From Chongli to Snow Town to Kanas, in search of China’s most beautiful powder snow. On March 27, the 2013-2014 winter season sharing salon event of “Wild Snow China” was held in Beijing. At the event, Li Xiang, Yang Bo, and Chi Qi represented this season’s team and shared their discoveries, including the wild snow adventures in the Altay region of Xinjiang, areas around Snow Town in the northeast, Zhang Caomao in Changbai Mountain, and Luya Mountain in Shanxi. Participants of the sharing session included snow enthusiasts from three generations—senior, middle-aged, and young—and the enthusiasm at the scene far exceeded that of the previous two sessions.
The “Wild Snow China” project is sponsored and supported by the American outdoor apparel brands Outdoor Research and Black Diamond. It aims to gather the best backcountry skiers in China to explore the country’s finest wild snow destinations. Since the first sharing of route exploration achievements during the 2012-2013 winter season, the project has continued to rally wild snow enthusiasts and skiers across various regions to explore and share routes, drawing increasing attention from the wild snow community.
The Altay region in Xinjiang is one of the birthplaces of human skiing, confirmed as the earliest discovered skiing activity in China. It boasts abundant mountainous wild snow resources, and to this day, local residents still make and use skis in the most traditional and ancient ways. “Wild Snow China” had already planned an expedition to this area at the beginning of 2013 to seek out China’s most beautiful powder snow and issued a call for team members. This season, new members A Su, Cai Pangpang, along with Chi Qi and Yang Bo, traveled to Xinjiang together. At the sharing session, Chi Qi and Yang Bo used a wealth of collected video and photo materials to introduce the area’s mountain wild snow resources, off-piste ski routes, and the thousands-of-years-old skiing culture of the Altay region. During this exploration journey, they discovered mountain wild snow with nearly 2000 meters of elevation drop, tried the most ancient Altay-style skis, competed with the local Tuva skiing champion, and even skied while being towed by car for nearly 100 kilometers across snowy terrain—they called it their “crazy wild snow journey.”
Yang Bo raced against Tuva skiers using modern skis versus skis made of horse leg hair and wooden boards
The northeast region is rich in untapped wild snow resources, perfectly suited for backcountry traverses, snow cave camping, and other activities. During the 2013-2014 winter season, “Wild Snow China” also ventured deep into places like the Shuangfeng Forest Farm in Heilongjiang and Zhang Caomao in Changbai Mountain in search of wild snow. Snow Town, originally the Shuangfeng Forest Farm in Mudanjiang, is one of the places with the highest snowfall in China. The 700-meter elevation drop of Datudingding Peak, located 25 kilometers north of Snow Town, is the highest peak in Heilongjiang, featuring multiple extreme wild snow routes on its eastern and southern sides with gradients of around 40 degrees. Shenyang-based skiers Bi Ma Wen, Ji Wei Quan, and American David commissioned “Wild Snow China” to present a video showcasing the wild snow routes of Zhang Caomao. Zhang Caomao is a ridgeline peak near Wangtiane, the second highest peak in the northeast, making it highly suitable for introductory mountaineering and skiing experiences. Moreover, it is close to both the Wanda Ski Resort on Changbai Mountain and the western slope of Heaven Lake, allowing for multi-location ski trips in one go. Uniquely, the skiers in the video used the telemark skiing technique, marking the first time such footage of domestic skiers using telemark has been publicly shown in China.
Telemark skiers at Zhang Caomao in Changbai Mountain
Veteran skier Xue Xiong shared her exploration of wild snow in Luya Mountain, Shanxi. Building upon the exploration experiences of fellow Shanxi skiers, she reorganized the information and preliminarily completed the route scouting, opening up provincial skiing resources for skiers within Shanxi.
Accompanying wild snow and powder snow are hidden dangers like avalanches. During the sharing session, CMDI instructor Kang Hua also shared his experience using avalanche airbag backpacks and gave a live demonstration of Black Diamond’s latest JetForce technology—an inflatable, self-expanding avalanche airbag system powered by a jet fan.
Kang Hua introduces the BD JetForce technology jet fan inflatable self-expanding avalanche airbag system to the skiers
At the sharing session, Outdoor Research and Black Diamond also prepared a variety of prizes for attendees, as well as unlimited tasting vouchers for craft beer from Niu Pi Tang. Coinciding with the December 2013 issue of Chinese National Geography, which featured an article titled “Skiing Originating from China,” highlighting the cultural history of the Tuva people in Altay—precisely where the skiers were exploring—the magazine was also given out at the event. Additionally, there was complimentary distribution support from Ski Extreme Skiing Magazine and Outside Outdoor Magazine.