長島將建35層高室內滑雪場

[Ryann]

斥資20億打造多元化河頭鎮度假村 包括水上公園、露營地、溫泉


http://www.worldjournal.com/news_pics/b17232934520701.JPG (http://www.worldjournal.com/news_pics/b17232934520701.JPG)
河頭鎮35層樓高的室內滑雪場設計草圖。【美聯社】


【美聯社紐約花園市二十八日電】開發商擬投資20億元，在長島一個冷戰時期的戰鬥機測試場地，興建一座35層高的大型室內滑雪場。
這項雄心勃勃的計畫，同時包括一個室內水上公園、會議中心和酒店、釀酒廠、騎馬徑、露營地、人工湖、和一個建於植物公園的溫泉。但環保人士反對這項計畫。
長島松林荒地協會(Long Island Pine Barrens Society)在近期發表的刊物中說：「大型開發計畫能把農村田園的卡佛頓(Calverton)轉為繁華世界的奧蘭多(Orlando)。」
海軍把河頭鎮(Riverhead)大約六千英畝土地給予國防部合約商Northrup-Grumman，作為F-14系列和其他軍機的試驗場地，距今已有10年，該處距離紐約市約75哩。如今這塊土地的半數留作保護區，而另一半撥給開發商。
目前，包括蘇格蘭住宅建築商Baldragon Homes Ltd和房地產開發商Bayrock Group LLC等一夥投資人，與河頭鎮政府簽下一項1億6300萬的合約，在其中750英畝土地上打造一座「河頭鎮度假村」(Riverhead Resorts)。
開發計畫的律師帕利(Mitch Pally)強調「河頭鎮度假村」的多元化特點，但他承認最為人質疑的是室內滑雪場。
他說：「美國人目光非常短淺，他們認為美國沒有的東西，其他地方也沒有，但事實上，全世界已有逾50個室內滑雪場。」
由澳洲到蘇格蘭到杜拜，酷愛滑雪的人已在室內滑雪場玩樂了許多年。在美國，新澤西州草原地(Meadowlands)新建的室內滑雪場今年稍後將啟用，而亞特蘭大、拉斯維加斯和國內其他地方，正展開不同形式的開發計畫。
基於環保理由，「河頭鎮度假村」的工程須要延至2010年才開始，開發商希望2013年可以完工開幕，但帕利說，整個計畫須要10年時間才能完成。


2008-05-29

[jackwan]

There were a lot of plans in the US for a man made skiing slope, including Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston and several others, so far nothing materialized. Meadolands is probably the first one closest to completion, hoping the success of the project will bring some new energy in this arena. However, the failure of Meadowlands will halt all the developments in the US.

btw, Sam's rolling carpet teaching program at Peer 59 in San Francisco is closed, now its only offered in Sacramento. Not a good sign for man made skiing program.

[jackwan]

http://www.meadowlandsxanadu.com/static/node2267.jsp

Meadowlands snowdome web cam, planning to open in Fall of 2008...

[skier]

btw, Sam's rolling carpet teaching program at Peer 59 in San Francisco is closed, now its only offered in Sacramento. Not a good sign for man made skiing program.

But Sam's program at Peer 59 was just a small deck teaching a few skiers. Could be due to rent and/or lack of new students, and Sam has to travel from Sacramento to SF to teach.

There used to be at least half a dozen of big decks like Slope Infinity's deck in the U.S. but all were closed at least 10 years ago except the one in Encintas, California.

http://adventureski.com/about.htm

Adventure Ski has been around for over 20 years and in a parking lot of a ski shop in Southern California. They only open during the ski season to teach students.

and, of course, John Cleninden's facility in Aspen is still very much in business.

http://aspenmethod.com/ski_simulator.html

[jackwan]

John,

I am aware of Sam's situation at pier 59, he had the big deck there but not using it. All I am saying is that man made skiing program is hard to survive, as you had pointed out that some operator in US is closed, I am sure that is because of lacking of business. I hope the Meadowlands program is a success, otherwise there will be no large man made skiing operations in the US any more.

[skier]

Does Sam have a big deck? I didn't realize that he has one. Ader visited him not too long ago -- must be not too big -- otherwise Ader might be interested in it.

You are talking about 2 different things, one is just a simulation training deck and the other is indoor real snow.

[jackwan]

I saw the large deck sam had in pier 59, it was covered by plastics.

Ader cannot possible to buy a big deck, he had problem to make the small one working because he cannot find a suitable place in Taipei to put it. I just spoke to him on 5/18 when we went to indoor climbing together.Right now the machine is in his in-law's living room and its hard to get to, not good for any commercial operation.

[skier]

Yeah he should have a commercial place to do it.

www.slope8.com has been in operation for over 5 years now, and had over 5,000 individuals come to learn. Slope8 is not making money, but cash-flow-wise it is now a bit positive. Luckily the landlord is very 'gentle' in raising our rent -- they want us to stay.

All business are concentrated in the winter months, and basically the classes are fully booked 7 days a week, and need 4 instructors to cope with the schedule.

[Yogi]

Ader cannot possible to buy a big deck, he had problem to make the small one working because he cannot find a suitable place in Taipei to put it.
Right now the machine is in his in-law's living room and its hard to get to, not good for any commercial operation.
Ader must have a very good relationship with his in-laws! ;) I won't volunteer to go to visit mine. :rolleyes:

[jackwan]

Ader must have a very good relationship with his in-laws! ;) I won't volunteer to go to visit mine. :rolleyes:

The Key issue here is not Ader, its 小不點， Ader‘s wife who is supportive on the project。 And she is a ski instructor also. So, do you see the benifit to merry a skier now? ;) You wish you had, huh? :rolleyes:

[Yogi]

Ader‘s wife who is supportive on the project。 And she is a ski instructor also. So, do you see the benifit to merry a skier now? ;) You wish you had, huh? :rolleyes:
I don't see the benefit of marrying a ski instructor. I think it is a bigger benefit to marry to one with a big house so that I can put the machine in our house for our use anytime we want to. :cool: