"It's hard for someone from [New England] to understand this, but it's not just about snow," said Stephen Winters, who has an apt surname for a developer with a dream to build a $1 billion frozen community in Georgia. "It's the entire life experience, and the bottom line is our biggest reason for success is going to be global climate change."
Winters said he had an epiphany about bringing the world's tallest and longest indoor ski run to the South when he attended the opening of a German snow dome in 2000. Although he has yet to break ground and his grand plans are met with skepticism, Winters said Atlanta is the perfect location for just such a palace because it's within 100 miles of 6 million people and close to the world's busiest airport. He also hinted at an ecologically friendly process he would use, drawing on the region's abundance of humidity to provide water for snowmaking.
Winters said the European ski industry initially scoffed at indoor snow domes, but now even the premier mountain destinations are considering enclosed facilities because they fear being left out of the loop as the sport approaches a 12-month season.
When asked if he thinks global warming, over many decades, will eventually tip the trend so that indoor ski slopes outnumber natural mountain resorts, Winters said, "let's hope that doesn't happen, but I think we're headed that way."
In the meantime, skiers have a year until the indoor slope opens in New Jersey. The name choice for the complex is curious, because in ancient times, Xanadu was a city known for lavish, natural splendor. But more modernly, the term has evolved into a metaphor for pompous excess: In the classic film "Citizen Kane," Xanadu is the materialistic pleasure paradise where Orson Welles dies a lonely old man, imprisoned by his own wasteful extravagance.
Time will tell which type of Xanadu the nation's first indoor snow dome turns out to be.
