Dry snow

Monte Kaolino is an artificial sand hill about 100 km east from Nürnberg, Germany. It has camping place, volley ball courts, swimming pools, playgrounds, roller coasters, and during summer time a sand ski resort.

The hill looks steep and it is, but sand has much more friction than snow.

The lift is an interesting boat with some wheels and wires pulling it up. Fits 10 people or so.

Ski and snowboard gear can be rented from the resort. They feel a bit old fashioned but maybe the bindings are of this type for a reason. Skis feel short but sand with high friction feels weird anyway. Several locals were there with their own gear.

There is a single, likely prepared piste, a slalom course, a kicker and a rail thingy. On the sides there is some 'off piste' sand terrain.

Here is a video with some sand skiing weirdness:

The high friction makes turning the skis odd. Edges do not really have grip. If you ski too fast and try to carve too much, you will eat dirt. Literally. And it's tricky to get sand out of your mouth, nose, ears and eyes. At the same time.

I recommend having long winter ski socks and at least eye protection when skiing on sand. And don't keep anything valuable in open pockets. They are hard to find form the sand. But I will try this again next year for a few hours. It is a bit too weird for a full day activity.

-Mikko