Tweet
FAR-FLUNG SKI DESTINATIONS: THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Robert Harneis, Associate Editor
OnTheSnow.com
http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/12749/far-flung-ski-destinations-the-northern-hemisphere
Sept 10 2010
There is a vast choice of ski resorts scattered across the Northern
Hemisphere outside Europe and North America, from just across the
Mediterranean to the tip of far eastern Russia; half the countries
in the world have skiable mountains.
Despite widening interest in snow sports, facilities vary from
state-of-the-art lifts and well-groomed slopes to no infrastructure
at all. There are modern resorts, which are quite easy to visit for
those who want to travel and vary their skiing experience. Others
destinations are best left to intrepid and determined ski adventurers.
There are plenty of places where reliable, up to date, first hand
information is hard to come by, so do not hesitate to let us know
about your experiences around the world.
Countries in the Northern Hemisphere include Japan, Korea, far eastern
Russia, India, Nepal, China, Caucasus Mountains, Kazakhstan, Siberia,
Middle East, and North Africa.
Japan
Japan is a top skiing nation with many resorts but it has problems.
Numbers of skiers have fallen from 18.6 million in 1993 to 6.9 million
in 2008. Despite this, Japan has twice hosted the Winter Olympics,
at Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998, and they won 10 medals at the
Vancouver Olympics.
Resorts will have to generate an overseas clientele to survive. It
is only in recent years they have felt it necessary to translate
signs in English and more recently still, Chinese. Japan's ski scene
is regularly visited by Australians, but still relatively unknown
by Europeans.
Hakuba is the most popular ski region in Honshu with several resorts
dotted along 30 kilometres (18.5 miles) of mountains. The Olympic
Downhill and Super Giant were held here in 1998. A day's lift pass
costs approximately U.S. $58.
Another popular ski area, Niseko is renowned for its excellent snow
conditions with 16 metres (630 inches) per season. A day's skiing
costs U.S. $74 and includes four interlinked resorts.
Korea
Unlike Japan, skiing is on the rise in this beautiful mountain country,
with 12 resorts already and more on the way. This success is underlined
by Pyeongchang, with the nearby resort Yong Pyong, getting as far as
the final selection for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The World Biathlon
Championships were held there in 2009.
A disadvantage for the experienced skier is the scarcity of off-piste
skiing. Muju resort has six slopes divided into separate degrees of
difficulty; the Silk Road Slope is Korea's longest course. Ch'onmasan
is a small resort only 20 miles from Seoul and you can get there by
bus or taxi.
Far Eastern Russia
The UNESCO world heritage Kamchatka peninsula welcomes a handful of
ski tourists every year who take to the snow to track down rare Amur
tigers. There is no Western-style purpose-built ski resort, so no
ski lifts, just fantastic heli-skiing amidst smoking volcanoes and
blazing blue skies. Sadly perhaps, it cannot be long before cash-rich
Russia opens a "proper resort' here." (Can you say that?) The fact
that during WWII the Soviet army trained 340,000 ski soldiers in 50
ski centers here gives some idea of the potential of the area.
India And Nepal
India has a population of one billion, a booming economy, and minimal
resorts in the mighty Himalayan Mountains. Cheap heli-touring is the
sub continent's biggest skiing asset at the moment.
The little resort at Auli has been adjudged by visiting experts as
a ski area potentially on a par with the best sites in the European
Alps and it is only a matter of time before it is developed as a major
resort. The 168-mile road up from the railway station at Haridwar
can be hard going.
The gondola at Gulmarg (2766m, almost 2 miles) in Kashmir, built by
French engineers, is the highest ski lift in the world. It offers
breathtaking views over the Himalayas and takes you up to 3980 metres
(about 2.5 miles) for less than $4 per trip. From there you can go on
foot to the summit of Mount Apharwat 4100m (2.5 miles) with a view
of K2, given the right weather. Gulmarg was first skied by British
officers and their families in the 1920s. The 30-mile road trip up
from Srinagar is part of the attraction.
Visitors to the resort recommend mid-January to mid-February for the
best snow. A recent firsthand account indicates that the experience
is amazing but still a bit wild west. The resort has, until recently,
suffered from its proximity to the troubles in Kashmir.
