In spite of having lived in Switzerland for six years I have only ever been snowboarding twice and until now I had never skied. I had taken snowboarding lessons on both previous occasions so this time I felt I could do without.
It took me quite a long time to get used to being on a snowboard again, but by the fourth day I could 'board down the Rainbow Paradise run with a certain amount of skill, but not much style. It's a 5km slope, rated intermediate, which starts from the highest peak at the resort reached by the (Swiss-made) gondola and we managed it seven times during the last day with a stop at the top for a Starbucks coffee at lunchtime.
Father and Son Crowards, already good skiers, eschewed snowboarding lessons and having boned up on the 10 steps to Snowboarding were soon comfortable on the boards. Which was good because private lessons would have been 170,000 Won per person for two hours. No group lessons in English!
I tried skiing for a brief time one afternoon and I succeeded in going down the beginners slope a couple of times without too many problems, but my thighs were already starting to ache badly and queues for the lifts to the nursery slopes were very long. The advantage of going on the more advanced slopes was that there were almost no queues.
Ski and Snowboard hire were well managed by the staff and the equipment was good quality and in good condition. It might have saved some time to be able to hire the equipment once for the whole five days at the start, but this did not seem to be possible, so each morning after a huge breakfast, we would hire the kit and pay for the lift pass. I am sure if you stay in the town below the resort there are shops that will allow multi day hire. Season tickets are available for the lifts if you are skiing there every weekend. All the staff were friendly and could speak enough English to be able to do their job. These are the options for lift passes and rental:
The weather was kind to us all week. Even though there was very little real snow the snow machines were working all night every night and the pistes were well groomed each morning and afternoon. It was snowing quite heavily when we left on the Saturday and we were very glad we were not on the slopes that morning before we left.
In spite of the thousands of children having skiing lessons, the resort did not seem too crowded, however queues for the lifts and in the cheap canteen dining room were very long at certain times of the day. The quietest time was first thing in the morning after the lifts started at 08:30. Here's a general view of the resort :
and looking the other direction from the same place in the evening:
I discovered ski clothing was available to hire but at 60,000 Won for a jacket and trousers for three days, I was very glad I had bought a pair of Salopettes from a street vendor for 10,000 Won before getting there. Helmet hire is also available for 3,000 won per day.
There are other facilities at the resort including a very good swimming pool and sauna that I took advantage of and a Karaoke bar which provided us with great entertainment. The bar was deserted, but the barman led us to a private room where we stayed for several hours with a couple of drinks, belting out some old favourites. We enjoyed it so much we went back a second night.
The bus trip back was more straightforward than the outward journey, though the final stop by the roadside, with no subway or bus stops nearby, was slightly weird. Someone told us it was supposed to be going to Sadang, but when the bus driver indicated, in no uncertain terms, that we would be disembarking , we were nowhere near Sadang. Luckily it was not a long taxi ride back to Yeouido.
The region PyeongChang, has just put in a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and if they win you will no doubt be hearing a great deal more about this area. Fingers crossed for decision day on July 4th this year when the International Olympic Committee chooses between Korea, Salzburg in Austria and Sochi in Russia.
10 comments:
How much did the condo run to?
We paid 200,000 Won per night
for the five of us plus 18,500 each for breakfast.
This was the rate through the travel agent.
Hey, during your schmoozing at the embassy and the like, you haven't overheard asking where they can find a young accountant willing to move out to Korea have you? Or have you met any English accountants working out there so at least I'd know they exist?
Wow, sounds like you guys had a great time. I love snowboarding and it was a riot doing it indoors at Ski Dubai! I'm glad you took on the challenge...I remember starting out...I had a lot of sore muscles (mainly my backside from falling all the time) the first few days.
I just discovered another TwoTwo location by Omokgyo Station, exit 1. I am still down for chicken!!
Get your skis, clothes, accomodation and anything else (including lift ticket) much much cheaper at the nearest town - it's the case at all ski resorts.
10,000 won ski rental for the day near yongpyong.
You didn't happen to see what size the boot rentals went up to, did you? I'd love to go skiing here in Korea, but have this fear of getting all the way up there and not being able to get skiboots my size (size 310) Or if they do have the boots, the ski bindings won't adjust to fit the big size.
I'm glad to hear that you had a nice time. I'll have to look into putting a trip together some time.
Snowboarding is a thrilling and risky trip. I love it.
My family and I love the snow and every winter holiday, we make sure we go to Jindabyne to have a grand vacation. It is also the bonding time for me and the kids. We snowboard hire at the foot of the mountain so that we won't be having a hard time carrying skis and snowboards from our apartment to the mountain and back.
Hai... We are going to Yongpyong this Nov 28. There are 10 of us wiht 3 small kids and 3 teenagers. Do you know which accommodation in yongpyong is best? we prefer to stay in the ski ground.. so that the kids can do skiing and the oldies can just relax.
Thanks
Hi Apple.
You're best bet would be to stay in the resort. they have a range of different room sizes. There might be one that can sleep 10 people, but you may be better off getting 2 rooms. There were 3 adults and 2 children in our room and it was quite comfortable.
It may cost a little more to stay in the resort compared with staying in the town in the valley, but the advantage of being in the resort is that there is no need to get a bus up from the village in the morning and back again.
Sorry I don't seem to have a link for the resort, but it should not be too hard to find.
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