지산 스키장

I woke up at 6am on March 2, Saturday. I have to be early as I need to catch the tour bus leaving for Jisan Ski Resort. According to the instructions provided by the tour agency, the bus will be waiting in front of Dunkin' Donuts outlet at Gwanghwamun at 7:50am. We found the outlet as described after exiting from Exit 7 of Gwanghwamun station at 7:30am. I bought two donuts at Dunkin' Donuts for my breakfast while waiting for the bus. The tour bus arrived as scheduled. The trip to Jisan, which is located southeast of Suwon, took about 2 hours.

We waited outside Dunkin' Donuts near Gwanghwamun station for our bus.

When we arrived at Jisan, the mountains were still shrouded in thick morning mist just like what you see below. The ski slopes were not visible from afar. Though it was already 10am, the outdoor temperature remained chilly.

It was as cold as it looked. But the mist disappeared later in the day.

The first thing we did after alighting from the bus was to find our way to "Board Box" to get our skiing equipment. Again, we referred to the instructions given by the tour agency. We were told us to turn around after alighting from the bus and cross a bridge. There was indeed a bridge and so we crossed it. After crossing, we were told to turn right and walk down a road until we could see the "Board Box" sign. The instructions provided sufficient information and pictures for us to find our way but it stopped short of telling us that "Board Box" is actually about 1 km down the road. I would not have mind if it was just a walk down the road. But the problem was, we would have to walk back the same road later with our ski equipment. Before I even started skiing, I was almost worn-out carrying those ski equipment from "Board Box" up to the ski slope. When we finally got changed and were ready for some skiing action, it was already midday.

We have to walk up this flight of stairs to get to the ski slope.

My skiing equipment on loan from "Board Box".

Jisan Ski Resort is an outdoor ski resort. The snow on the ski slopes was not actually genuine snow on the day we were there. The snow had to be made from snow machines since it was already Spring in March. Then again, the snow was more like ice and that made the ski slope extra slippery. The resort has five ski slopes of different gradient to cater to Junior, Beginner, Intermediate, Intermediate/Advanced and Advanced skiers and snowboarders. We were of course skiing at the junior slope. Even that, I still did not manage to keep my balance well. I suffered multiple falls though none of these was hurting. Falling down was perhaps part of the fun or pain in trying out something new. Skiing was a rather tiring activity. I was perspiring profusely even when the outdoor temperature was near zero.

Look at the ski slope, it was ice and not snow we were skiing on.

Snow-making machine.

Intermediate snow-skiers. The intermediate slope was too steep for me.

The vehicle seen here is a snow-laying machine.

We stopped skiing at 2pm and had some afternoon snacks at the cafeteria. While biting on my food, I was looking up the slopes in awe. The snowboarders at the intermediate and advanced slopes just made snowboarding looked so easy. It seemed that skiing is a past fad these day. The in-thing is snowboarding. I could hardly find any skiers at the slopes but snowboarders were everywhere. Skiing is difficult enough. I am not sure if I will ever want to try snowboarding.

Intermediate ski slope as seen from the cafeteria.

Advanced ski slope as seen from the cafeteria.

Snowboarding is the fad now. Snow skiing sounds so yesterday.

The Jisan Ski Resort closed at 4:30pm but we left the place at 4pm to return our skiing equipment. We boarded the same bus that took us to Jisan and it arrived back at Gwanghwamun station at about 7pm. We managed to get some good nap along the way. To me, skiing is like scuba-diving. There are many things to bring along like attire and equipment which can be rather cumbersome. I had a good workout for the day by carrying those ski attire and equipment to and from "Board Box". This workout was in addition to the two hours of skiing which I had at the ski slopes. Ouch, my muscle was aching at the end of the day. A sure sign that I have not been exercising regularly in the recent months. Nevertheless, it was a fun-filled day.

Snow scene of the resort - Left-hand side.

Snow scene of the resort - Right-hand side.