Skiing / The Altai snow week
Private winter journey
The Altai Ski Week: 7 Days in China's Snow Belt
The Altai claims to be where skiing was born — rock art in the region shows skiers on fur-lined boards four thousand years ago, and herders still use them for the winter pastures. Modern Altay has built on that inheritance with a run of extraordinary ski areas: a 5S resort inside the city of Altay itself, and Koktokay and Jikikpulin with the biggest vertical in China. This week links them, with two nights in Hemu village under deep snow and the region's fur-ski tradition demonstrated by the people who still use it.
Ask about this itineraryHemu in deep winter — the village becomes a snow hamlet, and the ski field rises directly above it
Jiangjunshan ski area stands inside Altay city — a 5S-rated mountain with 460 m of vertical, floodlit night skiing and the powder the region is known for, minutes from your hotel bed
Koktokay and Jikikpulin hold China's largest lift-served vertical — long, quiet, snow-sure runs through birch and larch that compare with anything in Asia
rock art near Altay depicts fur-skied hunters; the fur-covered climbing skins of the traditional Altai board are still made and used in the villages
Siberian air over the Altai gives low-density powder and a season running from late October to early April; January is coldest, February the connoisseur's month
Why this week
The snow belt at the top of the map.
China's ski industry lives mostly in the northeast — but the deepest, driest, longest-season snow in the country falls in the Altai of northern Xinjiang, hard against the Kazakh and Mongolian borders. The resorts are new, big and astonishingly quiet: on a midweek day at Koktokay you can ski 1,300-metre verticals in laps without seeing a queue. The week is built for strong intermediate skiers and up — resort skiing with a private guide, no backcountry commitments, but with the option to walk out the gate at Jikikpulin for controlled side-country laps with the patrollers.
Between the ski days sit two nights in Hemu, the wooden village under Jikikpulin's lifts: horse-sleds on the frozen river, fur-ski demonstrations by village skiers, and the winter stillness that makes the Altai feel like nowhere else in China. Non-skiing companions thrive here — the village week is a destination in itself.
Route Briefing
Fly Urumqi to Altay for two resort days in town, cross to Koktokay for the big vertical, then over to Hemu for two nights under Jikikpulin's lifts before flying home from Altay. Internal flights keep the ski days full.
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The Week
Seven days in the powder belt.
The shape is simple: three resorts, one village, and the shortest possible drives between them. Days flex with snowfall — the guide chases the storm, not the schedule.
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Day 01
North into winter
Urumqi → Altay
Morning flight from Urumqi over the Gobi rim to Altay city, the 'snow capital'. Boot fitting and rental sorted in the afternoon; optional warm-up laps at Jiangjunshan's night skiing — the lights run late and the snow falls dry.
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Day 02
Jiangjunshan, the city powder
Altay city
A full day at Jiangjunshan: 460 metres of vertical, wide fall-line runs and tree shots between the lifts, with the whole city below — a strange, wonderful sight. Lunch on the mountain; evening in Altay's fish and lamb restaurants.
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Day 03
East to the big mountain
Altay → Koktokay
Drive east along the Irtysh headwaters to Koktokay, the granite gorge resort inside a national park. Check in at the resort hotel; afternoon lift access if the legs want it.
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Day 04
1,350 metres of vertical
Koktokay
A full Koktokay day — some of the longest lift-served runs in Asia, from the alpine ridge to the gorge floor, with natural terrain features and very few people. The guide sets laps by aspect and wind; non-skiers can take the gondola for the gorge views.
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Day 05
Over to the village
Koktokay → Hemu
The winter transfer north-west into the Kanas basin, by road as conditions allow, to Hemu village — wooden houses under two metres of snow, streets ploughed to single track, horse-sleds the practical transport. Check into the village homestead; evening around the stove.
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Day 06
Jikikpulin, and a village evening
Hemu
Ski day at Jikikpulin above the village — 1,466 metres of vertical, the largest in China, with wide alpine bowls off the ridge. Morning ski, afternoon village time: the fur-ski demonstration, a horse-sled run on the frozen river, and the blue dusk over the snow roofs.
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Day 07
Out through the snow
Hemu → Altay — depart
A slow village morning, then the drive back to Altay for afternoon flights to Urumqi and onward. Already planning the return — February is better, everyone says so.
What's included
What is included, and what is not.
The week bundles the three resort areas and the village into one seamless trip — the hardest part of skiing the Altai independently is the distances, and that is what you are paying us to solve.
Included
Arranged and paid in your price.
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Not included
Either yours to arrange, or a question we will gladly answer.
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Season reality: the resorts open from late October (Koktokay typically first) and run to early April, with the deepest powder December to February and the friendliest temperatures in March. Hemu village access closes temporarily during heavy-storm cycles; the itinerary flexes around those windows.
Enquiry
Ask about the snow week.
Tell us your ski level, board or planks, and target month. We will come back with the snow outlook, the resort mix and a written outline with a price.
- Difficulty
- Strong intermediate and up
- Season
- Late Oct – early Apr
- Group size
- 2 – 8, private departures
- Cost guide
- From ¥12,800 per person, twin share
Enquiry sent
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We reply within one business day. A copy of what you sent has gone to your inbox.
Need to add something? Write to inquiry@chinadventure.com.
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