On a winter afternoon in Tamworth, a small English town northeast of Birmingham, the weather was typical: cool, rainy and gray. But inside the SnowDome, a bustling ski center at least 100 miles from the nearest mountain range, it was cold enough that you could almost imagine you were in the French Alps.<\/p>\n
Of course, the air smelled like the inside of a freezer, and Paul McCartney and Fleetwood Mac blared from the speakers while instructors guided beginners of all ages. The SnowDome has provided skiing and snowboarding to the area since 1994, and calls itself<\/a> the first permanent facility in Europe to use real snow. (One employee said the snow quality is \u201calways perfect.\u201d)<\/p>\n It is one of five indoor ski slopes in Britain. That may seem like a lot for one island nation, especially to skiers in the United States, where the only indoor snow facility is in New Jersey. But some would argue it\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n As rising travel costs and a warming climate threaten outdoor skiing, indoor slopes are popping up all over the globe. There were about 80 of them in 2009, mostly in Europe and Asia, said Patrick Thorne, a researcher and journalist who tracks the facilities. By last spring, there were close to 200, with more on the way, mostly in China and potentially also in places like Australia.<\/p>\n There are roughly 1.8 million active skiers and snowboarders in Britain, according to a 2024 report<\/a>. The British were early adopters<\/a> of Alpine skiing, but with limited options at home. Most head abroad or up north to Scotland, where the mountains can get enough snow for a day on the slopes.<\/p>\n There are also mountains in Wales, the picturesque country wedged between England and the sea, but mostly not the skiing kind. So a plan is in the works to build an indoor slope near Merthyr Tydfil, a former industrial town about 25 miles north of Cardiff, the Welsh capital. And not just any slope \u2014 one of the biggest in Europe.<\/p>\n Locals hope the project will prop up a fading economy. But indoor snow centers are expensive to build and require huge amounts of energy and water to operate, meaning they\u2019re not especially friendly to the environment. Many fail in the planning stages. The conventional wisdom in the industry is that to be financially viable, an indoor facility must be close to a dense population center and transportation links, but also far enough away from outdoor skiing opportunities.<\/p>\n All of which raises the question: Why Wales?<\/p>\n For local officials in Merthyr Tydfil, which has about 60,000 residents and was once called the \u201ciron capital of the world,\u201d it\u2019s a no-brainer. In January, they approved plans for the 300-million-pound (about $400 million) facility, known as Rhydycar West<\/a>, which would house a 400-meter slope and meet international competitive standards, so Britain\u2019s professional teams could make it a training base.<\/p>\n Robin Kellen, the chief executive of Snowsport Wales, the country\u2019s governing body for winter sports, said the real question is: \u201cWhy not Wales?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are we waiting for this to be built somewhere else?\u201d said Mr. Kellen, who\u2019s been an adviser for the Rhydycar West project from its early stages. \u201cIt\u2019s a tried and tested format and model that works throughout Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been attempts in the past to build an indoor slope in Cardiff, and an outdoor slope was even briefly opened in Merthyr Tydfil, but it was too humid to make and maintain snow. Environmental concerns have scuttled plans elsewhere in Britain, and Rhydycar West has faced its own opposition.<\/p>\n Brent Carter, the council leader in Merthyr Tydfil, said locals have generally seen the project as an opportunity for renewal in an area that has fallen on hard times in recent decades. They\u2019ve been promised around 800 jobs, and more during the construction stage. \u201cIt boosts the economy in the town center, the shops, the businesses, the small traders would benefit, the hotels,\u201d Mr. Carter said.<\/p>\n The developers, a company called Marvel Limited, own the 550-acre site and are privately funding Rhydycar West. Marvel representatives declined to be interviewed for this article, but Mr. Carter said the project must meet more than 50 planning conditions well before any snow is made. If it does, the aim is to break ground in 18 months and open sometime around 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will safeguard a lot of jobs for future generations,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah Phillips, a therapist in Merthyr Tydfil who supports the project, said there had been concerns about protecting wildlife and heritage sites, but overall locals believed \u201cit would be a massive, massive blow if we didn\u2019t get this to go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n The town has seen other regeneration projects fail in the past, she said, \u201cso it\u2019s been a really lovely relief that we are going to get some good stuff happening.\u201d<\/p>\n The rise of indoor skiing has come as unreliable snowfall and soaring costs have tested the outdoor ski industry. Some lower-altitude resorts have closed. This past season saw snow droughts in some places<\/a> and deadly avalanches<\/a> in others.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change means the European snow sport season is shorter, more expensive and less reliable with reduced snow access,\u201d reads a Rhydycar West planning document sent to The Times. \u201cThis is forcing winter sports enthusiasts to seek indoor alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cin some ways ironic,\u201d Mr. Thorne, the researcher, said in an email, that the two trends are happening simultaneously, though they\u2019re not necessarily linked. As the technology and viability of indoor ski centers has improved, he said, there\u2019s been \u201ca clear business model of \u2018bringing the snow to the people,\u2019\u201d rather than vice versa.<\/p>\n The model is starting to stretch beyond winter sports: Unlike its predecessors in Britain, Rhydycar West would look more like a Six Flags than a skating rink. The plans include a tropical water park, thrill rides and a conference center. Other indoor ski centers offer different frills: At Ski Dubai, there\u2019s a colony of penguins. New Jersey\u2019s Big Snow is inside a shopping mall.<\/p>\n Indoor snow centers tend to attract beginners and families, but they\u2019re also for experts who want to stay in shape. And increasingly, they\u2019re for professionals in search of consistent conditions for training, said Chris Exall, a snow sports consultant in Britain. \u201cThese are essentially golf driving ranges,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re very large, very expensive, very cold golf driving ranges.\u201d<\/p>\n Menna Fitzpatrick, a top British Paralympic skier \u2014 who was discovered at an indoor ski center in Manchester at age 11 \u2014 said that as glaciers melt<\/a>, summer skiing is less reliable, so teams either travel to places like Chile or to larger indoor facilities outside of Britain. At Rhydycar West, there\u2019s potential for \u201ca lot of business,\u201d Ms. Fitzpatrick said, if \u201cthey build it right.\u201d<\/p>\n That can be the tricky part. Pete Gillespie, the head of snow sports at the Snow Centre, which operates two indoor facilities in England, said they make \u201creal\u201d snow using cannons that shoot water at high pressure into freezing air, just like at outdoor resorts. But inside, they have to chill the air and cool the floor to maintain the snow, which takes a lot of energy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019d be a lie to say these things are hugely environmentally friendly,\u201d Mr. Gillespie said. \u201cThey\u2019re huge fridges.\u201d He said that they\u2019ve tried to balance the energy output by retrofitting the roof with solar panels.<\/p>\n