Nepal is a spectacular place to go for heli-skiing and there is plenty
of room with eight of the highest mountains in the world.
China
The middle class is growing and not surprisingly there is strong
growth in winter sports facilities. So far Chinese investors are
cautious about the huge costs involved in state-of-the-art resorts.
China's 2 million skiers have to make do with fairly humdrum
facilities. Only 10 percent of them buy purpose-made ski clothes.
Visits to resorts went up from 300,000 in 2000 to 3 million by 2005.
To meet demand the Chinese government is planning 300 new resorts. The
biggest destination is Beidahu in Jilin Province, which has installed
the full range of ski and snowboard facilities. It hosted the Asian
Winter Games in 2007.
Yabuli in Heilongjiang Province is China's first multiple ski resort
region and a training base for the national winter sports team. An
day's skiing here tacked onto a tour of China typically costs £98
including accommodation, breakfast, and all skiing costs. Wanlang
is a developing resort four hours drive from Beijing. Nanshan is 37
miles from Beijing and has gone into partnership with Austrian Mellow
Construction. There is now a terrain park with rails and an 80-metre
(262 feet) halfpipe.
A step in the direction of modern facilities is the construction
of the world's highest cable car built for the Dagu glacier in the
Sichuan Dagu Natural Reserve, by Doppelmayr of Austria. It operates
300 days a year and provides unique access and views of 8000-metre
(5 mile) peaks; there are oxygen masks available in the cable cars.
Caucasus Mountains
The destinations around the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea
and the Caspian, have superb snow and a great altitude, but limited
resources and plenty of political problems too.
Tsaghkadsor in Armenia is perhaps the most realistic destination in
the region for foreign skiers. It was once the Olympic training centre
under the old Soviet Union. Modern ski lifts have been installed and a
great deal of development is underway. A one-day ski pass cost around
U.S. $3.
Gudauri is the best resort in Georgia with lifts and snow from December
to April at 3000m; a day's ski pass is U.S. $23.
There are three resorts on the Russian side of these towering
mountains. Mount Elbrus (5633m, 3.5 miles), higher than Mont Blanc,
has year round snow and is the best known with growing numbers of
visitors wanting to climb it. Mount Tcheget is perhaps the better
resort. At the moment much of the appeal of the area is for ski
mountaineering or heli-skiing. Gotorussia.co.uk has been dealing with
the area since Soviet Times and says ski lifts are cheap, around U.S.
$8 a day.
Kazakhstan and Siberia
Kazakhstan is a pretty stable country and has got a fair resort at
Chimbulak, only 30 minutes from Almaty city centre, and a day's ski
pass costs U.S. $39. In Russian Siberia there is Dombaj on the Kazak
border and Bobroviy Log in the Sayan Mountains.
Middle East and North Africa
Those who've been, recommend Iran with its very high altitude ski
runs. Dizin is only an hour's drive from Teheran; a day's ski pass
is approximately U.S. $16. There are hotels and ski hire facilities.
Nearby, Mount Damavand is 5671 metres (about 3.5 miles). The après-ski
is a quiet affair owing to Sharia law.
Turkey has several resorts but much lower and therefore the snow isn't
as reliable. Kartalkaya is the biggest with 18 lifts. Elmadag is only
minutes from Ankara. A weekend ski pass at Kartalkaya costs U.S. $58.
Mount Hermon, in Israel or occupied Syria, is where you will find
the elite Israeli Alpine Regiment in training - when there is any snow.
Lebanon has six resorts of which Mzar is the best for foreign visitors,
with international standards and a top altitude of 2456 metres (1.5
miles); a day's ski pass is U.S. $58. Ski touring in Syria is also
possible. The snow can be uncertain in both countries.
Thanks to the altitude, skiing on real snow at Chrea (2500m, 1.5
miles), 43 miles from Algiers, is a unique experience where foreigners
are rare but welcome. Oukaimeden in Morocco has the distinction of
being a ski resort where you can go up the mountain on a donkey,
although there are ski lifts; a day's ski pass is U.S. $7.
