September 14, 2015 (Oslo, Norway) – Work is expected to start in the next few months on Skihallen, the world’s largest indoor ski centre, reports The Local Europe AB. The planned six-story building will contain 36,000 square meters of snow, with a slope 505 meters long and more than 100 meters wide. The slope will have five different ski lifts, three different runs and a capacity for 5,000 skiers an hour.

The centre, described as “10 minutes from Oslo,” will also house an indoor cross-country ski track, where 1,000 people will be able to ski at once. Construction will start before the end of this year and the facility is expected to open in 2018. Also included in the plans are a hotel, apartments, a winter academy, and shops.

“We’re moving the snow to town – all year round,” Kjetil Fladmark-Larsen, chief executive of Lorensburg Winter Park, told TV2. His company is targeting enthusiasts of cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

“We will build cross-country skiing on the third floor, and a big jump and downhill slope. Children and young people will be able to combine skiing and school. This is the future training centre for winter sports athletes.”

Currently, the world’s largest indoor ski slope, Snowworld, near the city of Aachen in The Netherlands, counts some 35,000 square metres of snow. Dubai holds the record for the longest indoor run, where the Mall of the Emirates has a 400 metre slope, but there are plans to build a 1.2km slope in Dubai by 2020.

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