On the long list of things that we skiers deem ourselves to be too cool for, indoor ski domes are pretty high up there. After all, the true joy of the sport lies in doing it outside—views, the wind in your hair, the sun on your face. Did we mention the views?

But what if the snow dome was located right in the middle of an urban center, and what if its goal was to introduce more people—and a more diverse cross-section of the population—to the sport we love?

That’s the goal of a new indoor snowsports complex planned for Fairfax County in northern Virginia, a diverse county a stone’s throw from Washington, D.C. It’s home to a good percentage of affluent Americans, but is also racially and economically diverse.