Big Snow American Dream facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Big Snow American Dream |
|
|---|---|
The "Switchback" and "Northern Lights" trails at Big Snow American Dream
|
|
| Location | Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Nearest city | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′40″N 74°04′12″W / 40.81111°N 74.07000°W |
| Skiable area | 4 acres (1.6 ha) |
| Runs | 3 |
| Longest run | Switchback - 1,000 feet (300 m) |
| Lift system | 4 total (1 quad lift, 1 Poma, 2 magic carpets) |
Big Snow American Dream is an exciting indoor park where you can go skiing and snowboarding! It's part of the huge American Dream shopping and entertainment center. You can find it at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This cool place opened on December 5, 2019.
Big Snow American Dream is special because it's the very first indoor ski park in all of North America! The Triple Five Group owns it, and a company called Snow Operating helps run it. Snow Operating also manages the Mountain Creek Resort.
How Big Snow Started
The idea for the American Dream mall first came up in 1994. Back then, it was called Meadowlands Mills. Later, its name changed to Meadowlands Xanadu. The mall was almost finished in 2009, but then construction stopped. This happened because there wasn't enough money to keep building.
The original plans for the mall included an indoor ski slope. It was even advertised as the first indoor ski resort in the United States! In early 2011, after a lot of snow fell, part of the ski slope's wall got damaged. Workers tried to melt the snow on the roof. But then, a large section of the eastern wall collapsed because of the heavy snow.
In May 2011, a new agreement was made. The Triple Five Group took over the mall and renamed it "American Dream." They decided to continue building the ski slope. In 2015, the ski slope got a new name: "Big Snow."
In 2018, Triple Five announced that the ski slope would open in December of the next year. This was part of the mall's opening plan, which happened in stages between 2019 and 2020. Before opening, Big Snow hired 300 people to work there. On December 5, 2019, Big Snow American Dream officially opened! Famous skiers and snowboarders like Donna Weinbrecht, Lindsey Vonn, Red Gerard, and Ben Ferguson were there for the big event.
What You Can Do at Big Snow
This amazing park covers about 4 acres and is always covered with 5,500 tons of snow. The snow is packed about 2 feet deep, and the park is open all year!
Big Snow has three different trails for skiing and snowboarding:
- Lil' Dipper: This is a trail for beginners, perfect if you're just starting out.
- Switchback: This trail is for intermediate skiers and snowboarders.
- Northern Lights: This trail is for advanced riders who want more of a challenge.
There's also a special area called a terrain park. Here, you can practice tricks and jumps.
To get up the slopes, there are four different lifts:
- Two carpet lifts for the Lil' Dipper trail. These are like moving sidewalks that take you up slowly.
- A quad chairlift and a platter surface lift for the Northern Lights and Switchback trails. These lifts were made in 2008.
The slopes are about 1,000 feet long. They go up about 160 feet high, and the steepest part is 26%.
The park's temperature is always kept at a cool 28 degrees Fahrenheit (about -2 degrees Celsius). This means the snow stays perfect! You can also take skiing and snowboarding lessons if you want to learn or improve your skills. To make sure it's not too crowded, you need to book your tickets for a specific time slot before you go.
After all that fun on the slopes, you can warm up with some delicious hot chocolate! The park has a special hot chocolate shop called Joe C's Hot Cocoa.
