Indoor Ski Lake

[LoopSki]

As the lottery reaches $ 1 billion , I am trying to figure out what I will do with my winnings. After I buy a King Air and put in a run way , I'm wondering if I will have enough left over to convert the lake into indoors . Is it even structurely possible ? Retractable roof of course would be nice .

[Jetsetr]

Get a PC-12NG or TBM 950...PC-12 burns 1/2 the fuel, has as much room, a big cargo door and is as fast as the KA-200.TBM is WAAAAY faster than both.

Would be easier to put a roof over an existing ski lake...ya got the $$$$!

[MISkier]

I think Schnitz had some sort of plan or strategy for an indoor lake. If I recall correctly, the estimated price was about $5 million about 12 years ago or so. I haven’t visited his website in a long time, but I thought I saw some info about it there.

[DW]

Make sure you add to the budget lighting so skiing can be enjoyed at any hour of the day:-)

 

Off topic: on track wind tunnel testing is done by a certain race team in a mountain tunnel to eliminate the wind factor, the team simply bought the road / mountain property. Needed big fans to evacuate the exhaust gases.

[klindy]

It's certainly structurally possible to put a roof over a lake, We actually half jokingly looked into it at one point. The biggest issue by far is climate control inside the building. You'd need to turn over a LOT of air to keep the humidity in check. That air would typically need to be heated in the winter months or it will quickly be the same temp as the outdoor ambient air. So even if the building was $5 million (which would be about right for a simple, no-frills approach) the HVAC would likely be at least that. The operating costs would also be a significant hit.

 

Certainly possible but a $125k boat would be cheap by comparison and likely more enjoyable to maintain.

[Wish]

I kind of remember a mostly covered ski lake concept drawing of one in WSM. A student did the concept for a class. Looked amazing and with one side somewhat open (if I'm remembering correctly) would eliminate humidity issues but not cold issues depending on location.

[OldboyII]

For 1 bln you can buy a couple of dozens ski locations in the world best places, couple of decent jets with nice crew. And ski wherever you want in accordance to weather forecasts.

Do not forget to leave open invitation for ballers which may want to join you. It will help you not to get bored and feel lonesome.

[BraceMaker]

I've pondered this extensively - the trick would be to build the lake between buildings - something like 4 intermodal freight terminals with a central area and only have to worry about roofing it.

[swc5150]

Not quite as cool as my plan to order 100 Prostars, and give them to BOS members on a first come first serve basis, but cool just the same:)

[skimtb]

@swc5150 cool plan. Can I get on the list. Will you be including the pellet shooting ski course as well?

@LoopSki aren’t you in California? Seems you already have a good climate...

[ToddA]

Yeah, I think I would go with @OldboyII and get a few places purchased, PLUS, the "necessary" Snake and Gator Removal Service to be on staff 24/7 for places southeast of the PNW!

[aspski]

There are indoor ski hills, why not indoor waterski lakes?

 

[The_MS]

How much a year to keep water in a lake in AZ? May be cheaper to go indoors to prevent evaporation?

[JayG80]

Indoor Ski Lake

[Keith_Menard]

It's funny...I actually had a dream about a year ago that this existed

[OldboyII]

@aspski Capacity of indoor ski tube is thousands of people per day. There are hundreds of skiers in the tube simultaneously (ratio of skiing down/going up is about 1:10)

Capacity of indoor lake max 5 skiers per hour equal 50 pers per day.

probably this is an answer. Pure economics (Kapitalizm!) ))

[A_B]

Better have some geo thermal water heater. Without sun, hard to imagine water getting comfortable temperatures.

 

[BraceMaker]

@A_B passive geothermal heat. Like a giant greenhouse. My concept was the rooftops form a water source. Water goes through biological filter beds with plants. Roof is inflated bladders for insulation properties but clear. Support for roof black absorbive tubes through which water is pumped for heating via passive solar.

 

Surrounding facilities are > than ambient temps.

[addkerr]

Build in Iceland, heated by the earths core.

[LoopSki]

well i didnt win and now its up to 1.6 billion . so even after the government takes its cut , im pretty sure one could build it with the winnings.

[thager]

Seems to me that the Mall of America has no heating/cooling system installed. Don't remember the details of an article I read, but size of the enclosure, ground heat and sunlight keep the indoors environment pretty constant in Minnesota year round.

[BraceMaker]

Very shortly after figuring out an indoor skinlake im figuring out a high speed central cable with rail and having the option to pull with out boat. Add a few carriers such that skiers lines can be decoupled and shortened at the ends and away you go.

[pregom]

@BraceMaker I've been thinking about the same concept. Some sort of a cart with a pylon mounted on it would be pulled on rails by a cable loop (similar the cable of a ski gondola) and you are all set. The rails and the cart would need to be pretty strong to sustain the pulls of a short line skier without collapsing... Easy!

[ForrestGump]

@thager, Interesting that you bring that up. Before I left Arrow Electronics earlier this year I was working on a new project for Triple 5, the owners of Mall of America that effected the HVAC. In conjunction with being the prime electronics supplier for their new Mall in NJ, we were also looking at replacing all of the lighting in MOA. The working groups to do design on that were enormous because so much of the MOA environment is heated by the metal halide light fixtures. For what it's worth, only the common areas are non heated. The individual stores do have their own HVAC units. AND the mall has AC, as it's required to turn over the air, condition it, and in a lot of cases has to cool the ambient air even in the dead of winter. But you are correct, there is no forced heat in the main MOA structure.

[Lars]

agreed with @BoneHead used to work for Innovent and we put some HVAC units on the new addition and they did, in fact, have heat. Camp Snoopy (what's nickelodeon universe?) is mostly glass ceiling so that acts like a big greenhouse and definitely doesn't need heat.

 

to the OP, I too have daydreamed about an all season lake. Is 150 feet wide enough? if so, could buy 8 of these buildings and be well on your way to an indoor lake:

https://mbmisteelbuildings.com/metal-buildings-for-sale/150x250

[eleeski]

@Lars AWSA used to specify 50 foot clearances. It's not a rule anymore but most original ski lakes were built to that specification. So the minimum lake would be 175 feet wide. (260' for a jump - I'd be wary of a jump in 150'.) It might be possible to use cutouts to get the clearance (I did that with my outdoor lake - whether that could work with the buildings is another question).

 

With that said, 150 feet should be plenty. Pad the walls near the buoys.

 

My old lake had cattails quite close to the buoys. I never hit them but one member did (needed a couple stitches).

[LoopSki]

well i only got 3 numbers , no indoor ski lake for me. some lucky bastard in South Carolina can do it !

[OldboyII]

Do not give in! Keep on trying!

[usaski1]

What about a ski lake in a cave? Just install lights... Must be some kind of radar or something we can shoot through rocks to find one of proper size... mots caves are like 68 degrees year round.

[Chef23]

@usaski1 I think backwash would be a big issue there.

[MNshortliner]

Isn’t the earth hollow? Got to be some good sites “Ready to ski”

[jetpilotg4]

Wait I thought the earth was flat!! That guy that launched himself in his home built rocket proved it

[ryno65]

Red Bull did a wakeboard event in a cave about 15 years ago, much smaller scale. Towed by jetski.