Originally Posted by asianmom (Post 17729254)

mnredfox,
I can't comment, really, as I do not ski; where I come from, there is no snow and snow activities are not a common sport. However, we went on a chartered flight and there were two families who were experienced skiiers and according to them, this place is a poor cousin of the other French villages. You may want to go onto Tripadvisor to see what others have to say.

It was just the beginning of the snow season when we were there ( end of Dec) and according to the hotel staff, most of the snow in the kid's area were still manmade while the rest was real.

Temp average -20 deg Celsius; extremely windy and on some afternoons (mostly after 2 pm), the gondolas would be closed due to stormy weather. The resort shares the facilities with another local resort called the Snowmountain and even so, there were very few skiiers and even less snowboarders when we were there; it was especially empty in the early mornings and the place rarely fills up before 10am.

Like I've mentioned before, the snow was very very compact. (Sorry, that's the best I could do, you would have gotten more out of me if your question was about the room amenities/ service etc...)

Who else was skiing? hmm, does it really matter who you bump into during a fall? Let me see, mostly local Chinese new to the game on the lower levels, then, as one goes up the mountain, it is mostly Hongkong Chinese and Singaporeans, a few Indians, Indonesians and Malays.

Originally Posted by Jamoldo (Post 19102188)

Anyone ever been to Changbaishan in Jilin? Starwood has opened a Westin and a Sheraton there this year...

Originally Posted by trueblu (Post 19104762)

Just looked Changbaishan up on wiki, and it states that temps on the mountain get down to -45C in winter! To boot, there appears to be v. little snowfall....perhaps better suited for military training than recreational skiing?

tb

Originally Posted by mnredfox (Post 19109384)

Sounds like Canadian Rockies in the dead of winter. Well, maybe not that cold.

I asked my Chinese friend today about skiing at Changbaishan (again she is from Jilin). Typical Chinese response, "skiing, what's that?" :rolleyes::D

Originally Posted by jiejie (Post 19115110)

Changbaishan area is notoriously difficult to get to and particularly in winter, so unless they've also built better access roads and can maintain them and keep clearing snow and ice, I'd say forget it.

Originally Posted by Chinatrvl (Post 19115725)

The skiing area has its own airport, around 15 km away, NBS.

Originally Posted by Jamoldo (Post 19102188)

Anyone ever been to Changbaishan in Jilin? Starwood has opened a Westin and a Sheraton there this year...

Originally Posted by mackenzie77 (Post 19131064)

I've been planning on getting up there this winter knowing that these Starwoods were opening up. But man those rates! A little surprised to standard rooms going for over 1400Y.

I'm still going but personally, that's a bit much considering the time I'm going to have to put in watching my SO learn to snowplow, fall over in a heap, and then complain to me about why we had to come to this stupid place.:D

Originally Posted by moondog (Post 19131336)

Just abandon her with a ski instructor. (I logged 100+ days per year on the slopes when I was a kid, and have zero tolerance for GFs than can't hang with me.)

Originally Posted by trueblu (Post 19131417)

Do you still ski, and if so, where do you go in the BJ area (if at all)? I'm still in the learning phase (can do most blues, don't do blacks yet), my wife is better, but rather out of practice.

I'm very keen for my daughter to learn this year. Last year, we were told she has to be three to hit the slopes, which she is now....

tb