While snow is unlikely to settle on Beijing for at least the next few months, you wouldn't be daydreaming to think about hitting a ski slope in the city right now.

With the opening of the first indoor skiing venue a month ago, skiing enthusiasts are now offered guaranteed access to their hobby throughout the year under all weather conditions.

Located inside the Chaobaihe Forest Park in Niulanshan Township in Shunyi District, the Ye Qiaobo Indoor Skiing Venue (Tel: 6941-1991) is named after Ye Qiaobo, a veteran Chinese speed skater. She won China's first gold medal in the 1994 winter Olympics as well as many other world championships during her athletic career.

Occupying an area of nearly 40,000 square metres, the venue has the capacity to handle over 3,000 skiers every day with its two slopes suitable for people from both beginner's to senior levels.

Related services including food, entertainment, shopping and even showers are available in an adjacent area to cater to the varied needs of the skiers.

Despite the mushrooming of artificial ski resorts around the outskirts of Beijing, Wang Shitong, publicity manager at the venue, said his team, led by the honorary director Ye Qiaobo, are confident they will survive the increasingly heated competition because of their venue's unrivalled all year round availability.

Inspired by her enthusiasm to promote the sport in China, Ye had been longing to set up an indoor skiing venue for eight years after her retirement from the national team. The strong-minded woman went back to study for an MBA at Tsinghua University, where she later obtained her PhD. It was during her study on campus that her dream was realized, mainly thanks to one of her classmates introducing her to investors.

After many field trips to examine scores of skiing resorts in Europe, the indoor skiing venue was finally constructed.

It claims to be the largest such indoor facility in Asia with top-class architectural design and building levels.

The beginner's slope is 200 metres long and 40 metres wide with a maximum gradient of eight degrees, while the senior slope is extended with an extra 100 metres, and with a gradient of 17.6 degrees.

An experienced coaching team is one of the specialities of the venue, as many of the instructors are either retired athletes or currently serving in particular teams.

The skiing venue is said to be environmentally friendly. The water used for making snow is also managed by having a complete recycle system for the melted snow and ice.

"As Ye hopes, this venue can make a contribution to Chinese skiing, especially through the training of young people," said Wang.

The national snowboard team is already based here for training. And the winter sport administration centre under the State General Administration of Sports is considering whether to nominate the indoor skiing venue as the training base for the national team. Ye herself skis on the slopes occasionally, which could be a surprising bonus for lucky skiers there.

(China Daily 09/22/2005 page9)