Korean Ski Resorts

By Taeho Park

Colorado has been famous for long time because of its great environment for winter sports. The land is located in the Rocky Mountain area where it is covered by fresh powder snow every winter, and since it snows a lot, Colorado's mountains and fields have become a skier's paradise. Basically, every winter sport, imaginable, can be enjoyable in this blessed land. However, there are also plenty of ski areas in the world, and they operate in quite a different style in contrast to Colorado. Ergo, much can be compared between Asian ski areas, specifically Korean ski areas, and Colorado ski areas.

Korea is known as second largest and most popular ski area in the Asia. The biggest reason for this is most Asian countries are affected by South Eastern Asia's exclusive warm climate. Consequently, the people who live in those areas visit Korea to experience real snow and winter sports. The climate of Korea is quite different compared to Colorado. Korea is in a monsoon climate and has four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Korea has nearly twenty ski resorts, and interestingly, most major ski areas are located in Gangwon-do, one of the eight states of South Korea, because of its suitable skiing environment. The area of Gangwon-do is 16,894 km², of which four-fifths are mountain area and woodlands. There are a variety of well developed leisure sports which gives a tremendous experience every season. Winter officially begins in December, and it goes to end of March; skiing season lasts approximately four months. However, since the area gets massive snows in winter, Gangwon-do becomes the most popular place to enjoy winter sports in Korea. Korea has several indoor ski areas, but they cannot replace outdoor mountain skiing because of their lack of reality. Alpine skiing and snowboarding are the two dominating major winter sports, but Telemark skiing, Nordic and new-school skiing, and other minor winter sports are increasing at the moment.                  

 In winter, Korean ski areas do not expect the same amount of natural snow that Colorado ski areas expect. Of course, Colorado ski areas have started to worry about less snow since new millennium, but Korean ski areas have a more severe problem: running ski resorts without natural snows. Additionally, most ski areas are not big and wide enough, except couple of major ski resorts, to hold large amounts of people and major winter events, such as X-Game or Winter Olympics. Therefore, Korean ski areas focus more on facilities than Colorado ski areas. For example, most Korean ski areas are equipped with newer snow making machines, which make quality snow above the freezing point. They also perform thorough grooming on every ski runs which is unusual, compared to Colorado. This various elements show noticeable differences between Korean ski areas and Colorado ski areas. Naturally, Korean skiers are trained to ski on well-groomed artificial snows, so they tend to possess carving skiing skills and are not fond of natural powder snows. Not having snow and a natural environment are seemingly impossible to overcome, but Korean ski areas are finding their own way to survive.;

Korean ski areas are tending to obtain newer facilities. The Korean ski resorts' chair-lift could be the most significant difference when compared to ski areas in Colorado. Almost all Korean ski areas are running at least quadruple detachable lift as an average model, even in some minor ski areas on the small mountains. Furthermore, nearly all major ski resorts have very new gondolas or 8 seats detachable lift systems, even though their mountains are not significantly bigger than Colorado Mountains. Ironically, these are hardly seen in Colorado ski areas, even with gigantic mountain size. Unbelievably, fixed-grip lift system and most old school surface lifts, such as t-bar and j-bar, eventually vanish. As a result, most young Korean generations have not even seen Bull-wheel or any type of bar or tow lifts. The reason for this surprising passion towards a new machine occurred because of their capacity. They have limited space for ski areas, but extremely huge numbers of skiers are visiting in their peak season. The ski areas do not want to hold the impatient Korean skiers in the long line to the lift. Consequently, Korean ski areas try to carry the skiers quickly and safely to the top of the mountain. However, large numbers of skiers wait in long lines, and this problem happens every weekend in Korean ski areas, despite the ski areas' enormous efforts. This could be the problem the Korean ski areas need to solve.          






 Korean ski areas have also developed a very remarkable marketing system for their sophisticated local skiers. Mostly, the ski areas are located in the north part of Korea; this area is not easy to access, especially in the winter. This handicap made the ski areas desperate; subsequently, they created a very localized transportation system. They run shuttle buses to almost every major city in Korea and this bus system especially spotlights Seoul, the capital city of Korea, where virtually 10 million people live. In addition, the ski areas cooperate with the train service. As a result, they made specialized trip packages to the ski resorts. Ergo, almost all Korean people who want to enjoy winter sports can easily visit the ski resorts, and the ski areas have overcome their biggest handicap.

The ski areas also provide vouchers or coupons through the internet and wireless network, so people with a cell phone, roughly 90% of Koreans, can simply take advantage. Many ski resorts have their own customers' community clubs on the internet, which are usually created by the loyal customers, and offer them free space to relax and keep their gear for free. Night skiing is not so strange anymore in Colorado too, but every ski resort in Korea is offering nights skiing; moreover, some of them are running their ski areas until 5 am. Every major ski area offers modernized facilities and array of reliable and comfortable accommodations.

Another considerable difference with Korea ski areas is multi-faceted business system. They are trying to become multi-business resorts that have a ski area as a part of their system. They do not want to have only ski areas in their resorts, but also require huge water parks or a compact amusement park or casino. These facilities could be very unique features that Colorado ski areas do not have yet. Also, these non-skiing resort facilities are certainly appealing to all generations, especially those who do not enjoy skiing or snowboarding. Moreover, these multi-business ski resorts require a big supermarket, fast-food chains, fitness center, sauna, bowling alley, game room, conference room, daycare center, night club, bar, singing room, Korean/Western restaurants, sports shop, photo studio, souvenir shop, PC room, art shop, and kid's playground mixed in with the ski resorts. These features automatically imply that Korean ski areas are trying to transform to total family vacation resorts.                  

At this time, most ski areas in the world are struggling really hard to create new revenue models. Unfortunately, Colorado ski areas cannot be exempt from this harsh truth, despite the perfect natural environment for winter sports. Korean ski resorts are also dealing with many critical dilemmas. An economic disaster drives people to be more careful with money, and numbers of new recreational activities, such as traveling, are becoming a real thorn in the ski industry's side. Nevertheless, Korean ski areas are not giving up and are trying to fight against with those threats. Colorado ski areas also need to discover a better and innovative way to recapture the golden age of skiing.




Sources:


Wikipedia: article about the ski resorts < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_resorts>

Visit Korea: Korea tour guide < http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto>


Gangwon-do Tourism Information brochure


Pictures:

Daemyung Vivaldi Park

High one ski resorts