New pictures from the mountain

Skiing in Saudi Arabia: mega project comes to a standstill

Not much of the planned resort can be seen yet. However, excavators are busy rolling along the stony desert.(Bild: NEOM)

With the award of the 2029 Asian Winter Games, the largest winter resort project in the world was launched in 2022. It sounds paradoxical that it is to be built in the desert state of Saudi Arabia of all places. And it is. Krone+ took a look at the latest pictures of the construction site.

Money? Doesn't matter. Cheap labor? There's plenty of it. Snow? Is produced artificially. The ingredients for the 2029 Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia are in place. Although the conditions for the winter madness could hardly be worse. After all, it is currently between 28 and 31 degrees in Trojena, the mountainous region in the north-east of Saudi Arabia, and the sun is shining brightly. While the few inhabitants are sweating profusely, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans envisage 36 kilometers of pistes with white powder snow. Trojena is part of the NEOM project, which consists of numerous daring and costly projects under the government's Vision 2030 program.