Photo: Hector Retamal Agence France-Presse Skiers and snowboarders ski down a slope on the opening day of the world's largest indoor ski resort, September 6.
Rebecca Bailey – Agence France-Presse in Shanghai
Published on September 6
- Asia
The world's largest indoor ski slope opened in Shanghai on Friday, after China recorded its hottest August in 60 years, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
By 9 a.m., temperatures were reaching 30 degrees Celsius on the Alpine-style square hosting the opening ceremony. But once inside the complex, the mercury dropped well below zero.
In a country where the population is increasingly passionate about winter sports, visitors traded sunglasses and T-shirts for ski suits.
Shaped like a glacier and covering an area of almost 100,000 square meters, the L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort is located an hour and a half from the center of Shanghai, in the Pudong district.
Inside, a chairlift, a cable car and a small train transport visitors to the resort’s four slopes.
At the top of one of the snowy slopes, snowboarder Jessica Zhang seemed unfazed by the news of yet another record-breaking summer temperature in China.
“I feel like there’s a bit of a spike in temperatures — maybe every other year or so, there’s a record-breaking year,” she said.
China recorded its hottest August since 1961, the National Meteorological Service said, with an average temperature of 22.6 degrees.
“Not bad at all”
Much of the northern hemisphere, from Europe to Asia, has been hit by particularly intense heat waves in recent weeks.
From June to August, the three months of the northern hemisphere summer saw the highest average global temperature ever measured, already beating the record set by 2023, the European Copernicus Observatory announced on Friday.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000And climatologists have already predicted that 2024 would be the hottest year ever recorded on Earth due to global warming.
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China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, which scientists say are responsible for climate change, even though the country has become a leader in renewable energy in recent years.
It has promised to peak emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
Global warming is gradually cutting into ski resorts’ opening hours.
“In northern China, because of climate change, fewer people are taking part in winter sports” and “some ski resorts are struggling” because of high temperatures, says Zhang Jin, a 48-year-old skier.
“Instead, we have a lot of indoor slopes like that which open and which are rather good, I find. »
Guinness World Record
Despite record-breaking temperatures, strong government support and growing interest in winter sports among the middle class have boosted China's ski industry, especially since Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.
China is the world leader in indoor ski slopes, taking half of the world's top 10, according to Shanghai-based Daxue Consulting.
The L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort was certified Friday by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest indoor ski resort, ahead of Harbin's resort — also in China.
“There were no ski resorts around Shanghai before and no way to ski in the summer […] So I'm pretty happy,” snowboarder Cynthia Zhang told AFP. before rushing down the slope.
In August, a report by Shanghai local authorities acknowledged that such projects “will inevitably consume a lot of energy.”
But it stressed that the new complex opened Friday was built with the goal of maximizing energy reuse, including through ice storage and a waste heat recovery system, as well as large rooftop photovoltaic installations.
Originally scheduled for 2019, the opening has been pushed back several times.