Hemu Jikepulin Ski Resort 禾木吉克普林國際滑雪度假區 · Hemu Jikepulin International Ski Resort
China's biggest mountain — the largest lift-served vertical in the country, deep natural Altai powder, and Freeride World Tour Qualifier terrain, all above Hemu, the storybook Tuva log-cabin village in the Kanas scenic region. Where Jiangjunshan is the friendly city hill, Jikepulin is the expedition: remote, weather-ruled and unforgettable. It asks more of you — and gives more back.
The one-line verdict — The headline resort of the Altay and one of the most important ski mountains in China: unmatched scale and snow for confident skiers, riders and freeriders — provided you respect the journey, the cold and the closures. First-timers will be happier learning at Jiangjunshan and coming here next. In our own private ranking of beloved snow places, this one sits at Level 3 Yuki Land ❄️ — the top tier.
Location & how to get there
Deep in the Kanas scenic region — plan the journey, don't improvise it.
Hemu Jikepulin International Ski Resort 禾木吉克普林國際滑雪度假區
Hemu Township, Burqin County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang — about 6 km east of Hemu Village, inside the Kanas scenic area. Two base halls, East Zone （東區） and West Zone, linked by shuttle (about 8 minutes apart).
Hemu Village 禾木村
The Tuva log-cabin village where most visitors sleep — a few kilometres from the lifts, with free shuttle buses looping between village stops and the resort entrance (about 10 minutes).
Altay Xuedu Airport (AAT) 阿勒泰雪都機場
The reliable year-round gateway, in Altay City — the start of the Ahe Highway and the natural pairing with a Jiangjunshan warm-up day.
Kanas Airport (KJI) 喀納斯機場
Much closer — about 81 km / 1.5 hours from Hemu — but seasonal: flights concentrate in the June–October peak and winter services are scarce and cancellation-prone. Wonderful if a flight exists; don't build a ski trip on it.
The route most skiers take
- Fly to Altay (AAT), usually via Ürümqi. Altay City is also where Jiangjunshan sits — many trips ski a warm-up day there first.
- Then the Ahe Highway （阿禾公路， G681) — 209 km of mountain road, fully opened in June 2025, climbing to nearly 3,000 m. In clear conditions it drives in about 3–3.5 hours; in winter, with snow and the restricted window, allow 5–6 hours door to door and travel in daylight.
- No winter coach: scheduled buses don't run the route in the snow season. Book ahead — a chartered or carpooled ≤7-seat 4WD, or the bookable airport minibus (a 2025–26 season listing showed a 14-seat minibus from Altay Airport at ¥135/person, reservation required; carpools typically run ¥260–300/person).
- From Burqin there are a couple of buses a day to Hemu (~156 km, ~3 hours, ~¥70) — sparse; confirm the day's times before relying on them.
- Last step: private cars cannot enter Hemu Village — you park at the scenic-area ticket station and ride the shuttle in. From the village, free buses loop to the resort entrance.
The winter road rules — read twice
- Window: in winter mode (from mid-October), the Altay ↔ Hemu road opens both directions only 10:00–14:00; every vehicle must be off the road by 20:00.
- Vehicles: ≤7-seat 4WD on proper snow tyres only — all-terrain and all-season tyres do not count, and chains are a supplement, not a substitute.
- No services: no fuel, charging or repair points along the 209 km — fill up in Altay, carry food and warm layers, and expect phone-signal gaps.
- Weather wins: heavy snow closes the road for hours or days. Build buffer days at both ends of a Jikepulin stay, and check the official road and weather notices on the morning you travel. This has happened before: in January 2024, avalanches buried sections of the road and left around 1,000 visitors cut off in Hemu for days, until the road was cleared and some were airlifted out — the factual reason for the buffer days advised here.
Distances and transfer prices are as reported by recent-season guides and the Xuenarui resort page; winter arrangements change by season — confirm bookings and the day's road status before you set off.
The resort in pictures
Representative photos — each credited to its source.
What makes it different
Scale, snow and a village — a combination nothing else in China matches.
China's biggest vertical
At roughly 1,400 m of lift-served vertical, Jikepulin stands alone in China — three times Jiangjunshan's drop, in a different category from Chongli's 554 m. Runs here are journeys, not laps: the longest groomed run in the country (11.2 km) and eight runs over 1,000 m vertical.
Real Altai powder
This is natural-snow country — the prefecture that brands itself China's Snow Capital, with an average in-season pack around 2 m of cold, dry powder. The Freeride World Tour has staged qualifier events on these faces since the 2024–25 season: the freeride world has noticed.
