First of all, I’d like to thankBDHthe unexpected reopening at the end of the ski season, and of course, I also want to thank the organizer of this event――Longban, who gave me the small honor of being the treasurer for a bit — counting money feels great, especially when you don’t have to keep the books.
The travelogue is divided into four parts: A Glimmer of Hope; Backcountry Madness; Farewell to Gangliang; and Utter Exhaustion.
A Glimmer of Hope
I didn’t have particularly high expectations for the ski resort at the end of the season — as long as there was snow and I could ski, that would be enough. This trip fully confirmed that: the resort at the end of the season is bad, really bad...
With excitement, I headed to the ski area. Looking out the car window at the occasional light rain, I was worried — if it was raining at the resort, that would really be the end. But I figured the upper part of the slopes might still be okay, which was a small comfort. When we arrived, my anxiety turned to resignation because the rain showed no signs of letting up. As everyone changed into their gear and headed toward the lift, the drizzle turned into a downpour. The feeling of trudging through a concrete puddle was just awful. I thought to myself, this is my first time skiing in the rain — truly unforgettable.
At the rental shop, I saw people coming down from the mountain, all soaked, and drenched with every run — the rain was really something else. Taking the No. 9 lift straight to the top, I hoped the upper section might be okay. After traveling over a thousand kilometers, I wasn’t going to spend the day in the room — I’d rather die on the mountain than not ski at all. As the altitude increased, the rain outside the gondola gradually turned to snow. The mountain was shrouded in fog, and visibility was zero, but I was starting to get excited — snow meant I could still ski the upper part.
It turned out the No. 9 lift was skiable, and the snow on the trails that hadn’t been open for a week was thick and good, though I wasn’t used to it at all. My turns were disjointed, but I got a small taste of the fun of backcountry skiing — falling didn’t hurt.
In the morning, we only skied the upper part, with very poor visibility.10Couldn’t see anyone even a meter away. After a few runs, my clothes were soaked. I had made a mistake in clothing — wearing regular cotton, which gets freezing cold once wet. In the end, I had to take a break at the mountaintop hut. But I actually ran into Jinlang and some other friends from Jilin on the lift. It seems skiing really has a way of bringing snow lovers together. Later, we joinedBDHthe lucky draw, wherenseveral people in our group won prizes, and even the grand prize went to one of our crew — too bad all I could think about were the slopes, and I had no hope for the raffle.
Then the weather started to clear, and what happened next made me rethink what skiing really is — or whether I was even skiing at all.
Backcountry Madness
The raffle was incredibly lively, and most of our group had gathered in the hut. Brother Ban Kuan said12Run 1 was great, so why hesitate? Let’s go down...
But what I didn’t expect was that this12Run 1 was not the same as the previous12Run 1 — it was completely different from my last two visits. On my first turn, I took a nasty tumble (tumble number one). The whole slope hadn’t been groomed at all. A week’s worth of fresh snow added up to30centimeters, with some areas as deep as6~70centimeters. One step and it went right up to my knees — I was a complete mess, an absolute mess.
Looking back, the first time I skied in the backcountry was on5Run 1, and that felt okay. The second time, I went into the woods for just a short stretch — I realized I wasn’t cut out for it and bailed. This was my third time on a backcountry run, dozens of meters wide, completely open, but with no obstacles — and yet I couldn’t ski at all, just kept flipping over...
12Run 1 isBDHthe steepest slope. I didn’t find it particularly hard before, but today I had no idea how to ski it. Basically, I could make it through one turn, but the second one I’d always fall. Strangely, falling didn’t hurt at all — instead, it felt amazing, really, really amazing, like lying on cotton. For the first time in my life skiing, I actually wanted to fall on purpose, almost hoping to belly-flop hard onto the snow.If it weren’t for how hard it was to get my boards back on after a fall, I would’ve gone for a few more epic tumbles. Who says tumbling isn’t fun? Who says face-planting lacks joy?
The rain stopped, the wind died down, and there was even a hint of sunshine breaking through — the weather gods were really smiling on us. But all I could see now was12On Trail 30, it took me a while to notice the vast expanse of white all around me.
I had no idea how many times I’d fallen—probably more in this one run than the entire snow season combined. Then came two more major tumbles, requiring me to climb back up the mountain several meters just to retrieve my board. Suddenly, it hit me: this is what skiing is really about. What other sport can you enjoy even when you’re falling, and fall with such joy and excitement? I realized I hadn’t been skiing at all before.Beyond “awesome,” I couldn’t find the words to describe how I felt. So this is what off-piste skiing is like—no wonder so many pros are always diving into the trees. Only in the woods can you truly experience the joy of powder snow. At the same time, I also understood the importance of fundamental skiing skills. Because I couldn’t parallel my skis (well, it’s not really about knowing how, but being able to do it), I had zero control in these off-piste conditions. So my first goal for the next snow season is to master parallel turns, and my second is to nail parallel skiing and 50-50 weight distribution.
It was so hot... First, I took off my hat, then unzipped my jacket, then removed my goggles. Later, I was sweating so much I even took off my glasses—it was literally raining sweat down my chin. In the end, I was left with just...9314The two of us, swaying noisily as we made our way down the mountain. By the time we reached the lodge, Brother Bench had already finished lunch and gone back into the woods. I could only sit there, eagerly waiting for someone to bring up steamed buns from below...
