Nov/Dec 2011

                                       Not quite the same spectacular skyline as back home

Skiing at a ski field on the outskirts of Beijing was everything I expected it to be: man-made snow, long lines and waiting in the freezing cold. Yet I was still naïve enough to expect a little more from it. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time but it was the culmination of “the little things” which made the whole experience frustrating. This was probably due to the fact that that I’ve only ever been skiing in NZ. The day started with an early bus trip to the ski field – now when I say ski field, I’m using this term very liberally in this particular case – As we approached the field I couldn’t stop giggling at the sight of it! The “mountain of snow” was actually a rather large hill with a few snow machines covering it white. The payment process was also absurd. You had to put down a deposit to get a recharge card. This card was then used to pay for ski/clothing hire, locker, food etc. However there were no signs to indicate how much everything cost. Countless times we found ourselves denied of ski gear because we didn’t have enough money on our cards. This resulted in one of us having to join the back of the line to put more money on the cards. So we didn’t get out onto the mountain until after lunch! I’ve probably scared you enough to deter you from skiing here but I just want you to have little expectations of the place so you can be pleasantly surprised when you do comeJ. In all honesty, we went when the snow was only covering half the mountain so I can’t give an accurate description about the quality of the skiing. A friendly local who I chatted with on the chairlift informed me that the best time around Christmas/after New Years. No matter where you ski, if you’re with good friends then it’s going to be a blast no matter how short the slopes are. There are a lot of opportunities to get big air. Our mate tried the half pipe which wasn’t fully covered in snow. Because of this fact, as he tried to go up the half pipe he slammed into the side like a brick wall. I actually fell over because I was laughing so hard. Most people go for a day – there are busses to take you there and back so it’s pretty convenient. We pretty much went through every route in three runs so it wasn’t worth staying for an extra day. We really wanted to spend the night there but we forgot our passports so we couldn’t get any hotel accommodation. If like skiing/snowboarding and find a few mates who are keen then definitely check it out!

 

This poor chappie in the centre of the pic is so exhausted he's leaning on the padding curled up in a ball sleeping.