Shijinglong

The appeal, reviewers say, is that this is the cheap and close option for Beijing: some eighty kilometres from the centre, easy to reach, and clearly less expensive than its better-known rivals. The biggest plus is the emptiness - on a weekday there are no lift lines at all, and skiers describe having a whole intermediate run to themselves for an hour. Beginners are happy with the gentle learning area and patient staff.

The shabbiness draws the complaints. Rental gear is beaten up, service is minimal, and the food on the hill is frankly bad. Runs are short, the longest maybe five hundred metres, and by the afternoon the packed snow has turned to ice. There is almost no demanding terrain: a single advanced run, with everything else pitched at learners and intermediates, so an experienced skier runs out of things to do. Staff speak very little English.