Our First Snowboarding Trip at Nanshan, Beijing (2014)

Travel archive — our first skiing and snowboarding experience near Beijing in 2014. This is a personal account of how we travelled then, not current advice about Nanshan prices, transport or ski hire.

China has changed enormously since those early adventures. We travelled when getting around China before smartphones and travel apps involved rather more guesswork. I’ve since returned to discover why modern China is so exciting to explore, even travelling from Bangkok to China by train in 2025 with a phone doing much of the work. This story takes us back to the winter we tried snowboarding for the first time outside Beijing.

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Why We Decided to Go Skiing Independently

During our 2014 travels around Beijing, Fanfan and I decided to try skiing and snowboarding at Nanshan Ski Resort. Neither of us had ever done it before. We almost booked an organised trip, but a little last-minute research suggested we could make the journey ourselves for a fraction of the price. Our rough spending worked out at about $33 each, rather than the roughly $150 per person we’d been quoted for a tour. Those were the prices we paid or saw back then, not rates for today.

It was typical of how we travelled in China at the time: confident enough to set off, but hardly experts at understanding the transport system. We did occasionally give in and book organised trips, including our freezing Great Wall and Summer Palace tour, but for Nanshan we were determined to do things ourselves.

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A Muddled Skype Call and the Shuttle from Beijing

The night before, we somehow managed to reserve places on the shuttle bus with a slightly muddled Skype phone call. We were travelling before the convenience of today’s apps, so this felt like a small triumph. Early the next morning we made our way to Wudaokou subway station and found the Nanshan shuttle nearby. Instead of a private air-conditioned car, our bargain solution involved getting up earlier, taking the metro and joining everyone else on the bus.

I kept track of the ticket cost, departure point and return times at the time, but these are details from an old journey rather than instructions for a current trip. If you’re looking into Nanshan today, Beijing’s modern resort and transport overview is a much better place to start.

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Figuring Out Ski Tickets, Deposits and Rentals

Arriving at the resort, the first challenge was the ticket window. Everyone spilled off the bus and headed for the same counters. We sorted out ski cards and deposits, then carried on to the equipment rental and locker rooms. At the end of the day we got back the unused balance on our cards, having paid for four hours of hire, ski clothes, gloves and lockers.

I still remember how complicated the process sounded when we were planning it, and how ordinary it felt once we were standing there with the tickets in our hands. It was all part of navigating China independently in those days: a little preparation, a lot of pointing, and relief when things worked out.

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My First Snowboard and Fanfan’s First Skis

We took opposite approaches. I chose a snowboard and Fanfan chose skis, despite neither of us knowing the first thing about either. The beginners’ areas were conveniently near the rental rooms, but the ski and snowboard slopes were separate, so we ended up taking turns rather than learning together.

As a former skateboarder, I imagined the skills might transfer. I could pull what felt like enormous airs on the beginners’ slope, but fell flat on my face when attempting the rather more important task of actually moving forwards. Balance of a 70-year-old. Fanfan, meanwhile, looked much more convincing posing for photographs with her skis. We skipped instructors and made a splendid mess of learning for ourselves.

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Noodle Soup and Beer After the Slopes

Once we’d had enough falling over, we did what we do best: found food and beer. The outdoor restaurant stalls used a peculiar coupon system. First buy the food coupon, then carry it over to another counter to order your food. It seemed unnecessarily complicated, but the pork rib noodle soup was enormous and surprisingly good. There were also barbecue stalls with kebabs and sweetcorn.

By then we’d successfully attempted winter sports, navigated the bus, worked out the rentals and survived the beginners’ slopes. A bowl of noodles and a beer felt like exactly the right reward.

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The Long Ride Back to Beijing

Travelling independently meant staying for most of the day and waiting for the return shuttle. We headed back to Beijing through the evening traffic, getting off near the same subway station where we’d begun. After years of living with Bangkok’s traffic, Beijing’s rush hour didn’t seem particularly horrifying.

Looking back, the best part wasn’t the snowboarding, although I’d happily try again. It was that we had turned a potentially expensive organised outing into a slightly chaotic adventure of our own, from the Skype booking to the last bus home. These old China journeys feel very different from the modern China we’ve returned to explore — and that’s exactly why I enjoy revisiting them.

Nanshan has developed since our trip, and the Beijing government overview of the resort’s winter facilities makes a useful modern comparison with our 2014 experience.