Pengpai News reporter Pu Yaolei from Chongli
Poster design Yu Fei
[Editor's note]
Once upon a time, he was trapped in the snow city as soon as winter came; now, the ice and snow are mountains of gold and silver.
This is Chongli - known as "the most ideal natural skiing area in North China". Many snow competitions for the Beijing Winter Olympics are being held here.
The change in Chongli in the small town reflects the leapfrog development of China's ice and snow sports, and is also a true portrayal of the Winter Olympics seeking welfare for the people.
The modern facilities of Chongli Ski Resort have surpassed many developed skiing countries.
Turn the time pointer back more than ten years ago. When it comes to ski resorts, ski enthusiasts may rarely think of the place name Chongli.
Compared with well-known overseas ski resorts in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, this emerging ski town is undoubtedly still in the "primary stage" of the ski industry, but in just over a decade, such a huge gap has changed.
From the time when the horse-drawn carts pulled people onto the "wild snow track", to the now ski resort facilities are not inferior to mature ski resorts overseas, from the time skiers "self-taught" with unprofessional coaches, to now having a professional coaching qualification system... The name of Chongli Ski Resort has become famous in China, and has even begun to "export" abroad.
The arrival of the Beijing Winter Olympics has given China the best golden age for the development of ice and snow sports, and Chongli, the rapidly rising ski city, is the best microcosm.
Chongli lively ski scene.
The software and hardware of the ski resort are no longer inferior to Japan and South Korea
Fulong Ski Resort is one of the seven major ski resorts in Chongli. Zhang Litao, who serves as the assistant to the president of Fulong Holdings Group and the general manager of Fulong Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd., is also a skier.
From Jilin, he was once a professional ski jumping player. From being an athlete to working in the skiing industry, over the past 30 years, he has also witnessed the process of mass skiing in China from scratch, from something to good.
"China is popular skiing that only existed in 1995. Before that, ski resorts such as Yabuli and Songhua Lake were all for athletes to compete and were not open to the public. In 1995, Yabuli's Windmill Villa began to sell tickets and became the first mass ski resort." Zhang Litao recalled in an exclusive interview with the Pengpai News reporter.
"From that time, (Popular Skiing) has gradually evolved to today. Many people say that China's skiing industry is underdeveloped, which is certain, because one is the late start and the other is the process of going through a relatively short period of only 20 years."
But as Zhang Litao said, "Looking back, in just over 20 years, China has made extraordinary achievements in the skiing industry."
Take Chongli as an example. The Saibei Ski Resort opened in 1997 is the first here "" People who eat crabs , and from today's perspective, the conditions of this ski resort when it first opened were also "simple style" - there was no professional snow track, only "wild snow"; there was no cable car, and you had to use a horse to pull people up the mountain; when there was insufficient natural snow, you needed to hire villagers to carry bags of snow...
. In Zhang Litao's memory, the overall level of ski resorts in the past was indeed hugely different from today: "In the past, they were simple ski resorts: several snow tracks and a ski hall, which was very simple. But now it is not." How much has the progress of
facilities been? Just look at the Fulong Ski Resort where Zhang Litao is located to have a deep impression - in addition to the large number and types of ski slopes and professional quality, the supporting facilities are also high-level. For example, 6-person seats or even a box cable car with heated seats, many foreign ski resorts do not have such equipment.
"Today's scale and hardware and software facilities of our ski resorts are actually no less than Japan and South Korea, and they even surpass them. It may be a bit far from Europe, but in Asia, the software and hardware levels of Chinese ski resorts still play a leading role." Zhang Litao said.
Indeed, foreign faces can often be seen in various ski resorts in Chongli. Among the ski coaches who teach on the ski resort, a considerable number of them are coaches who go abroad to study and have obtained overseas qualification certificates.
. Even if you don’t “study abroad”, the coaches in the snowfield have undergone training and assessments in the domestic system, which is more standardized than before.
Cui Yajie, principal of the Mountain Sports College of Fulong Four Seasons Town, told the Pengpai News reporter that in order to retain skiers, ski resorts also attach great importance to coaching: "The ski resort itself is thirsty for talent and attaches great importance to cultivating talents. We will also spend a lot of time and effort every year on (coach) training."
