Skiing in China?
 

Curious to hear various experiences of where to go in China.

Have been to the indoor skiing in Shanghai, Minhang district, called Yinqixing.
That was fun.

Also went to Jihua and hour from Harbin. Was interviewed by
the local Harbin TV news while there. Not because I was a laowai,
but I can ski better than their instructors.

There is I believe a better place to ski outside of Harbin called Yabuli.

Beijing has indoor skiing and also they set up some kind of ski school
in the Bird's Nest Stadium.

Other ski places near Beijing: Nanshan Ski Resort, Shijinglong Ski Resort, Huibei Ski Resort, Jundushan Ski Resort, Snow World Ski Resort.

Nothing in China like the Alps or Rocky Mountains, but nonetheless fun.^

side note on Jihua:

They had what looked like a ridiculous amount of ski rental equipment.
I asked how many? They said they have 10,000 pairs of skis for rent.
Well that's China...lots of people.

Google is surely a better resource than FT wrt this topic. Speaking as a skier and a person who has lived in China for extended periods of time, my opinion is that there isn't much to discuss.

The Chinese are really game one. They have KTV and foot massage in the midlevel gondola drop. That's great. zhong guo jia you^

For serious skiing in the area:

Alpine skiing (lifts, combed slopes): Nagano or Hokkaido in Japan (whats better than sushi and sake apres ski?)
Heli skiing (helis, back country): Kamchatka in eastern Russia

The latter is still on my to-do list.

Only skiing i've done in China was at Shijinglong and an indoor slope in Shanghai, and wouldn't recommend either to any advanced skier. A few old chairlifts (think 1970's ski lifts in Europe) with crazy locals racing straight down the slopes without any idea how to stop other than to let themselves fall.

mogul run opens
 

Just did get an email from Nanshan ski hill,

A new mogul run will be open soon. Nanshan is also called south mtn. & is about a 2 hour drive north of BJ. 4 lifts & complete rentals for snow skiing.

even had my size 14 boots...

I still recommend skipping China and heading to Niseko in Japan. Though on a recent flight I saw a special on Yabuli and it looked better and better.

+1

Went there this year and flights already booked to go back in February. Great snow, people, food, atmosphere.
There's a direct flight from Shanghai, made good use of my China Eastern miles.

How's the snow? I went last Feb and it was amazing. But seems like most places are starved for snow this year.

I've been to Beidahu just outside Jilin which I hear is one of the better ski hills in China but it was nothing impressive. I mean, I wasn't expecting something like I'm used to in YYC or YVR but I definitely won't be going again. I'd like to try Hokkaido this year as well... just need to find the time.

I was there Feb 2011 too. Amazing snow. Can't speak for the snow (yet) this season, but hotel manager says it will come.

Oh yeah, were you there early Feb? When they got like 2.5m in 1 week?

back to china?
 

Appreciate the skiing in Japan is likely to better than China. But given financial and work constraints, that's unlikely to happen this year. So if one wanted to ski in BJ environs, which mountains would people recommend. I'm a blue run ability, only one black (easy one) to my name. My wife is better than me, but we'll probably mostly stick to blues.

Ideally we'll do a few day trips rather than overnighters.

Also, what is the youngest age for ski school? I think my daughter is probably a little too young at 2.5, but if they are up for teaching her, I wouldn't mind her going.

tb

Interesting, KL in their recent iFly mag have listed Yabuli as one of their resorts in Asia to promote:

http://www.iflymagazine.com

Moving around upright on skis is not much harder than moving around on feet. Children of 1.5 routinely learn to ski.

Which level/gently undulating areas near Beijing would be nice for cross-country skiing?

Maybe...but learning to walk is not so easy (not that I remember), but I do remember learning to ski in my 30s...the biggest fun was how much my wife laughed!

The more practical issue is at what age the ski school is willing to take on a child pupil -- in the US, they usually refuse until 3 yrs of age. I don't feel competent teaching my daughter myself.

Can't help here: am clueless myself. Was happy to find one of the nearby resorts, which looks tiny, has a shuttle bus from wudaokou, so we'll probably check that out sometime. The slopes look 'gentle undualting', even though they are meant to be alpine pistes!

tb

I would think that the determining factor is whether or not they have boots to fit the child. If the boots fit, then there will be skis or a snowboard accepting.

Never heard of children at a year and a half learning to ski or snowboard
that absurd.

Well, there are children smoking by that age so you never know. :D

That's true, I saw some toddlers lighting up.

Watching a 5 year old trying the Jack sample at Carrefour was one of my more shocking experiences in China! :eek:

I don't come on to this forum much but bump into this thread while researching for our ski holiday in Niseko this coming Christmas.
We just returned from Clubmed Yabuli , spent the Christmas week there and would recommend it to anyone hoping to get a starter lesson for their kids. While the property may not be a 5 star resort, it is adequate and our family of 4 had a good ski trip. The GOs are very patient with the kids and they have morning and afternoon ski and snowboard lessons for children at the kid's club.We parents could go on our own ski/ snowboard activities while the kids learn their skills at the "kids' ring". My daughter, aged 11, actually prefer the compact, hard snow in Yabuli to the powdery type in Hokkaido; maybe the harder snow is easier for beginners?

Thanks for the review. Can you compare Yabuli to any US or other international resort? Difficulty? Snow? Mostly manmade/natural? Temps? How busy? Who else was skiing (from what country)?

Snowboard? There is only one board. How does the snowboarder move from place?

More of a phenomenon than routine.

ONE YEAR OLD SNOWBOARDING

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.

Entertained a couple Taiwanese girls to take a tram ride at Palm Springs, seems first time they ever experienced a snow fall. Not too eventful.. but OK for business.

OK, I've just queried my better half (who skis) on how Yabuli compares to other international snow villages; well, apparently, the 'good' runs are closed off to the public,that means us, the paying resort guests;and are only accessible to their athletes in the National team.

Jumped the ropes and skied the best powder runs in the Rocky Mountains.
Closed means...go for it.

UCB fat lines and a trail of smoke. Chinese can't never touch bustin a mountain like that.

Would love to experience the Chinese eclipsing Franz Klammer Innsbruck 1976.

Zhongguo Jiayou!

Despite not skiing, appreciate the above info. ^

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

Great question. I just met somewhere from there (Chinese native) and I'll ask if she ever skied there.

New skiing area to go live in 2012/13 season. So far, one lift and one hike-up/ snow mobile-up piste (military and national team training area open for everyone).

The new skiing area looks pretty good, just baidu it.

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

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

you should get a group and take her!

I think its one of the great things about Nanshan and other little hills near Beijing that popped up. The skiing is far from great but at least people are getting good exposure to it. ^^

Having skiied (?sp.) in the rockies several times, I think the answer is a resounding no...I've not ever been when it's much below -20C, and at -20C, it's pretty darn unpleasant, especially if there's a lot of wind. At -45C, and without fresh snow, it sounds more like torture than a pleasant diversion.

tb

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.

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