With the mercury regularly hitting 40° Celsius these days we could all do with somewhere to cool off. So how about your very own snow room?
Desert Snow, a UAE-based company, is selling purpose-built rooms for spas, health clubs and private residences which produce soft, fluffy snow no matter what the temperature is outside.
While the concept sounds cool, the cost may just send a chill down your spine, with prices starting from Dh400,000.
“It is similar to the price of the luxury car, and in terms of energy consumption it is like a large air-conditioning unit. So it is definitely something that is achievable in a private residence,” says Ben Elliott-Scott, the founder and managing director of Desert Snow.
The company has only just started selling the areasana snow rooms, which are produced in Germany, so it has not received any orders yet. However, there are already four snow rooms here in the UAE that were sold by Innovag, a company areasana subsequently bought, according to Mr Elliott-Scott.
“There is one in a private residence; there is one in Le Meridien opposite the airport; and there are two – one in the ladies and one in the gents – at the Ottoman spa in Jumeirah Zabeel Saray,” says Mr Elliott-Scott.
The rooms, which are up to 12 square metres in size, produce the white fluffy stuff from air and water, in the same way natural snow is made.
The concept is based on a Finnish tradition where locals take a roll in the snow when the heat of the sauna becomes too much. Health benefits include a metabolism boost and detox effect which can improve skin tone and even reduce the formation of wrinkles and cellulite, says Mr Elliott-Scott.
Thankfully, those considering a personal snow room in the UAE won’t need to build a complementary sauna to sweat it out before entering. In the summer months, they can just take a stroll outside.
q&a a welcome wintry blast
Ben Elliott-Scott, the founder and managing director of Desert Snow, tells Gillian Duncan more about the benefits of a personal snow room:
How long has Desert Snow been operating?
For three years; we are just about to go into our fourth winter season at the end of this year. We position ourselves as the region’s only specialist in all things snow. So up to this point it’s been primarily with artificial snow. But as of last November we expanded our offerings here to be able to offer real snow.
How?
We make real snow in a cryogenic snow factory in our warehouse in Al Quoz. We can deliver 700-litre boxes of snow anywhere in the UAE. We can do that regionally as well. And we also can make snow using a similar system on site. That led us on to other means of snow-making and snow-making systems, so more permanently installed systems and one of those systems is areasana.
Is there really a market for this kind of thing?
Snow for health is actually only one use of the snow room. They can be used for other purposes. There is one in Korea I believe where kids can build a snowman.
Do you sell them anywhere else?
We are based in the UAE and we have an agreement for the UAE but we cover Qatar and obviously our geographical location is much closer than the guys in Germany are. So if an inquiry comes in the Middle East region we will answer it.
business@thenational.ae
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Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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