Songhua Lake Ski Resort — Attraction in Jilin City

Difficult to review.

This is a review with zero snowfall.

Now that I’ve been to Changbaishan, Beidahu, and Songhua Lake, I feel like this is second place after Changbaishan.

There’s really only three runs.

A Black down the left. A Green down the middle. A Green/Blue down the right.

All runs are quite mellow, even for what they are tiered as.

The resort does a good job grooming the entire mountain, so even though it doesn’t snow, the runs are not icy, at least in the morning, it gets icy throughout the day because temps can go as low as -20 Celsius at night.

I am a snowboarder, and there are too many snowboarders here for my liking.

The lifts spots are full of snowboarders sitting all over the place putting on their bindings.

I found ski etiquette here the worst (may be because I came on a holiday). People spat into the snow while queuing, one person smoking a cigarette while boarding down, there is very little queue management for the gondolas, so expect everyone to cut as soon as they are let thru.

This is also the least scenic resort, once you get up top to the mountain.

People say it’s convenient because it’s close to Jilin, but let’s be honest, you came to snowboard, you are not going to Jilin.

You can see factories billowing smoke out from their chimneys in the background and a layer of smog covering the city. It’s not really the idyllic nature scene of most resorts. Tried to capture it in my first picture, but it does show up as well as in person.

Runs can also be overcrowded and narrow until the bottom green section which is massively wide open.

The town seems to be a draw, but it is local China fare, with everything in sub-standard quality, but it does have its charm.

If you are contemplating your first trip in China, I recommend the following: 1). Changbaishan - for overall runs and town. 2). Songhua Lake - for its groomed runs. 3). Beidahu - if you don’t care about the ski town.

If you’re bored, skim thru my other reviews, I reviewed the other two resorts too.

Happy...

I have been to this ski resort almost every year and I love it! it's convenient to get to from the city, there are plenty of slopes for beginners with the longest being 4.1km which is super fun, and me being an intermediate skier, the intermediate slopes are less crowded and more fun to be on.

I recommend to get tickets from a trustworthy 3rd party as it's much cheaper e.g. 20% from the listed price in the hall.

You need to have a helmet on the slopes, so after my 1st visit which i rented, I bought my own one from decathlon.

As the place gets more popular, it's natural that it gets more crowded. please be patient as they build...

Small resort with modern facilities and friendly staff. There are a few hotels and apartments in the base, a KFC and different restaurants. The trails are good for beginners and for more advanced levels. Don't expect off track trails and double diamonds. The snow was well maintain (in mid March), not sure about other dates but expect cold and dry snow. The resort is one hour taxi ride from Jilin Downton (50¥). Highly recommended if you want to...