On a scale from 0 to 20 (0 = the ski mound in Chaoyang park, 10 = Nanshan)
YuYang is a 6 – advanced skiers should check it out at least once
YuYang has one advanced hill flanked by four easy hills of varying difficulty. Intermediate skiers don’t really have any options here. Snowboarders get 2 rails and no kickers. The long advanced run has a nice panoramic view from the top but if you are renting equipment they will make you take a test to get an “advanced slope pass”. If you have your own equipment they figure you must be good enough. Go in front of door 3 and find the person doing the testing. Demonstrate a few parallel turns which are actually hard to do on a flat surface so you might practice a few on the bunny hill before testing. Would suck to fail the test and be stuck on those bunny hills.
Prices: Reviewer paid 130RMB/8 hours on the weekend. Park entry is included in the ticket price.
Equipment: two huge equipment areas to the left and right of the entrance have lots of skis and snowboards but only a few brands; mostly Salomon. When I complained my boots were uncomfortable, they had no other options to choose from. Likewise with the skis, the longest they have is 160cm so if you prefer longer skis you are out of luck. Expect waits of up to 40 minutes getting equipment during peak hours.
Lodge: To the right of the equipment area you have both indoor and outdoor options for food. If you are going inside, they want you to take off your ski boots first. Outside had some BBQ and noodles but no hot chocolate and even dou zhang supplies ran out by afternoon.
Lifts/Runs:
• Four easy hills of varying difficulty served by 7 disc lifts. All had long lines during reviewer’s visit with waits as long as 15 minutes.
• One advanced hill with a quad lift had minimal to ZERO wait time. This hill also has two rails for snowboarders and they don’t seem to mind if you build your own kickers.
Getting there: From DongZhiMen subway exit E, take bus 908 to dongsiqu then hire one of the drivers who hang around that stop for RMB20. There is a shuttle bus of sorts; it operates if there are enough people so call ahead. It leaves at the better-not-have-a-hangover early hour of 8:00a.m. from DongZhiMen exit C. It only takes an hour to get to the slopes - or would have – had they not waited 45min for one latecomer. The price is 70RMB round trip. Sure they may quote you 50 RMB but then they ask for the highway toll when you get in the van.
Getting back: take the same 908 bus back, if you took the shuttle van, it leaves at 4:00.
Night skiing: The park is open till 10:00 pm with lights around the bunny hill area but none on the advanced slope.
The owners should: Add an intermediate slope. Diversify equipment brands. Replace the worker’s shack at the top of the advanced hill with an attractive pagoda/western restaurant. Stop playing JayZ and Linkin Park on infinite repeat from a low quality sound system. Upgrade that sound system and expand the music collection or tune into an internet radio station (search “internet radio”).
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