World’s biggest indoor ski resort opens

Shanghai L+SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort

You won’t find much backcountry skiing at the world’s newest ski resort… because it’s indoors. The massive Shanghai L+SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort, located near Shanghai in China’s Lin-gang Special Area, is the country’s 50th indoor slope. Spanning 99,000 square meters, it’s now the largest indoor ski facility in the world. Yep, it’s official, having been certified by Guinness World Records (overtaking the previous record-holder – also in China, in northern Harbin). 

The resort offers three main runs adding up to 1,200 meters of piste with a 60-meter vertical drop. To put that in perspective, compare it to the UK’s Chill Factore in Manchester, which has a main slope of just 180 metres – it gives you an idea of the scale we’re talking about here. 

If you still can’t picture it, know that the designers thought it was big enough to require not only a chairlift and gondola, but also a snow train to access the ‘peaks’. Getting the idea now? 

To ensure it attracts its core audience of beginners and families, the resort also has destination-worthy features like a water park, a theme park, on-site accommodation, and a variety of restaurants. This is a far cry from when the UK’s first indoor snow venue (Tamworth’s SnowDome) opened first opened back in 1994. 

In line with current trends, the resort has been designed with energy efficiency in mind, using solar panels and other green technologies to offset the energy required for the snow-making machines; to keep the temperature inside the vast atrium below zero, 72 cooling machines and 33 snow-making machines work continuously. All that nice, cold snow will be a welcome retreat for locals, with China having just experienced its hottest August in 60 years.  

With China’s increasing interest in winter sports since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, could we start to see more Chinese athletes on the global alpine scene? It’s certainly possible, and for now, the resort will likely inspire dedicated skiers to explore traditional winter destinations abroad.