A giant above a storybook village
No other Chinese resort pairs a mountain this size with a base this magical. Ski a top-tier big mountain by day; sleep in a Tuva log cabin in Hemu Village, under woodsmoke and some of the darkest skies in Asia. The contrast is the signature.
Honest terrain management: the A–E safety grades
Jikepulin grades its whole ski area from A (green) — groomed and fully patrolled — through B and C zones with known hazards and paid rescue, to D (red): high-risk off-piste open only to guided teams carrying avalanche transceiver, shovel and probe and passing a skills check — and E (black): strictly forbidden. It is an unusually candid system for any resort anywhere, and it tells you how to read this mountain: the adventure is real, graded, and conditional. The resort also keeps expanding — a master plan of 18 lifts and ~180 km of trails, with a new 50,000 m² beginner zone and 40 extra gondola cabins added for 2025–26.
Hemu Village — half the story
The resort is the headline; the village is why people fall in love.
The village itself
Hemu is a village of the Tuva people — wooden cabins, fenced yards and horses, spread along the Hemu River inside the Kanas scenic region, ringed by birch forest and white ridges. In winter it is regularly called China's most beautiful snow village: chimney smoke at dawn, horse-drawn sleighs, and silence you can hear.
Come up to the viewpoint platform above the village for the famous sunrise — a sea of cloud and mist filling the valley, the cabins emerging as the light arrives. Non-skiers in a group are not passengers here; the village alone justifies the journey.
Practical village notes
- Sleeping: mostly family-run guesthouses and lodges in the old and new village, plus a handful of larger hotels near the resort (the Holiday Inn at the base has drawn comment as the flashiest some reviewers have seen). Book early for January, February and Chinese New Year — rooms go fast.
- Getting around: free shuttle buses loop the village stops and the resort entrance (~10 minutes); some guesthouses run their own shuttles. Private cars stay at the entrance car park.
- Eating: hot, hearty local food — mutton, noodles, milk tea — in small village restaurants. Evenings are early and quiet; there is no nightlife to speak of, and that is the point.
- Scenic ticket: Hemu sits inside the Kanas scenic area; a winter pass (about ¥100 in recent seasons) has covered Hemu, Kanas and Baihaba — check the current arrangement when you book.
Background & history
A very young resort on very old snow.
Tuva village, ancient ski country
Hemu's Tuva families have lived in this valley for centuries, in the prefecture that claims — with its Dundebulake cave painting — to be the origin of human skiing. Altay brands itself 中国雪都， “China's Snow Capital”: cold Siberian air, a long winter, and snow that stays dry and light.
A giant opens quietly
The resort opens for the 2021–22 season (Xuenarui dates the formal opening to 2021; some Western sources say 2022). Even in its first build-out — around 70 km of groomed pistes and 38 km of ski routes from seven lifts — it is immediately the biggest-vertical resort in China.
East and West halls; the full map appears
The East and West Zone service halls (each over 6,000 m²) anchor the base, and the published trail map shows the ambition: 103 trails and 108 km including wild-snow routes, 12 FIS-standard race courses, and a staircase of mountain stations climbing to a summit restaurant at ~2,800 m.
National-level ski tourism resort — third batch
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Administration of Sport name Burqin County's Jikepulin in the third batch of national-level ski tourism resorts (announced 7 February 2024) — following the Altay destination's first-batch listing (2022, Jiangjunshan's batch) and Keketuohai's second batch (2023).
The Freeride World Tour arrives
FWT qualifier events are staged on Jikepulin's off-piste faces — reported across December 2024 and February and December 2025 — putting Hemu on the international freeride map and confirming what the terrain grades already said: this is a big-mountain venue, not a groomer park.
The Ahe Highway opens end to end
The 209 km Ahe Highway （阿禾公路） opens to two-way traffic, replacing the long way round via Burqin with a direct Altay–Hemu mountain road. It transforms access — without making it easy: the winter window and 4WD rules above are its price of admission.
Still growing
The 2025–26 season (10 November – 28 March) adds a 50,000 m² beginner zone nicknamed 愛情大道 “Love Avenue”, two FIS-certified race courses and 40 more gondola cabins. Reported visitor numbers run to several hundred thousand a season and climbing — go while the powder-to-people ratio still favours you.
The mountain by the numbers
Two base zones, one very long staircase up.
Layout — East, West, and up
- Two base halls: the East Zone （東區） and West Zone each have a full service hall (rentals, tickets, food, medical point); a shuttle links them in about 8 minutes. Day sessions run roughly 10:00–18:00 — this is a daylight mountain; evenings belong to the village.
- Gondolas are the backbone (8-person cabins), with chairlifts, magic carpets and a drag lift completing a system listed at 8 lifts + 5 carpets in recent resort materials — international databases counting a slightly earlier layout say 10 lifts. Either way, you ride enclosed on the coldest mornings.
