Skiing lovers rush to snow from evergreen areas weekly

NANNING, China, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Skiing lovers in south China, where snow barely comes, are accustomed to weekly journeys from the evergreen areas to ski venues, as temperature and distance won't stop them from winter sports.

In temperate Wuzhou, China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, some enthusiastic skiers, from three to sixty, gather in the city's indoor ski field every weekend. Some of them come from other cities by the high-speed railway.

Nearly every Saturday, Lu Zixi and her friends take the earliest train from the region's capital city Nanning to Wuzhou, where the region's only indoor ski field locates, and spend a day or the whole weekend there for skiing.

"Most of us have work to do during weekdays, and the weekly skiing is like a big party for us. And it's convenient as it only takes an hour or so from Nanning to Wuzhou by high-speed trains," said Lu.

The girl in her twenties first got to know about skiing in 2017 during her visit to Switzerland. "I love traveling. The first time I saw people skiing in the mountains, I thought that it was so cool. But the winter sports are nearly impossible for me to try because it seems to be pretty challenging," said Lu, who was born and raised in a place where snow can be barely seen.

A few years ago, winter sports facilities were rare in south China and most people there preferred ball sports or water sports. Things began to change after China won the host right for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which greatly increased people's interest in sports on ice and snow.

Lu started to learn skiing about two years ago in northeast China and soon fell in love with it. "I kept falling but I really enjoy the feeling of freedom and the joy of being one with nature," said Lu, who then decided not only to take up skiing as a hobby but also a profession. Therefore, she got a skiing coach certificate.

Gradually, winter sports venues sprouted up in China as the Winter Olympics approached. The city of Wuzhou also welcomed its first skiing course in February 2021.

"That's such great news for us, and I don't need to fly around the nation for proper skiing venues," said Lu. She then established a skiing club in Nanning, and in less than a year, hundreds of skiing fans in Guangxi joined the club.

Huang Wei, the co-founder of the club, said that the Beijing Winter Olympics has no doubt raised his fellow southerners' love for winter sports, "at the beginning, only three to five people join the weekly event and the number is dozens nowadays."

"Through our one-year trial operation, we are happy to see more and more people from the south are willing to go to the snow and ice and experience the happiness brought by the snow," said Zhu Yu, the director of the skiing venue in Wuzhou.