I am an American, working in China. I've skied extensively in Eastern US, mostly at Mad River Glen and Stowe. In the West, Alta and Taos were my choices.
I have been curious about Beidahu for a few years and finally got a chance to go there. Today is December 15, 2013. I was there on the 13th and 14th. This mountain is not big by US standards. But the terrain is decent. I read the review by a skier from Estonia and can agree with him for the most part. He was disappointed.
Getting there from Beijing was quite a chore. It involved a 12 hour overnight train ride. Better seats were sold out, so we settled for the hard beds. A 6 x 6 cubical accommodated two triple deckers with six bunk beds. I got the top bunk that has less than two feet of clearance between the bunk and the ceiling. People below were eating sunflower seeds and oranges, and they threw everything on the floor.
The train destination was Jilin: when we arrived, the temperature was -10 C decrees. The shuttle bus had no heat! The ride was 90 minutes. When we got to the hotel, the lobby was as cold as the outside! Our room never topped 15 degrees.
There are several hotels in the resort. Ours was the Asian Games Village. It is ageing rapidly, but it is also the closest to the lift. The most accurate description I can give this hotel would be shabby. Yes, it's shabby by any measure with stupid mistakes. Example: Our room has twin beds (the beds are ok). For twin bedrooms, there should be a wall lamp over each bed with separate switches. Well, in our room they put both lamps over one bed with no light over the other. Now, that is stupidity!
The chairlift close to the hotel didn't work. They were waiting a spare part from Europe. The gondola worked, but it was going up to areas with thin coverage.
The well covered slope was to the right. That was serviced by a T-bar, But the tT-bar starting point is 300 yards up the hill! It wasn't an easy hike with ski boots. Why didn't they extend the T-bar down closer to the base? The T-bars are spaced too far apart and the speed was slower than a walk in a park. So a ten person line is more than 30 minutes.
Got the picture? What is wrong? Having been here for 11 years, I can point my finger at the management ignorance. They just don't know.
One writer said the food was disgusting. He was right, BUT that only applies to the fast food counter. They served a bowl of rice with Taiwan meat sauce. A better description would be Rice in Dishwater. To be fair, a better meal could be had for around $11US. It's a buffet with more than 15 dishes and five soups. You can eat all you want.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the base lodge is huge and it also has no heat. What amazed me was that the local clients don't seem to mind.
There is a new hotel built to the western standards and has decent western buffet, but it's a pricy place. I wouldn't pay Alps prices for this resort.
Bad news for coffee lovers. There is no place for a cup of joe. I blame this on management ignorance too.
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