Jiangjunshan
The only high-mountain resort inside a Chinese city: around 40 runs over 35 km, five lifts, and the country's most established night-skiing scene. A 150–170 day season, floodlit evenings and a real bed in town minutes away.
Our adventures / Skiing / The Altai
The Altai.
The deepest, driest and longest snow season in China, hard against the Kazakh and Mongolian borders — three very different resorts, one village under two metres of snow, and the fur-skis that may have started it all.
Explore the guide ↓Northern Xinjiang · Altay prefecture
- The season
- 20 Oct – early Apr
- The vertical
- 460 / 1,350 / 1,466 m
- The snow
- Cold, dry, deep
- The catch
- Distance
The powder belt at the top of the map.
Altay prefecture calls itself the birthplace of skiing: rock art in the region depicts hunters on fur-lined boards, and herders in the winter villages still make and use them. Whether or not the claim to primacy is settled, the snow is not in dispute. Cold Siberian air crossing the Altai drops low-density powder from October, and the county government at Burqin records a snow period from early October to mid-May in the Hemu basin, with an effective snow cover of around seven months.
What makes the region difficult to plan is also what makes it good. The three headline ski areas are not neighbours. Jiangjunshan sits 1.6 km from the centre of Altay city; Koktokay is a drive east in Fuyun county; Jikepulin rises above Hemu village in Burqin county, close to the Kanas basin. Winter roads, storm closures and daylight all matter here. A well-built week does not fight those distances — it sequences them, with internal flights and a village stay that is worth the drive on its own.
This is a region for confident intermediate skiers and above, though the city resort has a genuine learning area and Hemu is an excellent destination for non-skiing companions. Everything below that is date-sensitive — opening days, lift status, road access and side-country rules — should be confirmed against your travel window before a departure is fixed.
Three resorts, three different days.
Published figures from county and national sources; trail counts and lift status change as the resorts expand, so read the current mountain map on arrival.
Koktokay
Summit around 3,100 m in a granite gorge inside a national park, with natural half-pipes, steep faces and tree terrain. First to open in China in 2026, on 20 October; the previous season ran 199 days.
Jikepulin
The largest published lift-served vertical in China: highest point 2,848 m, 103 planned runs over 108 km, a longest run of 11.2 km and extensive off-piste terrain. A serious mountain whose lift system and village services are still catching up.
Qinggeli Wolf Mountain
The newest of the four Altai areas promoted together by the prefecture, with natural snow and varied terrain. Less infrastructure, fewer visitors — worth knowing about rather than planning a first trip around.
Hemu village
Wooden Tuvan houses, streets ploughed to a single track, horse-sleds on the frozen river and fur-ski demonstrations by village skiers. Two nights here is the difference between a ski trip and a winter journey.
What the planning has to solve.
The honest constraints, in the order they tend to appear.
Getting in
Flights from Urumqi serve Altay Xuedu, Burqin Kanas and Fuyun Koktokay airports depending on the season. Which airport works depends on which resort you start with — the itinerary should be built around that, not the other way round.
Winter roads
The transfer from Koktokay to Hemu and the road up to the Kanas basin can close during storm cycles. We hold flexible days rather than promise a fixed mountain order.
Ability and side-country
Much of Jikepulin's appeal is off marked runs. Any travel beyond the gates belongs with the patrol rules, a qualified guide and proper equipment; an avalanche incident on the mountain in December 2025 is a plain reason to take that boundary seriously.
Cold and altitude
January is the coldest month and the resort summits sit near or above 3,000 m. February is the connoisseur's month; March is kinder to everyone, with less reliable powder.
Lessons and language
Instruction in English is available but not automatic, particularly outside the city resort. We confirm the teaching language, qualification and group size at booking.
Two ways to ski it.
Both run privately, with the transfers and the village nights handled.
The Altai ski week
Two days at Jiangjunshan, one at Koktokay, one at Jikepulin and two nights in Hemu. The shortest complete version of the region.
The Altai deep-snow journey
The same three resorts with extra storm days held in reserve and a flexible mountain order — for groups who want the powder more than the checklist.
The Xinjiang plate
The Altai sits inside our Xinjiang plate: desert, Silk Road and Tianshan journeys for a longer winter or a different season.
The winter skiing guide
Season, access, kit and ability notes for the Altai, kept in the Xinjiang guide collection.
Tell us your level.
Board or planks, comfortable gradient, target month and how much driving you want — we will come back with a resort order, a snow outlook and a written outline.
Start my journey brief ↗