From today's Wall Street Journal
Texans Bet Big
On Summer Skiing On Snowless Slopes Defying 100-Degree Days, Fort Worth Bearfire Resort Plans an Alpine Village
By JENNIFER S. FORSYTH
May 16, 2007; Page A1
"FORT WORTH, Texas -- When summer hits the parched, flat prairie here, temperatures can spike to 100 degrees and firefighters get busy responding to the grass fires that routinely flare. To Charlie Aaron, it's a perfect time to go snowboarding.
Mr. Aaron and several investors have ambitious plans to build a 25-story mountain with slopes for year-round, outdoor skiing and snowboarding. Surrounding the mountain will be an "Alpine Village" with chairlifts, ice rinks, a bobsled track, a winter wonder-park for children, a retail center, a 600-room hotel and a convention center. Total cost of the proposed Bearfire Resort: $696 million.
Bearfire is just the latest outdoor leisure venture to make a giant bet on defying nature in wildly improbable places. Dubai, in the Persian Gulf region, has an indoor ski dome that is part of its Mall of the Emirates. It plans to open another next year that revolves and has polar bears. A $35 million artificial whitewater-rafting center opened outside Charlotte, N.C., in September." ...
For full report see page one of the WSJ or email Ruth for a copy.
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