Ski Conditions, Openings, Closings and New Developments in Chinese Skiing
Beidahu
Beidahu Slopes from Gondola
Updated 2/10/2012
Beidahu hosted the China Winter Games January 5 and now has 5 major trails open. Three trails on the Gondola serviced mountain, including the race trails and 2 major trails on the chair-lift serviced mountain including the long wide beginner/intermediate slope in the middle. For Shanghai based skiers, now that Spring Airlines offers cheap flights to Changchun from Shanghai the general air fares have come down making a weekend trip realistic with up on Friday night, ski 2 full days and return on Sunday night!
Also the new 5 star hotel at the base has begun limited operations for those who want a little more luxury than the existing slope side hotel. Prices on the older rooms are very reasonable for the budget conscious.
Sun Mountain Yabuli/ClubMed has all of its trails open including the intermediate level B area slopes that did not open last year. Recent visitors report good snow conditions. This marks the second season that the Sun Mountain Resort, part of Mountain China Resorts, will be operated by Club Med. Last winter ClubMed's all-inclusive package style was introduced to the China market. It restricted access to much of the hotel's facilities to ClubMed guests only. Apparently that was not as well received as expected as this winter they are also selling rooms seperately on CTRIP. So if you wanted to go there but were put off by the ClubMed package, you will be able to this year by just booking on line with CTRIP.com. However, if you are a ClubMed all-inclusive package fan, that is also still available by booking on the ClubMed reservations web site.
Mountain China Resorts continues to concentrate on general Yabuli development with a focus on vacation homes. MCR will also continue to operate the Sun Mountain Lodge on the top of the mountain and the older, recently refurbished Windmill Inn a short distance down the valley away from the slopes. These and other Yabuli resorts can be booked on-line through sites like CTRIP.com and ELONG.net. Note: Our report on Yabuli now covers 4 pages. Be sure to follow the links on the Yabuli landing page to the other resort specific pages.
Wanlong
New 6 Passenger High Speed Lift
Updated 1/19/2012.
Wanlong has all of its trails open.
The new 6 passenger high speed lift from the bottom of the west ridge trails to the top opened today. For everyone that loves Wanlong but hates their older type lifts, this is a great addition.
Also check out the remodeled base lodge with new food service area, new glassed in lunch seating and new shops.
With new 4 and 5 star hotels in ChongLi, a new bar street with expanded eating choices under construction, a massive amount of new ski condos going up for sale and the new Zhangjiakou/ChongLi highway open, trips to Wanlong will have even more choices and conveniences this winter. Our ChongLi area trip schedules and pricing for this season have been posted on our Local Tours page.
Wanlong's English version web site is now up and running and includes the 2011/2012 rates for skiing, rentals and the slopeside hotel.
Changbaishan
Updated 2/20/2012
Conditions update - Although, it has not been a banner snow year on the mountain the lower slopes are now open with limited terrain (see our report on Jan 2011 trip for similar details). Check with us for updates through the end of the season if you are thinking about going.
We revisited Changbaishan, the highest mountain in NorthEast China, in mid-January 2011 to check out the current skiing conditions and future plans.
We skied the newly (2008-2009) opened West side attractions, snowmobile serviced free ride ski resort covering up to 9 km of slopes starting at the top and continuing into the tree line.
We also toured the new major resort under construction and opening in December 2012 with 2 gondolas, 3 6 passenger high speed lifts 20+ trails and greater than 300m vertical.
See our updated detailed report.
Changbaishan from distance
Healvenly Lake (TianChi) from West entrance
Beijing Secret Garden -New Report
Updated 12/20/2011
The initial set of trails and base lodge are still under construction but might open in February.
On the back side of Wanlong, out of view over the ridge, a major new ski resort calledBeijing Secret Garden is under construction by a Malaysian developer. Anyone who has visited Genting Highlands outside Kuala Lumpur can have a sense that this is a serious player with big plans! While expecting to open a few slopes on a limited basis this winter, the real opening is planned for next winter.
We visited in August to check things out and it looks to be for real although the first year's offering will be small compared to Wanlong. But the project area is huge and when completed does promise, along with neighbor Wanlong, to offer by far the largest concentration of advanced and intermediate ski runs in China. With the new high speed rail to Zhangjiakou (next year) and the development of ChongLi, 2012-2013 winter should be very interesting as a turning point in the Chinese ski business.
Secret Garden Initial Base Lodge
Secret Garden Planned Main Base
ChongLi City -New Report
Updated 1/14/2012
ChongLi's latest new hotel opens
ChongLi is the epicenter of China's major ski resort boom. Up to now it had a passive role as the town you drove through to get to Wanlong, Duolemeidi and now Secret Garden. No more. A major building boom took place this past year, part of a long range plan to make ChongLi THE year round mountain retreat for Beijing/Tianjin. Up to now, Yabuli in Heilongjiang held title to the only ski town in China. With the transportation infrastructure and investment in property development and services, that will change this year and accelerate in the years to come Thus we felt that we should now cover ChongLi itself and track its development for our readers.
It appears that the much publicized Ping Tian resort in Xinjiang will still not be open for the 2011-2012 winter season. Although the management still pushes forward with their plans to develop a world class alpine ski and golf resort in the high Tian Shan mountains, the combination of the global financial situation and permitting delays have kept the project on a slower than expected path.
Duolemeidi
Dolomiti Trail
Updated 3/23/2011
Conditions update - With spring conditions and temperatures beginning to stay above freezing at night, expect a possible closure in the next week or so.
Duolemeidi is opened for the season November 23. Although no significant expansion occurred since last season, the opening of the second mountain last season added enough terrain for advanced skiers to make this ski area at least a "should try" on the Beijing skier's list of where to go this winter. (See our updated report on Duolemeidi)
Check our Local Tours page for new Duolemeidi packages and check their new English web site for information about other specials and packages they offer during the season. As part of the growing ChongLi centered ski industry, Duolemeidi will increasingly factor in the ski plans of the Beijing based skier.
