A new indoor snow center which might be the world's longest is due to open this winter in Lithuania. The SNORAS Snow Arena is scheduled to open this winter following an investment of 98 Million Litas (about €28.5 m) of which two-fifths is coming from the European Commission structural funds.

The Snow Arena is being built in forest land near the village of Druskininkai, in the spectacular Mizar mountain forest and wilderness area. The main indoor slope is planned to be 460m long and 50m wide and there will be a 70m wide, 150m long beginner trail. There will also be an indoor terrain park. A 640m long outdoor piste will be operational as soon as temperatures drop below -5C when snowmaking can operate.

The center‘s capacity at any one time will be 1'000 people and the project team hope that they will attract 400'000 visitors annually from the wider Baltic region. There is already a summer holiday center adjacent to the site. The center will be one of very few in the world that offers both indoor year-round and outdoor seasonal skiing on adjacent sites. There will also be an ice skating rink, snowboard area, a 25m high climbing wall and a children's entertainment area. Catering facilities will include an ice bar for cocktails and the main restaurant with a wall of glass windows 47m high.

Lithuania is a rather flat country with some gently rolling hills and is believed to currently only have one downhill slope at Anykščiai, the Kalita hill. Complete with snowmaking and two lifts it has pistes up to 250m long with 40m vertical. As a result, the new indoor snow center alone will be bigger than that.

For more information, visit www.snowarena.lt

FIS news
Contributed by www.skiinfo.com
09/09/2010

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