Thursday, March 3, 2011

Yongpyong Resort: The Slopes

 At the bottom of Red Slope

This is the second post of a series to explain Yongpyong resort. As I'm one of few forigners to have a season pass, and possibly the only blogger among those, I thought I would be the best person to get some info out about the resort.

In today's post I will explain to you a little about some of the slopes of Yongpyong Resort. Yongpyong is great for skiers of all levels, but I think upper intermediate or advanced skiers will be happier here than on any other mountain in Korea. Yongpyong is home to what will hopefully become the Alpine Olympic ski course in 2018, providing they make the cut this year. Each slope and lift is named after a color.


 A snowy view of Rainbow II and III

I spend most of my days at Yongpyong on the Rainbow slopes. The Rainbow Summit, at a height of 1,435 m is nothing to sneeze at. It is only reached by a long gondola ride. There are four Rainbow slopes (I-IV) which are all black diamonds and double black diamonds. Skiers and boarders who aren't up for the challenge generally love Rainbow paradise, which is a long, gentle slope that brings you back to the base of the resort. 

 Lower side of Rainbow II

Rainbow II, the only place where I've seen moguls in this country. 


 Sometimes they set up mock racing areas for anyone to try.

Advanced skiers and boarders will also be happy on Red (my favorite after the Rainbow slopes), Blue or Silver (though the Silver lift is much too slow). 

A snowboarding competition going on two weeks ago in the park

While I don't make many visits to the park, I know a lot of people out there will be curious as to how it is. While I really know nothing about parks, my boarder friend (pictured below on the rail) was quite pleased after his first visit. 

Intermediate skiiers will be quite happy checking out the gold summit. It has various blue square and black diamond hills. Those who have been skiing in Korea before will know that when a hill says "black diamond" it generally is about equal to a challenging blue square if you're from anywhere in the US with large ski resorts. If you're used to skiing blue squares at home, check out the black diamonds and see if you can do them. They may not be as difficult as you expect!

For the beginner skiers and boarders, the Pink, Yellow and Green slopes are where you'll want to check out. They are nice and wide slopes which will be great for practicing and improving your skills!

For more information about the ski conditions, prices, lesson information etc, see Yongpyong's English website.

2 comments:

  1. I am interested in getting a season pass for my family. I have checked the website. Any tips or suggestions on finding discounts for season lift passes?

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  2. There should be a small discount if you buy early, maybe in September.

    We actually now get two free passes every year because we got a membership to Tower Condo. If you're willing to pay 10,000,000 won as a sort of 'key money'/membership fee, you can get 2 free ski passes every year for 5 years, plus discounts on rooms in Tower Condo. After 5 years, you can choose to end your membership and get your 10,000,000 won back (minus taxes). It's a pretty good deal if you know you'll be here for 5 years and have the money sitting around.

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