The contrast between sand and snow is one of the rarest in international sport, yet it perfectly defines the journey of Alex Astridge, an alpine skier who represents the United Arab Emirates under the umbrella of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation -FIS-. Raised in Dubai since he was six months old, it is the only home he has ever known, and the place where artificial snow became his gateway to international competition.

Astridge first stepped onto skis at the age of three, began racing at seven and, at just nine years old, made an uncommon decision for someone so young: to represent the United Arab Emirates on the international circuit. While other young skiers were growing up in alpine environments, he was doing so in the middle of the desert, in a country with no historic winter sports tradition.

Ski Dubai, a ski school beneath the desert

His entire sporting education has taken place at Ski Dubai, an indoor slope located inside a shopping mall that became his training base from early childhood. There he made his first turns, learned the basic routines of alpine skiing and developed a daily training discipline far removed from the natural mountains, under conditions very different from the European resorts where he competes today.

The emotional turning point came with his international debut at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, his first major event outside the formative circuit. “A defining moment was the opening ceremony. Carrying the flag was unbelievable. That’s when I thought: this is real, this is what I want to do,” he explained in an interview with the FIS.

From his earliest years, his career has been closely linked to the figure of Mohamed Moulay. Moulay was his first coach and remains his mentor to this day, in a relationship that has evolved over time. “When I was a kid it was a coach–athlete relationship, now it’s more like a friendship,” Astridge explained. That bond proved decisive during the most difficult periods, marked by injuries and long interruptions. “He was with me through my worst injury, when people were telling me I might never ski again. He was in the hospital every day, and within five months we were back on skis,” the athlete recalled.

“Skiing is my whole life right now”

Far from being a temporary hobby, skiing gradually became the absolute centre of his life. “Everything I do goes towards skiing – right now it’s my whole life,” he admitted. Motivation does not always come from results, but from sensations. “The adrenaline, the good days, the sun, the views… that all pushes you too. And, above all, being proud of yourself for doing something you once saw as unreachable as a kid.”

Beyond his individual progression, Astridge has become a reference point for the young skiers currently training at Ski Dubai. “I know all the kids coming up behind me. It’s amazing to be able to show them that we can compete abroad and that they can get there too,” he said. That visibility plays a key role in preventing early drop-out in an environment where skiing is still far from being part of the traditional sporting culture.

His relationship with younger athletes is natural, without a forced leadership discourse. “I try to be here when I can, train with them, let them see me,” he noted. Far from feeling pressure, he assumes that role as part of the environment where he himself was raised, at a time when skiing is still developing in the UAE.

Finishing a career without regrets

Astridge approaches his present with a perspective uncommon for his age. Rather than focusing on concrete results, his discourse centres on the journey itself. “I want to finish my career with no regrets, to feel that I made the most of everything and never took it for granted,” he expressed. For him, what matters is not only competing, but everything that happens between one race and the next.

His immediate objective is not a specific podium or a fixed competitive calendar, but to continue exploring how far an athlete trained under a roof, thousands of kilometres away from any major mountain range, can go in a country where snow was once nothing more than an unlikely landscape.