In 40 degree heat, in the largest sand desert on the planet, Chad Sayers and Chad Manley go looking for the one of the world’s strangest of ski environments: Ski Dubai. In the midst of a city of dizzying ambition, this ‘local hill’ climbs 60 vertical meters out of a luxury shopping mall. Inside the frigid, air conditioned space, they find a dedicated ski community of desert-dwellers, growing in the unlikeliest of places.

Tim Konrad is the founder of Unofficial Networks and a passionate skier with over two decades of experience in the ski industry. In 2006, he launched the blog from Lake Tahoe with his brother John, evolving...