Author Topic: Club Med Yabuli (Dec-2011) (Read 51068 times)

chin · « **Reply #10 on:** 26 December 2011, 00:28:08 »

These pictures were taken inside the enclosed ski lift, thus the color is tainted by the glass enclosure.

The first picture shows the most difficult lane - A5, which I think is 45 degree most of the way. I will show a picture later taken on the top of A5.

The 2nd picture shows another fun device on the hill. It's a luge on metal rail, with cover, where you can "ski" down hill year around. Of course it's not a real ski since you are confined to a fixed path. The whole trip is more than 2.4km long with 42 turns! For me it's too long, and get a bit boring about half of the way. But my kids had load of fun playing there.

chin · « **Reply #11 on:** 26 December 2011, 00:39:43 »

On top of the mountain is this small hotel and cafe. I was hoping to find hot chocolate in the cafe, but it was not on offer!

The building is called 沐雲樓 which means "Cloud Bathing House". Since it has an outdoor pool that was filled with snow at the time of my visit, I imagine the building was mainly used in the summer. Otherwise who would want to stay overnight in the cold mountain!

In this picture, it looks peaceful and serene, but it was actually damn cold there. I had my hat and neck cover, but my cheek was not covered and it felt like my skin was being cut away by the wind. It was very painful and I really felt for the people who work at the hill top station!

chin · « **Reply #12 on:** 26 December 2011, 00:43:00 »

A view of the hill top area. On the left of the map board is the down hill lanes.

Before the real downhill ski lanes, there is also a magic carpet for practice and warm up. This is also where the beginners snowboard class is.

chin · « **Reply #13 on:** 26 December 2011, 00:47:37 »

This Club Med snowboard instructor was directing students, then snowboard down hill, then he did something that looks pretty amazing to me. In the middle of the downhill, he turned right to the little bump, then jumped up and landed on the magic carpet, right behind one of his students. The whole motion was very smooth and graceful. It simply looked very cool, and no wonder so many kids wants to learn snowboarding. Even I wanted to learn.

The last picture was taken on another day, and not the same guy. I am just throwing in the picture here for the hack of it...

chin · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 December 2011, 00:58:16 »

These pictures were taken on another day, at the bottom of the magic carpet on the hill top.

The first picture was looking up toward the top of the hill and the Cloud Bathing House. The 2nd picture is taken in the same position, but looking the other direction. Toward the right side is the A1 lane for intermediate skiers, and on the left is the A5 lane that is about 45 degree all the way down.

The 3rd picture is staring down A5, where I could not even see the skiing lane beyond the first 50 meters. I was afraid to go further out, just in case I would not hold on to the ground and slide down. I imagine skiing down from here is like falling off a cliff!

The Club Med building with blue roofs is clearly visible in the 3rd picture. Beyond that you can see other hotels and much smaller ski facilities.

chin · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 December 2011, 01:06:53 »

This is the steepest part of the A1 lane. One of the private instructor told me this part is about 30 degree. Before this trip, my last ski was 12 years ago, and I must be a bit crazy to ski down this by myself. On my first attempt, I fell twice and had to over come quick a bit of fear to continue. (Well, not like there is any alternative but to ski down.) By the time I reached downhill 25 min later, my legs were shaking. My second try was much better - only tired but not shaking any more. My third trial was even easier...

One of the kids in my party really wanted to ski down this lane before the end of the holiday. He declined to hire a private instructor to help, and just followed me. He fell 5 times in this part, twice with one of the skis off, but he did it and earned his bragging right!

chin · « **Reply #16 on:** 26 December 2011, 01:10:41 »

These pictures were not taken by me. There are photographers in different spot taking pictures of any one pass by, and they sell the pictures the service area and inside Club Med.