Tignes has the longest ski season in France owing to the Grande Motte glacier.

The season is nine months long. Glacier skiing is done at 3500 m, but due to global warming the area has been reduced by almost 30% in the last few years. So in Tignes they took a look southward towards Dubai and imagined that they, too, could build something similar. The plan is to build a shopping mall, indoor surf center, and a 300 m long ski slope/snow dome, located next to the village of Val Claret. All of this on that lovely meadow at the foot of the slalom slope. The Ski Line, as the project has been named, is set to open in 2018.

The rationale is that the snow season is getting shorter and the temperatures higher. The dome will also cater to skiers’ training outside the season. This piece of news did not go by unnoticed. Local nature preservation agencies have also reacted: “The Ski Line and other facilities signify a Disneyfication of the Alps, and do not respect the mountain!”