# Shanghai opens the world’s largest indoor ski resort as China bets on winter sports

Event date: 2024-09-06

Shanghai has opened what Guinness World Records certified as the world’s largest indoor ski resort, a huge artificial-snow complex in Pudong that reflects China’s push into winter sports and year-round recreation.

DW reported that the L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort opened fully to customers on Friday after lengthy delays. The launch came during searing late-summer heat outside, but temperatures inside were close to freezing thanks to cooling systems and artificial snow machines. That contrast was central to the project’s appeal and its novelty.

The resort’s skiable area covers 90,000 square metres, or nine hectares, while the broader construction area reaches 350,000 square metres once shops, hotels and a still-unopened water park are included. Those numbers help explain why the site was able to overtake another Chinese facility in Harbin to claim the world-record designation.

DW said the venue uses 72 cooling machines and 33 snow-making machines to maintain conditions suitable for skiing. It is designed to resemble a glacier rather than a conventional dry slope, giving visitors a more realistic winter experience than the older indoor ski format.

The project is part of a wider state-supported investment drive tied to China’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics and its efforts to cater to a growing middle class interested in snow sports. China’s CCTV has reported that some 360 million people in the country do winter sports, which gives the market for such facilities a scale few other countries can match.

The timing also reflects a climate reality. DW said northern China’s natural ski slopes are shrinking and becoming less reliable amid climate change, making indoor facilities more attractive to both operators and customers. The article linked that shift to trends familiar in Europe as well, where ski seasons have also become less predictable.

The resort’s opening was not entirely smooth. DW reported that Chinese state media said safety procedures were under review after an incident during a limited-access preview in which a skier severed another patron’s finger. That incident adds a reminder that the spectacle of the opening sits alongside operational risks.

Even with those concerns, the site has been presented as energy-conscious by local officials. DW said a Shanghai government report acknowledged that projects of this scale inevitably consume significant energy, but also noted measures such as ice storage, waste-heat recovery and solar panels on three-quarters of the roof.

For Shanghai, the resort is both a consumer destination and a symbol of ambition. It gives the city a new indoor attraction while also showing how winter sports infrastructure is moving into regions better known for heat and density than natural snow.

The result is a facility built for skiing, shopping and leisure, but also for the broader message that China intends to keep expanding its winter-sports economy indoors as well as outdoors.