January Vacation - Skiiing

[superhaz]

Hi

I'm new to Korea, one of my friends is booking flights to come to Korea at the start of January to go skiing. Obviously I will be expected to provide the plans.

Has anyone been skiing before, and could reccomend a place? Preferably with something to do outside of ski hours as well, or, if we fancied a day break from it?

Also is it possible to stay in hostels or something nearby, as apposed to the overpriced chalet's they offer?

Thanks

[Lynnie]

High One is the place. Here's the link. Get your Korean co-teacher to help you find a pension in a nearby town for cheaper rates. I don't remember where we stayed, but they hooked us up with convient van rides to the resort area each day. http://www.high1.com/eng/skiInfo/html.high1

[superhaz]

Awesome - many thanks! Do you know how much roughly the daily rates are for renting everything, plus lifts etc?
Did you book through an operator or just pay on the day individually for stuff?

[Jozigirl]

Muju is pretty cool.  It's in Jeollabuk-do.  Pyeongchang (Gangwon-do) is also good skiing - it's where the winter olympics will be held in 2018.  Adventure Korea usually does a couple of ski trips to Phoenix Park (Pyeongchang) and there'll probably be one over Seolnal too which is the end of January 2012.  www.adventurekorea.com

Ski rental (skis, suits, goggles) was around 60 000 won for three days and the ski passes were about 20 000 won at Phoenix Park.

[adinameanslife]

I wanted to do some skiing or snowboarding to make the most of my vacation time this winter (I don't plan on traveling outside of Korea) and these posts were super helpful. I recently visited the Wind Farm in Gangwon-do and remember seeing all the ads for the winter olympics, and thought it might be nice to try to do some winter sports out there, but couldn't remember the name of the nearby city for the life of me.

[robertsears2000]

is it really that cheap to go skiing here, that's amazing. Does anyone think it will really busy or more expensive over lunar new year in january

[adinameanslife]

Good question! I imagine it will be less busy during the week and less expensive lodging. I'm interested to know more, too.

[Mani]

I do not know if you're open to it but the skiing in Japan will be immensely better (you're really comparing some of the best powder skiing in the world -Japan- to some of the worst ice-skiing known to man. Sapporo is a 3 hours flight from Seoul and really worth it. Ticket prices are fairly cheap over there too (~3000-4000 yens is typical). For anything other that weekend skiing I think It's the best option!

[tfung31]

I do not know if you're open to it but the skiing in Japan will be immensely better (you're really comparing some of the best powder skiing in the world -Japan- to some of the worst ice-skiing known to man. Sapporo is a 3 hours flight from Seoul and really worth it. Ticket prices are fairly cheap over there too (~3000-4000 yens is typical). For anything other that weekend skiing I think It's the best option!

Are conditions here really THAT bad? I was kind of excited to ski outside of Southern California where the majority of the snow is man made.