From: A. Papazian
Robert Harneis, Associate Editor
OnTheSnow.com
http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/12749/far-flung-ski-destinations-the-northern-hemisphere
Sept 10 2010
There is a vast choice of ski resorts scattered across the Northern
Hemisphere outside Europe and North America, from just across the
Mediterranean to the tip of far eastern Russia; half the countries
in the world have skiable mountains.
Despite widening interest in snow sports, facilities vary from
state-of-the-art lifts and well-groomed slopes to no infrastructure
at all. There are modern resorts, which are quite easy to visit for
those who want to travel and vary their skiing experience. Others
destinations are best left to intrepid and determined ski adventurers.
There are plenty of places where reliable, up to date, first hand
information is hard to come by, so do not hesitate to let us know
about your experiences around the world.
Countries in the Northern Hemisphere include Japan, Korea, far eastern
Russia, India, Nepal, China, Caucasus Mountains, Kazakhstan, Siberia,
Middle East, and North Africa.
Japan
Japan is a top skiing nation with many resorts but it has problems.
Numbers of skiers have fallen from 18.6 million in 1993 to 6.9 million
in 2008. Despite this, Japan has twice hosted the Winter Olympics,
at Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998, and they won 10 medals at the
Vancouver Olympics.
Resorts will have to generate an overseas clientele to survive. It
is only in recent years they have felt it necessary to translate
signs in English and more recently still, Chinese. Japan's ski scene
is regularly visited by Australians, but still relatively unknown
by Europeans.
Hakuba is the most popular ski region in Honshu with several resorts
dotted along 30 kilometres (18.5 miles) of mountains. The Olympic
Downhill and Super Giant were held here in 1998. A day's lift pass
costs approximately U.S. $58.
Another popular ski area, Niseko is renowned for its excellent snow
conditions with 16 metres (630 inches) per season. A day's skiing
costs U.S. $74 and includes four interlinked resorts.
Korea
Unlike Japan, skiing is on the rise in this beautiful mountain country,
with 12 resorts already and more on the way. This success is underlined
by Pyeongchang, with the nearby resort Yong Pyong, getting as far as
the final selection for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The World Biathlon
Championships were held there in 2009.
A disadvantage for the experienced skier is the scarcity of off-piste
skiing. Muju resort has six slopes divided into separate degrees of
difficulty; the Silk Road Slope is Korea's longest course. Ch'onmasan
is a small resort only 20 miles from Seoul and you can get there by
bus or taxi.
Far Eastern Russia
The UNESCO world heritage Kamchatka peninsula welcomes a handful of
ski tourists every year who take to the snow to track down rare Amur
tigers. There is no Western-style purpose-built ski resort, so no
ski lifts, just fantastic heli-skiing amidst smoking volcanoes and
blazing blue skies. Sadly perhaps, it cannot be long before cash-rich
Russia opens a "proper resort' here." (Can you say that?) The fact
that during WWII the Soviet army trained 340,000 ski soldiers in 50
ski centers here gives some idea of the potential of the area.
India And Nepal
India has a population of one billion, a booming economy, and minimal
resorts in the mighty Himalayan Mountains. Cheap heli-touring is the
sub continent's biggest skiing asset at the moment.
The little resort at Auli has been adjudged by visiting experts as
a ski area potentially on a par with the best sites in the European
Alps and it is only a matter of time before it is developed as a major
resort. The 168-mile road up from the railway station at Haridwar
can be hard going.
The gondola at Gulmarg (2766m, almost 2 miles) in Kashmir, built by
French engineers, is the highest ski lift in the world. It offers
breathtaking views over the Himalayas and takes you up to 3980 metres
(about 2.5 miles) for less than $4 per trip. From there you can go on
foot to the summit of Mount Apharwat 4100m (2.5 miles) with a view
of K2, given the right weather. Gulmarg was first skied by British
officers and their families in the 1920s. The 30-mile road trip up
from Srinagar is part of the attraction.
Visitors to the resort recommend mid-January to mid-February for the
best snow. A recent firsthand account indicates that the experience
is amazing but still a bit wild west. The resort has, until recently,
suffered from its proximity to the troubles in Kashmir.
