Not so much gadgets you travel with this week, as technology you might want to travel to
* Formula Rossa RollercoasterAs all petrolheads out there will know, last weekend saw the finale of one of the most competitive Formula One seasons ever at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ferrari didn't win, not that race at least. But it has just unveiled the world's fastest rollercoaster there, the Formula Rossa, clocking in at stomach-churning 200km/h. Our new gatso vans would need to be on their toes to snap that sort of pace.
It’s part of Ferrari World, a massive theme park that trades on hyperbole: as well as the F1-speed ride, it’s said to be the world’s biggest indoor amusement park. It’s certainly got one of the biggest logos ever, which lies on top of the vast swooping, spilling spaceship lines of the park’s roof.
The Formula Rossa takes off like a rocket too, reaching its top speed in under five seconds, and generating cheek-wobbling g-forces in the process. Oh, and the ride’s cars are red of course. It’ll set off the colour of your knuckles nicely as you cling on.
* CostFerrari World, €45 unlimited rides, ferrariworldabudhabi.com.
* Excalibur Climbing WallClimbing isn't an activity you'd immediately associate with Holland. Those polders aren't renowned for their gnarly inclines. Then there's Excalibur – 37m (that's more than 120 feet) of curving, flexing verticality. And the hype: it's said to be the tallest purpose-built climbing wall in the world. It's definitely a gorgeous piece of sculptural architecture that Frank Gehry might have doodled in an idle moment.
Part of the Klimcentrum Bjoeks complex in Groningen, Excalibur has been open a while, but remains dramatic. The wall’s slabbier side offers something for the novice climber, though no respite until the ledge at the top, while the more extreme face boasts an 11m overhang. That’s more than enough to give even hardened fingertips a bit of a burn.
If you are tackling it, you’ll need a good 80m of rope. On the other hand, most non-climbers will probably gaze up at the tall, twisting steel and timber pillar askance and then slip away for a Dutch high of a different sort.
* CostKlimcentrum Bjoeks day ticket from €10, bjoeks.nl.
* Ski DubaiNope, not a typo. And not National Enquirer- type headline about climate change. Not unless we include localised climate change brought about by a combination of big petro-bucks and even bigger air con.
Welcome to the world’s largest indoor ski area (you could see that coming from several sentences back), with the world’s first indoor black slope. Yeah. It’s all in a building that’s about 25 storeys high attached to the Mall of the Emirates, not far from downtown Dubai.
This is the “estiest” city on earth, boasting – and they do – the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest building) and Burj Al Arab (world’s poshest hotel) to name but two.
Ski Dubai is almost modest in its ambitions in this company. Okay, so it has a chairlift, five different slopes, the longest being 400m, a snowboarding run and more than 20,000sq m of year-round snow in an environment that runs to 40 degrees daily. Outside that is. Inside, it’s a pleasantly cool minus 1 degree or so.
Now I wonder what all the energy to keep it that way is doing for the climate?
CostSki Dubai, all-day ski pass €60, skidxb.com.
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