In the afternoon, under the sun...BDHIt was especially beautiful, and many people stopped to take photos. But after my previous “solo trip to Beidahu” experience, I didn’t feel much. I skied down Trail 36, Qingyun, and Trail 38 a few times. I didn’t dare go up Trail 39 again, worried about burning out and affecting the next day. But one run was enough—the off-piste, I’ll be back...9No. and Qingyun.1No.. I didn’t dare to go up12No. again, afraid that exhausting my energy would affect the next day, but one run was enough — powder snow, I’ll be back...
Goodbye, Gangliang.
The ski resort was generous, opening the gondola for half a day as a thank-you to skiers, so we could ski Trail 36 and Gangliang. Yesterday, our “superman” even said he’d climb up there himself.2The gondola.2Trail 36.
In the morning, I skied Qingyun and Trail 36 again, but it was frustrating—the bottom was all ice. Then I headed straight for the Gondola 46. I could clearly feel the fatigue—it seemed yesterday’s exertion had taken quite a toll. At the top of Gondola 47, I finally reunited with the main group and saw Longban and other tree-skiing experts for the first time.9Trail 36.2Gondola 46.2Gondola 47.
Gangliang is one of the signature trails of [Mountain Name], known for its variety, but the ubiquitous rocks also caused quite a bit of trouble.BDH[Mountain Name].2011When I came here years ago, I didn’t know how to parallel turn—I still remember skiing Gangliang in a snowplow. Today, I wanted to ski Gangliang again, but I didn’t expect to still be in a snowplow.
The snow on Gangliang was so deep—deeper than Trail 36 yesterday. Fortunately, having fallen so much yesterday, I’d picked up a few tricks. I couldn’t get on my edges, but I could snowplow down—it was just tiring... After two more wild tumbles, I finally made it down safely, completely exhausted. A snowplow can definitely get you down Gangliang—whoever says snowplows aren’t important can fight me on that.12Trail 36.
There was no way I could keep up with Longban and the others. Forget it, I’ll just take my time going down. On my second solo run, it went much better—no falls at least, and going slowly was safer. After resting several times, I finally made it to the base. Along the way, a friend said, “If you’re tired, take a break.” For some reason, instead of stopping, I just lay down in the snow right then and there—it was so comfortable... Only later did I realize he probably wasn’t talking to me. Whatever, I was already lying down, and I wasn’t getting up no matter who came. This sea of marshmallows...
After two runs on Gangliang, I was completely out of energy and didn’t want to risk a third. I decided to head to Trail 35 instead—it should be much easier. But the result was—2Trail 35 was even harder to ski down than Gangliang. It gave Trail 37 yesterday a run for its money.2Trail 35.12Trail 37.50Thirty-nine centimeters of snow,2but Trail 35 was much steeper than Gangliang. After two more wild tumbles (unfortunately, both witnessed by fellow skiers), I started to get the hang of off-piste skiing: you absolutely need speed—if you don’t have speed, you can’t turn your skis. But you can’t go too fast either, or your weight shifts back and you lose all control. On marked trails, you can adjust your center of gravity; on off-piste? Don’t even think about it—you’ll never catch up. Just try to lean forward ahead of time.
The joy of off-piste skiing lies in learning from constant failures, but never try it in the woods — that’s really dangerous.
Exhausted
Played in the morninghighA bit too much, I had almost no energy left in the afternoon, so could only consider9Run and Qingyun, couldn’t attempt off-piste anymore. These past two days I haven’t skied much with the main group of friends, but mostly with people I randomly ran into earlier, like Jinlang, Teacher Fang, Li Yao, and other friends from Jilin. We skied the same runs together. For the remaining half day, I’m going to properly hang out with our own crew.
Time was limited,2just a few hours, I skied a few runs of123and the others. The upper part of the slope had decent snow, but the lower section wasn’t great, all ice, didn’t dare pick up speed. Brother Banban invited me down9Run and Qingyun with Qiufeng, Farmer,5Run for the first time, didn’t dare; on the last cable car ride we ran into each other again, he invited me5Run again, hesitated for a bit, then went for it — even though I knew going with them definitely wouldn’t end well.
I’ve skied5Run before, but the current5Run is completely different now, more like2or12, with several dozen centimeters of off-piste snow, covered by a thin, hard crust — not easy to ski. Relying on my experience with off-piste the past couple of days, I managed to make a few linked turns, which made me really happy, though I was so tired I could barely stand. Ran into XiaoKand his girlfriend, who had no idea what kind of run this was when they came, and were now just sliding down holding their boards. Honestly, going down such a steep slope for the first time is pretty tough, but the good thing is that falling doesn’t hurt.
XiaoKsaid something really funny: “I just don’t get why everyone avoids these icy patches — turns out there’s such a fun spot here!” I burst out laughing after hearing that. The greatest joy in skiing is probably discovering things you’ve never experienced before. The same goes for runs, and for skills. Xiaok, with his solid fundamentals, quickly picked up the tricks of off-piste skiing. I also realized that off-piste is way easier on a snowboard than on skis — as long as you can control your descent, you can handle off-piste. Falling doesn’t hurt anyway, whether you fall forward or backward...
5Run is super steep, by the bottom both our legs were about to cramp. After making it back to the lodge, I realized I hadn’t had my thighs this sore in ages — even biking200kilometers hasn’t done this to me. These past two days of skiing really took everything out of me. The final madness of the end of the season — perfectly ended.
Final summary:
In the pursuit of happiness, the act itself is happiness.
This post has been synced to QiaoJiannan's Weibo.