Ski Tunnels

Every day, I drive past Buck Hill, a downhill ski slope in Burnsville, Minnesota, that's so tiny it could easily be put under a dome. Doing so would actually be following on what the Europeans, not satisfied with year-round snow on their stupid mountains and glaciers, have been doing for a while. Vuokatti, Finland, built the world's first ski tunnel, an underground structure which offers a 2.4 kilometer track. (See inside.) Cooled below freezing, the tunnel uses snow cannons to make snow year round, and it is popular for off-season training with both elite athletes like the Chinese nordic ski team and other good racers like Vermont juniors. There are other ski tunnels in Finland, including one above ground in Jami, and both Sweden and Germany have ski tunnels in the works. (There's even a covered downhill slope in Germany.) All this indoor skiing comes to its logical culmination at the 2007 World Championships, when the sprint races will be held inside the Sapporo Dome. No word on whether anyone's willing to counteract global warming with, say, a domed 30km course.