- The staircase: mountain stations climb from the base at ~1,383 m through the named terraces — 飛雲台 Feiyuntai, 望雲台 Wangyuntai and 觀雲台 Guanyuntai (2,450 m) — to the summit restaurant 禾木之酝 at ~2,800 m beside the 2,779 m Yunxiao Peak lift top. Coffee at 2,450 m, lunch near the top: warm-up stops are built into the mountain, which matters at −20 °C.
- Orientation tip: spend your first morning simply learning the layout on the groomed network — the mountain is big enough to get genuinely lost in, especially in flat light.
Runs to know by name
- 可可托海道 Koktokay Trail — 11.18 km, 1,340 m vertical, ≤13°. China's longest machine-groomed run; the signature top-to-bottom cruise almost any intermediate can ski.
- 吉克普林道 Jikepulin Trail — 5.33 km, 1,340 m vertical, up to 35°. The resort's namesake test piece.
- 青格里道 Qinggeli Trail — 5.38 km, 1,069 m vertical, up to 31°.
- 野卡峽道 Yekaxia Trail — 4.74 km, 1,045 m vertical, up to 28°, toward the Yekaxia valley side.
- 將軍山道 Jiangjunshan Trail — 3.94 km, 1,015 m vertical, up to 25°. Yes — a run named after its Altay sibling resort.
- Plus 洪巴斯道， 泰加林道 (Taiga Forest Trail — the tree runs live up to the name) and 金蓮花道 complete the set of eight 1,000 m+ vertical descents; 雲霄峰道 tops out at the Yunxiao Peak summit.
Who is it for? By level
Terrain for everyone — but read the fine print at both ends.
First-timers & beginners
Good terrain, demanding context. There is a proper beginner area at the base, and 2025–26 added a 50,000 m² beginner zone (“Love Avenue”) with its own magic carpets; the gentlest groomed mileage is genuinely friendly. But be honest: the cost, the cold and a full travel day each way are hard to justify for a first-ever ski trip — Jiangjunshan teaches the same first turns with city convenience. Come here for your second or third trip and the beginner-to-intermediate progression is superb.
GoodImprovers & intermediates
The core audience, and it is not close. This is China's long-distance cruising mountain: an 11.2 km groomed descent, multiple 1,000 m-vertical blue and red runs, gondola laps that feel like journeys. A confident intermediate can ski top-to-bottom all day and never repeat a line. If you measure a resort by vertical skied per day, nothing else in the country competes.
Excellent ★Advanced
Very good. The named steeps reach 35° （吉克普林道）, the ungroomed wild-snow trails and taiga tree runs hold powder for days, and the A–E grading tells you exactly what you are entering. One honest nuance from independent databases: much of the groomed network is graded beginner/intermediate, so advanced skiers should expect their challenge from pitch, length, ungroomed snow and terrain — not from a huge count of marked black pistes.
Very goodExperts & freeriders
The reason the FWT comes here: 2,500+ hectares of off-piste terrain, big faces, deep dry snow. But it is conditional adventure — D-grade zones open only to guided, avalanche-equipped teams who pass an assessment; closures are enforced and conditions-based (the whole Lingyun Valley was shut in January 2026). Avalanche forecasting here is less developed than in the Alps or Japan, and an off-piste avalanche in December 2025 killed a skier. Hire a qualified local guide, carry the full kit, and treat every closure as absolute.
Excellent ★ — with rulesSnowboarders
A freeride board mountain: wide powder faces, long fall-line descents, tree runs, and FWT snowboard lines on the same terrain as the skiers. Gondolas mean no drag lifts on the main arteries. One practical note — the gentlest giant, 可可托海道 at ≤13°, can feel slow on a board in deep fresh snow; keep your speed up on its flatter traverses, or drop it on a groomer day.
Excellent ★How it compares
Against the mountains it is naturally measured against.
