Skiing in August
It's 75 degrees and partly cloudy in New York City at the moment. Feel like going skiing? To satisfy the millions of New Yorkers clamoring to ski in the middle of August, not one, but two, indoor ski slopes are now in the works. The first is the massively delayed Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey, now slated to open during the summer of 2009. But yesterday a second such project was unveiled: A group called Riverhead Resorts put down a down payment to build a $2 billion resort on Long Island, which will feature a 35-story ski mountain inside a climate-controlled dome. (The picture on the left is from the indoor mountain in Dubai, in case you're wondering.)
As with the Xanadu project, the ski slope is only a small part of what's planned. There's also going to be an indoor water park, winery, horseriding set up, "artificial lake," spa, hotel and restaurant. The Riverhead project won't be completed until 2013 at the earliest. And it may not happen at all if environmental activists have their way and end up scuttling the deal. But how else are we supposed to cope with global warming?
