870 m of vertical
Proper sustained descents with pitch changes, not a single short lap repeated all morning.
Our adventures / Skiing /
Beidahu.
Jilin's serious ski hill: roughly 870 metres of vertical in sheltered bowls that hold their snow, with a season that began with trial skiing on 7 November in 2026. The anchor of a week that also holds rime ice and a volcano.
Explore the guide ↓Jilin province · 870 m vertical
- The vertical
- 870 m
- The season
- From 7 November 2026
- The terrain
- Sheltered bowls
- The week
- Rime and volcano
The skiers choice in Jilin.
If Chongli is the convenient season and the Altai is the powder season, Jilin is the balanced one. Beidahu has roughly 870 metres of lift-served vertical in a set of sheltered, wooded bowls — enough terrain for three or four unhurried days, with better snow retention than a wide-open hill in the same wind. Nearby Lake Songhua offers a gentler 605-metre alternative for mixed groups.
The 2026–27 season here began with trial skiing on 7 November, with Lake Songhua around 20 November and Changbaishan Wanda on 21 November. Those are announcements rather than promises; a "trial skiing" date in particular can mean a small fraction of the terrain. We check the open-piste list against the actual travel week before fixing anything.
What the bowls give you.
Five reasons to base a week here.
Sheltered aspects
The wooded bowls protect the surface when the wind is up — an underrated advantage over a longer, exposed hill.
The rime dawn
The Songhua River fog-freeze that coats the trees in ice is the other half of a Jilin winter trip.
Changbaishan extension
A gentler ski hill under a volcanic massif, with a hot spring at the end of the day.
A workable week
Enough terrain to justify the flights without needing the long Altai transfers.
Getting it right.
Reading a trial opening correctly.
Trial skiing is not opening
A November trial date may mean one or two pistes. For a full-terrain week, plan from December onward or accept a narrower mountain.
Cold
Not as brutal as Harbin or Mohe but genuinely cold. The layering guide is still the right packing list. Read more →
Ability fit
Confident intermediates get the most from the bowls. Lake Songhua nearby is the gentler answer for a mixed group.
Getting there
Changchun is the usual air gateway, with a winter road transfer to the resorts. Combine with the rime island stop rather than doing it as an out-and-back. Read more →
Order the week
We normally ski first, take the rime dawn at the end, then move to Changbaishan — the light and the weather decide the exact order.
Build the Jilin week properly.
Tell us your level and dates and we will set the ski days, the rime dawn and the volcano in the right order.
Start my journey brief ↗