some of the kids skiing looked like they might be locals (maybe hoping to represent Dubai in the next Winter Olympics?).

We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are glad we had a summer ski!

BRENDA MILUM

Reno, NV