| Resort | What it does better | Where Jikepulin wins | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jiangjunshan 將軍山 (Altay City) | Convenience and fun per yuan: a city at the base, night skiing, the Sunset Party, China's best learning terrain — at roughly half the daily cost | Everything about scale: 1,400 m vs 460 m of vertical, 108 km vs ~70 km of trails, real backcountry-style terrain, and Hemu Village as the base | They are mirror images and pair naturally in one Altay trip — Jiangjunshan to warm up and learn, Jikepulin for the main event. Don't judge either by the other's strengths |
| Keketuohai 可可托海 (Fuyun) | The connoisseur's reputation: China's longest season (mid-October into May), a 3,100 m summit and famously technical off-piste among the rocks and trees | Bigger vertical (1,400 m-class vs ~1,200 m), far more groomed mileage for mortals, and a base village people cross the world just to photograph | Keketuohai is the purist's pick and not beginner-friendly; Jikepulin serves a mixed group far better. Both demand serious winter-road logistics |
| Wanlong 萬龍 (Chongli) | Access and polish: one hour by high-speed train from Beijing, a developed resort base, and Chongli's best tree skiing on made snow | A different league of mountain — ~2.5× the vertical, deep natural powder instead of ~1 m of seasonal snowfall topped up by snowmaking, and wilderness instead of a resort valley | The trade is the journey: Wanlong is a weekend; Jikepulin is an expedition with road windows and buffer days. Choose by the trip you actually have time for |
Planning a visit — tips & warnings
General guidance for any first visit, in any week of the season.
Read this before day one
Buffer days are not optional: the Ahe Highway's winter window is 10:00–14:00 both ways, all vehicles off by 20:00, and snow can close the road entirely. Never schedule a flight for the day you leave Hemu.
Cold discipline: mid-winter days commonly run −15 to −25 °C, with cold snaps below −30 °C and a colder, windier summit. Full face cover, no exposed skin on lift rides, planned warm-up stops at the mountain stations.
Altitude — the new factor: the summit is 2,779 m. Most people feel nothing worse than breathlessness on the stairs, but headaches and poor sleep are possible on day one: take the first day easier, hydrate, go easy on alcohol. Unlike Jiangjunshan (1,325 m), this one deserves a mention.
Avalanche rules are real: ski only open terrain; D-grade zones are guided-and-equipped only; closures (like Lingyun Valley in January 2026) are enforced and conditions-based. An off-piste avalanche here in December 2025 was fatal. Guide, transceiver, shovel, probe — or stay on the pistes, which are magnificent anyway.
Wind holds happen: upper lifts stop in strong wind, and the top can close while the lower mountain skis beautifully. Check the resort's official channels each morning and keep your summit sightseeing (the four-country signpost) for a calm, clear day.
Book the whole chain early: transfers, village rooms and (in peak weeks) everything else — January, February and Chinese New Year are the crunch. Payment is WeChat Pay / Alipay first; carry your passport for ticket purchase and some cash as backup.
Don't count on Kanas Airport in winter: it is a summer-season airport with scarce, cancellation-prone winter flights. Altay (AAT) is the dependable gateway — and it comes with Jiangjunshan as a bonus.
Indicative costs: recent-season guides put a ski day at roughly ¥300 including rental gear — remarkably little for a mountain of this size — but prices are set season by season; confirm the current rate card, and budget honestly for the charter/carpool legs, which are a real cost here.
18 December 2025 — the avalanche, stated plainly
On 18 December 2025, at about 13:28, a localised avalanche struck an off-piste area outside the designated trails at Jikepulin; one skier — a Hong Kong resident — was buried and, despite a full search and rescue, was found deceased at 16:20 (Burqin County Emergency Management Bureau notice, reported by China Daily and Xinhua). The Hong Kong Immigration Department received the family's request for assistance and sent officers to Xinjiang to help (TVB News, 23 December 2025). After heavy snow on 17 December, the resort had closed the lifts to the higher mountain that day and patrols were checking and treating avalanche slopes; the official accident analysis found that skiers had repeatedly climbed over safety nets into terrain the resort's own trail map marks as avalanche-risk, some hiking up to steeper, untreated start zones. Xinhua's analysis also framed the accident as exposing how young avalanche forecasting and big-mountain risk management still are in China's fast-growing ski industry — it was widely described as the first avalanche accident at a Chinese ski resort to be widely recorded on video. Authorities subsequently ordered safety inspections and risk assessments, and later Altay reporting describes the resort strengthening its safety systems, including avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel (“three-piece”) sets for high-risk zones. It reinforces this page's simplest rule: never enter closed or unopened terrain.
Links & references
Trail information, resort pages and the sources behind this briefing.
A note on numbers: Jikepulin has expanded almost every season since 2021, so sources disagree — mostly because they are describing different years. International databases (Skiresort.info and similar) list an earlier build-out: 73 trails, 70 km of groomed pistes plus 38 km of marked routes, base 1,383 m, summit 2,779 m, vertical 1,396 m. The resort's current materials list 103 trails and 108 km including the ungroomed routes, a highest point of 2,848 m and a maximum drop of 1,466 m. This briefing shows both sets where they differ rather than silently picking one. Lift counts (8–10) and even the order of the two mid-mountain terraces vary between sources for the same reason. Hours, open trails and prices change by season — confirm on the resort's official channels on the day.