Xinjiang Skiing

Self-driving in Xinjiang winter gives freedom but demands respect for ice, distance and permits. Here is what renting a car actually involves and who should attempt it.

After skiing Koktokay, I joined locals cutting holes in Ulungur Lake. Here is where winter ice fishing happens in Xinjiang, what it really involves, and how to add it to a ski week without freezing for nothing.

In Xinjiang ski country, your driver is part of the trip. Here is how to arrange airport transfers and private drivers, what to pay, and how to avoid the common markup traps.

I have skied Zermatt and Verbier and the resorts around Altay. Here is an honest, numbers-on-the-table comparison of Xinjiang versus Switzerland for skiing: what you save, what you give up, and who should pick which.

Getting from Urumqi to the Altay snow is the key leg of most Xinjiang ski trips. Here are the flight, train and drive options with realistic timings and costs.

I drove Urumqi to Koktokay in January and learned the Duku Road lesson the hard way. Here is which Xinjiang highways close in winter, what it means for reaching the ski resorts, and how to plan a route that does not strand you.

Xinjiang skiing starts with a flight into Urumqi or Altay. Here is how the airports work, which routes make sense, and how to plan around winter delays.

Between ski runs in Altay, I spent a February afternoon with a Kazakh eagle hunter. Here is what the tradition actually involves, where to find it near the resorts, the ethics nobody puts in the brochures, and how to pair it with a ski trip.