Skiing… indoors? Yep. This is how the Scarsdale Raiders ski team has been practicing the past two years.
Big SNOW–inside the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey–is an indoor skiing facility perfect for those who want to ski before any New York snowfall has begun. The artificial ski slope offers a great opportunity for skiers to train year-round. Being about an hour from Scarsdale, it offers an excellent preseason option to SHS’s skiers.
“You get to ski on snow before you can actually ski on snow. My coach thought of the idea, and it has been great,” SHS ski team captain Elliott Zhang ’24 said.
Although skiers ideally want to be practicing on mountains as much as they can in the winter, sometimes it’s just not realistic. Even with the limited skiing size Big SNOW has to offer, it’s the best way to get in early practices.
“It’s perfect for keeping your ski legs, and not forgetting how to ski…the space is small but enough,” Zhang explained.
Indoor skiing has some perks that may even make it more desirable than a northeast ski mountain on certain days. “It is much warmer than a mountain since there is a lack of wind. This makes it much more enjoyable,” Abigail Williams ’27 noted. It also has no ice patches or jutting rocks.
Even though the man-made hill boasts just one main run, it has multiple things to try. There’s a bunny hill, a terrain park, and a friendly Yeti mascot to take pictures with. With a four-person ski lift, the slope runs very efficiently. Essentially, there’s nearly everything a skier or snowboarder could need to complete their pre-season training. After some time on the snow, there’s a ski-in coffee shop selling hot chocolate.
This unique and inventive way of training has helped our Raiders prepare their ski game for the upcoming season where just a couple seconds in a race can make all the difference. We can’t wait to watch Ders_ski dominate this season.
