One thing that has really touched our hearts since moving to China since last summer is the warmth we’ve been shown by my husband’s new colleagues and other locals that we have met. We have moved many times but never have we been so warmly received and felt such a genuine interest for friendship as we have received since moving to Lanzhou.

During the pandemic, friends reached out to us regularly to check up on us and when we got sick, made sure we had medicine and sent us food to help with our bad coughs. Now that life has normalized and we are able to enjoy more of the city, one colleague reached out to us and invited us to join his family on a ski trip. We had a blast!

Our friend purchased a package deal that included the shuttle ride to and from the resort, gloves, rentals (skis/snowboard and ski pants/suits), ski lifts, snow tubing, and lunch. The total cost was around 150 RMB per person ($30 CAD or $22 USD). Helmet rentals were only 30 RMB extra ($6 CAD, $4.40 USD) and required if you go on the steeper slopes.

Shuttle to ski resort

We got on the bus at 8:30am, departed at about 9:00am and made it to the ski resort within an hour. This resort was the furthest of the 4 local ski resorts. There was a bigger one close by which we are interested to check out another time, but an hour bus ride was not too bad.

Check in

When we arrived, we checked in, paid 100 RMB rental deposit per person, and received plastic cards that served as both our locker keys and rental passes. The lockers were full sized and ample space to fit all the snacks and extra clothes and other supplies that we brought. You could choose to get either a snowsuit or a pair of snow pants. You could choose either ski or snowboard rental. If you wanted to switch some time during the day, I think that it would be totally fine. Everything from check in to rentals went smoothly and we were pleased how organized everything was and that there was ample space to get changed. The equipment was in good condition and decent quality.

Ski instructors

The biggest thing that was different from our experience with skiing in Canada is that there were no formal lessons provided by professional ski/snowboard instructors that was organized by the resort. Instead, individual instructors were lined up just above the escalators on the rental platform. As you got your rentals and started changing, some of them would approach you to offer their assistance (free) and would ask you if you had ever skied before. Our friend told us to expect the cost of hiring a trainer to be 300 RMB ($60 CAD, $44 USD). We politely declined each time and didn’t felt overly annoyed by them.

On the slopes, we noticed that the professionalism and level of teaching skill of the instructors greatly varied. If you want to learn how to ski, what I would recommend is that you first observe someone actually teaching others on the slopes first. Hire someone that impresses you with their teaching skills and suits your personality and learning style. As far as we could tell, everyone was getting private one-on-one lessons.

Ski slopes

This ski resort was no Whistler, but it was good enough for our beginner/intermediate ski level. The man made snow was great quality and it was easy to ski on. There were 4 slopes – a super beginner one where most of the people learning to ski for the first time were getting their lessons, and another one that a beginner could quite easily manage. We loved the conveyor belt for the two beginner level slopes. It was easy to get on and off, especially for young children. Then there were two steeper slopes that were intermediate level. However, we did find that there was a big jump from the beginner slopes to the harder ones. Since most local skiers were beginners, there was barely a line for the chair lift for the steeper slopes.

Dining experience

There were two eating areas at the resort, one indoor and one outdoor. At the outdoor food area, there were long picnic tables to eat at. You could order a lot of fun food that would be popular with kids such as sausages. Our ski package included the indoor eating experience. You could choose from either rice and dishes (mainly vegetarian), or noodle soup (beef or some other one with tofu, ground pork and veggies). Kids and adults get the same portion size and the food prices were very reasonable, even if you didn’t have the meal included in your package. There was also a bubble tea shop and convenience store inside. We were happy to see that nothing was overpriced.

First aid

After some time skiing, our middle child started complaining about his foot hurting. He got a blister because the boot was rubbing against the side of his foot. Even after changing to more comfortable ski boots, he said the blister was still bothering him. I approached a staff person about it and we were immediately escorted to the first aid room. It was a nice room with a bed, desk and sofa. We sat down on the sofa and soon after, a nurse came in to talk to us. She treated his blister with some kind of disinfectant spray that also helped with the pain and put it a band aid on it. She took a photo and shared the photo with me on WeChat, along with instructions for what to do if we needed to go to a hospital for treatment after it. Insurance was included so any treatment for any injury would be free. She gave him a cup of hot water and we were allowed to stay there for as long as we needed to. We felt so well cared for! It was nice to be able to just sit there and relax for a bit. Soon after, my son was feeling better and he enjoyed skiing for the rest of the day.

Other snow activities

After we had enough of skiing, we did some snow tubing, which was also included in our package. Helmets (mandatory) were included. There were two runs, with a conveyor belt bringing you to the top, just like the ones for the beginner ski slopes. Each person sits in their own snow tube, but a lot of people were linking feet and arms so that they could have two or more go down all together. The longer the chain of snow tubes, the faster you would go down! We all loved it.

You could also pay 30 RMB to rent ski-doo snowmobiles to ride around in a small area, or rent some other electric riding vehicles for kids. They looked like fun but we were pretty spent from skiing all day already.

When we left the resort to board the bus, a gentleman offered to take us horseback riding on his ranch just below the resort. It was only 30 RMB per person, or 50 for two. We had to get on our bus so we politely declined.

Conclusion

This was not the biggest ski resort near Lanzhou, but were were pleasantly surprised at the level of service, quality of rentals and facility there. Our family had a great time and we could see ourselves going often in the future. We are also excited to check out the other ski resorts too. Maybe the larger one would have more professional ski instructors as we did hear from another friend that their son did some kind of ski camp for kids before.

If you want to visit Lanzhou in the winter, we would highly recommend hitting the slopes for some winter fun. The great experience along with a bowl of Lanzhou’s famous beef noodle soup for dinner that night would surely create lasting warm memories for you and your friends.