Nepal is a spectacular place to go for heli-skiing and there is plenty
of room with eight of the highest mountains in the world.
China
The middle class is growing and not surprisingly there is strong
growth in winter sports facilities. So far Chinese investors are
cautious about the huge costs involved in state-of-the-art resorts.
China's 2 million skiers have to make do with fairly humdrum
facilities. Only 10 percent of them buy purpose-made ski clothes.
Visits to resorts went up from 300,000 in 2000 to 3 million by 2005.
To meet demand the Chinese government is planning 300 new resorts. The
biggest destination is Beidahu in Jilin Province, which has installed
the full range of ski and snowboard facilities. It hosted the Asian
Winter Games in 2007.
Yabuli in Heilongjiang Province is China's first multiple ski resort
region and a training base for the national winter sports team. An
day's skiing here tacked onto a tour of China typically costs £98
including accommodation, breakfast, and all skiing costs. Wanlang
is a developing resort four hours drive from Beijing. Nanshan is 37
miles from Beijing and has gone into partnership with Austrian Mellow
Construction. There is now a terrain park with rails and an 80-metre
(262 feet) halfpipe.
A step in the direction of modern facilities is the construction
of the world's highest cable car built for the Dagu glacier in the
Sichuan Dagu Natural Reserve, by Doppelmayr of Austria. It operates
300 days a year and provides unique access and views of 8000-metre
(5 mile) peaks; there are oxygen masks available in the cable cars.
Caucasus Mountains
The destinations around the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea
and the Caspian, have superb snow and a great altitude, but limited
resources and plenty of political problems too.
Tsaghkadsor in Armenia is perhaps the most realistic destination in
the region for foreign skiers. It was once the Olympic training centre
under the old Soviet Union. Modern ski lifts have been installed and a
great deal of development is underway. A one-day ski pass cost around
U.S. $3.
Gudauri is the best resort in Georgia with lifts and snow from December
to April at 3000m; a day's ski pass is U.S. $23.
There are three resorts on the Russian side of these towering
mountains. Mount Elbrus (5633m, 3.5 miles), higher than Mont Blanc,
has year round snow and is the best known with growing numbers of
visitors wanting to climb it. Mount Tcheget is perhaps the better
resort. At the moment much of the appeal of the area is for ski
mountaineering or heli-skiing. Gotorussia.co.uk has been dealing with
the area since Soviet Times and says ski lifts are cheap, around U.S.
$8 a day.
Kazakhstan and Siberia
Kazakhstan is a pretty stable country and has got a fair resort at
Chimbulak, only 30 minutes from Almaty city centre, and a day's ski
pass costs U.S. $39. In Russian Siberia there is Dombaj on the Kazak
border and Bobroviy Log in the Sayan Mountains.
Middle East and North Africa
Those who've been, recommend Iran with its very high altitude ski
runs. Dizin is only an hour's drive from Teheran; a day's ski pass
is approximately U.S. $16. There are hotels and ski hire facilities.
Nearby, Mount Damavand is 5671 metres (about 3.5 miles). The après-ski
is a quiet affair owing to Sharia law.
Turkey has several resorts but much lower and therefore the snow isn't
as reliable. Kartalkaya is the biggest with 18 lifts. Elmadag is only
minutes from Ankara. A weekend ski pass at Kartalkaya costs U.S. $58.
Mount Hermon, in Israel or occupied Syria, is where you will find
the elite Israeli Alpine Regiment in training - when there is any snow.
Lebanon has six resorts of which Mzar is the best for foreign visitors,
with international standards and a top altitude of 2456 metres (1.5
miles); a day's ski pass is U.S. $58. Ski touring in Syria is also
possible. The snow can be uncertain in both countries.
Thanks to the altitude, skiing on real snow at Chrea (2500m, 1.5
miles), 43 miles from Algiers, is a unique experience where foreigners
are rare but welcome. Oukaimeden in Morocco has the distinction of
being a ski resort where you can go up the mountain on a donkey,
although there are ski lifts; a day's ski pass is U.S. $7.
From: A. Papazian