Snow friends' level has improved, and ski resorts must keep up with
0000's "2020 China Ski Industry White Paper" released in July 2021 shows that although it has suffered from the impact of the epidemic, the number of ski resorts in China in 2020 has decreased, but it still has reached 715, which is a huge increase compared to 270 in 2010.
The increase in the number of ski resorts and the increase in the number of ski hobbies can also be said to complement each other and promote each other. But in this era of rapid growth of skiing industry, higher requirements have been put forward for ski resorts.
Zhang Litao said that he could clearly feel that the level of ski enthusiasts today is getting higher and higher, "they will evaluate the level of the venue, the quality of the snow pressing, and the safety of the snow."
This also means that if the management level of the ski resort cannot keep up with the needs of enthusiasts, it will only be ruthlessly eliminated by the market.
In fact, many of the staff in many domestic ski resorts are temporary employees who are "seasonal" and will leave after the snow season. However, in order to pursue a better management level, many ski resorts, including Fulong Ski Resort, are increasing the proportion of long-term fixed employees.
"The proportion of our fixed workers accounts for more than 40% this year, and we also adopted the method of "masters bring apprentices". When the seasonal workers come, they will be assigned a master to teach them how to do it. This greatly ensures the quality of our operations, and at the same time, what is given back to skiers is also a good result."
In order to take the lead in the competition in management level, ski resorts are also paying attention to every detail. "For example, this year, we require the driver to 'one person, one car, one area'. A car and one area belong to whom (all must be recorded), there is a traceability process. If there is a problem, we can know who is responsible."
"Through these effective management methods and daily records, we have successfully improved the quality of the venue, basically avoiding the previous extensive management. We and snow friends are actually a co-construction relationship. When they find the problem, they will report it to us, and we will solve it immediately."
talks about how to establish a connection with snow friends, Zhang Litao also mentioned a change in the service of the snow friends this year - providing snow friends with free storage devices to snow friends in the hall, so that snow friends no longer need to spend money to rent lockers like before.
In addition, he also arranged staff to "patrol" to provide active services to snow friends.
The picturesque Chongli Ski Resort.
From simple skiing to comprehensive vacation
Zhang Litao did not avoid the competition between more and more ski resorts with an overall rise. He believed that this was part of what the ski resorts must experience and face: "What kind of practices and products should be used to attract customers, as operators, we are also thinking about this issue. We have a lot of work every year to do planning, planning and creativity."
"Every (ski resort) is doing its own characteristics and characteristics, and is segmented in the industrial field. We cannot fight each other and fight to the death with low prices. We still rely on their respective services and special product planning to create healthy competition."
is unique, and this view is also recognized by Li Yongtai, executive vice president of Taiwu Ski Town .
He told the reporter of The Paper: "We are actually willing to see the development of ski resorts and the birth of new products. The more peer practitioners in the industry, it will be beneficial to our overall economy and market."
"The several ski resorts in Chongli are developing. We may have innovative things in the first year and do well, but others may do far better than us in five years, so we must catch up.The ultimate key is in product and service. If these two points are not available, it will develop in disorder and be eliminated. ”
In addition to this, the two have a common point of view - that is, the future development of ski resorts will gradually move from a simple ski resort to a "comprehensive resort".
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Zhang Litao also believes that skiing "was just a small industry before, but now it is different": "Now it is a comprehensive resort model. For example, we call it Fulong Four Seasons Town , which is the entire town serving Xueke, with shops, apartments, hotels... It is an industry with aggregation of multiple formats, driving transportation, hotels, aviation, manufacturing, etc. "
" Skiing is no longer the ascetic method of the past. Going to 'brush' one by one snow track, now it is more of an entertainment, a place for communication between friends, a bond between lovers, and a variety of energy in it. "
" (skiing has already been) is not just a simple concept of sports, but a way of life that can be combined with vacation. The changes in the connotation of skiing are also the most gratifying thing in the domestic skiing mass market. "Zhang Litao said.
Editor in charge: Tengfei
Proofreading: Liu Wei
