China: World's largest indoor ski resort opens in Shanghai

Shanghai opened the world's largest indoor ski resort on Friday amid searing temperatures outside as China reported its hottest August in 60 years. 

Temperatures were already at 30 degrees Celsius (roughly 86 Fahrenheit) by 9 a.m. during Friday's outdoor opening ceremony in a mock Alpine square, but were closer to freezing point inside the building. 

The building has a skiing area of 90,000 square meters or 9 hectares. Incorporating other facilities likes shops, hotels, and a still-unopened water park the construction area extends to 350,000 square meters.

The festivities marked the end of a difficult teething and test period for the facility. Chinese state media reported that safety procedures were being reviewed after an incident on Wednesday, when limited numbers of people were already allowed in, in which a patron's finger was severed by another skier.

Industry expansion amid Winter Olympics

Years in the making, once scheduled to open in 2019 according to Chinese media, the vast resort is part of a state-supported winter sports investment drive rooted partly in the country hosting the last Winter Olympics in 2022 and also in a more general bid to cater to the recreational wishes of an expanding middle class. 

Located in Shanghai's Pudong district, the L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort was certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest on its opening day on Friday. It overtakes another Chinese facility in northern Harbin. 

China has developed several such indoor resorts in recent years and boasts five of the 10 largest by skiing area in the world, according to Daxue Consulting. China's CCTV reported that some 360 million people in the country do winter sports.

The construction coincides with retreating and less reliable snow slopes in the traditional skiing resorts in the north of the country amid climate change, a tale familiar to European skiiers visiting mountain ranges like the Alps.

"In China, it might have more of an effect in the north because of climate change, there are fewer people doing winter sports there," 48-year-old skier Zhang Jin told the AFP news agency. "So some of the snow parks just aren't operating well, they're shrinking. Instead, it's this kind of thing opening up right now, larger indoor ones, which I think is still pretty good." 

Solar panels on roof to offset 'inevitably' consuming 'a lot' of energy

The center uses artifical snow, rather than the oft-maligned dry ski slopes that may not provide as authentic an experience for enthusiasts but that can operate in any weather all year round. 

Officials said that it uses 72 cooling machines to maitain an indoor temperature around freezing point, and 33 snow-making machines to feed the pistes. 

A Shanghai government report in August acknowledged that such projects "will inevitably consume a lot of energy." But it also said the resort was built to maximize energy reuse where possible, for instance via ice storage and waste-heat recovery systems. 

Three-quarters of the building's roof is covered with solar photovoltaic panels to help power it.

"We have taken a lot of energy-saving measures," resort executive Yin Kang told AFP. 

msh/jcg (AFP, AP)