As Olympics loom, China plunges into snow biz

Hao Rui only took up skiing this winter, but the 17-year-old looked like a veteran as he perched casually atop a slope outside Beijing before schussing downhill. “I started my training on November 28. I’d never been skiing before,” said Hao, standing with other young Chinese in brightly coloured ski jackets at a resort in Zhangjiakou, outside Beijing. For some it is a skill that takes years to hone, but already Hao is teaching others. “Since the end of January, I’ve been an instructor,” he explained. China hopes millions of others can follow in his tracks. Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and authorities want to leverage interest in that to develop a winter sports culture.

Skiing is in its infancy in China and the powder on the slopes is typically shot out of a snow machine.

Only around 5-6 million Chinese ski regularly, at roughly 200 sites around the country, most of them small and under-equipped.

But China has ambitious plans to raise that to 300 million skiers at 1,000 locations by 2030, eyeing the economic potential of more resorts and greater spending on the sport.

The strategy is challenged by issues such as low snowfall — The Yan mountains, the future Olympic arena, barely reach 2,000 metres.

And also the fact that costs for the sport exceed the reach of most Chinese consumers. Yet new resorts are sprouting across the north.

The approach appears to be working, as weekend skiers flock to slopes outside Beijing covered in artificially produced snow.

The wealthiest Chinese can venture to Japan, the United States or Europe, but it is possible to find an international experience at home, with increasing numbers of foreign instructors.

Thaiwoo resort near Zhangjiakou has 16 foreigners among its 60 instructors.

“The weather is dry and constantly cold throughout the winter — the snow remains good,” said Bertrand Camus, a French ski instructor who has followed the sport’s rise in China.

“It’s not like the Alps, where the snow refreezing,” he explained.. is always melting and — AFP