The Home of Skiing
It must be the little flakes of snow that flutter in while we are cooking that have made my mind turn to hitting the slopes in recent weeks. We were lucky in Kuqa to make it out to a little ski field. A taxi will take you out there for 30RMB and ski rental is 50RMB for skis boots and poles. The slope is a tiny little one with 2 rope tows – one on either side of the slope. The skis are all ex-Japanese school gear with few large skis (up north in Japan the kids regularly do cross country and piste skiing as part of their phys ed routines). You can also rent a tube for 30RMB. Nothing like the skiing in Tohoku or Hokkaido but good fun nonetheless.
(Kuqa Mountains)
The Fubar in Urumqi has one day skitrips for 120RMB – lunch and rental included to the best ski field in Xinjiang. A bit far from Korla, and with Korla not having a ski field I guess we will have to make do with snow ball fights and snow men.
Still on the topic of skiing – there is an article at natives.co.uk asking whether skiing started in Xinjiang. Apparently some murals have been found in Altay (northern Xinjiang) showing people hunting whilst skiing. The murals have been dated at being between 100 and 200 centuries old. And the story says that this means that skiing may well have started here in Xinjiang. Another first for China!
In another story I saw yesterday on CCTV9 – Chinas only English news channel – former Afghanistani ski rep Hamayoon Kargar has been attracting a lot of attention recently as he tries to revive the sport of skiing in his war torn country. The full story is here at Pakistan’s Daily Times. Wish him all the best.
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