China has announced plans to build what it has described as its highest ski resort so far, as part of the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
The resort would be built in Tibet, which China regards as an autonomous region, whilst the Dalai Lama’s ‘Government of Tibet in Exile’ regards it as an occupied sovereign nation.
The exact details of the resort’s location and the scope of its ski slopes are not yet known, nor what China considers to be its existing highest resort, but one of China’s highest lift accessed points is reported to have some limited skiing and that centre could be considered ‘the highest lift served ski slope in the world’ already, so a higher proper ski resort would be the undisputed highest in the world.
Information published so far indicates the area would be near Tibet’s capital Lhasa, one of the highest cities in the world at 3,490m. The Chinese Government is said to want to encourage Tibetan skiers to reach a standard of being able to represent China in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games due to be staged in the country.
Currently the world’s highest ski area is believed to be at China’s Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (pictured above) where a Leitner built gondola reaches 4,516m. However this was not built as a ski resort but is reported to have a simple lift at the top where people can ski or sledge.
China is also home to the world’s highest gondola lift, built by Doppelmayr, to the Dagu Glacier at 4843m, but this is reported to not have any skiing at the top.
The former highest lift in the world was a Chacaltaya in Bolivia, South America, a high altitude rope tow established in the late 1930s at approximately 5,200m but that ceased operating nearly a decade ago when climate change melted away the snow on which the skiing took place.
The world’s highest ‘proper’ ski area at present is therefore considered to be Gulmarg, in the Indian Himalayas, where the ski lifts reach 3,979m.
A French team responsible for building new lifts on Europe’s highest Mount, Elbrus, has also concluded it is feasible to build a lift to the 5,642m summit, but so far there is not the will or the budget to do so.
A new cable car to Mérida in Venezuela being built by Doppelmayr to replace the original lift built in 1958 and since decommissioned is believed to be nearing completion.
This reaches 4765m and is the highest cable car in the world but again has no skiing, officially, at the top, although previously dare devils are reported to have skied on the snow and ice at the top just for the sake of saying they had.
Tibet’s average altitude is 4,500m and the country/region has more than a thousand peaks higher than 6,000m and five higher than 8,000m.