The Disquieting Enchantment of Snow

-- a Short Tale of a Weekend on a Ski Resort

By LAO YI

Snow can be just as scary as it is lovely to look at. That was, at least, my impression upon arriving in Harbin for a two-day trip to Erlongshan ski resort, as part of a group of journalists from China Today. For the Chinese contingent, the trip to the freezing northern city was a short and easy stroll. But it was another story altogether for my Egyptian colleage Hussein, and I, the Cuban servant. Both of us native to warmer climates, we felt we were about to embark on a tremendous adventure. A “unique experience,” as Hussein put it, escorted by both the glare of extreme beauty, and the fear of the unknown.

First, we had to come round to the idea that we were walking on a surface that would turn into water as soon as the springtime arrived. But the Erlongshan Lake forms an extensive, stony track in winter. We drove our motorized sleighs over what would become the realm of boats and yachts in the summer. And, as if to remind us how far we were from solid land, some villagers drilled holes in the ice and began yanking carp out of the freshwater beneath. This they did in temparatures of 22 degrees Celsius below zero! Then the contestants for the Chinese-Russian Rally arrived. There were twenty vehicles in all, each one weighing several tons, whose drivers were competing for the annual rally championship...on ice!

The beauty of the infinite sea of whiteness that opened up before us put paid to any initial fears – at least until the moment we put the skis on. Our Chinese colleagues found it relatively easy to slide down the snowy slopes that ended just at the lakeshore. Hussein even managed to acquire a certain agility in just a short amount of time, though he admits that was largely thanks to his trainer’s efforts. They say at the resort that no client ever falls in the snow – one of the numerous and dilligent attendents will come to the rescue within seconds of the slightest stumble.

But my own story was not so happy. Feeling like a fish out of water, I started off down the slopes unaccompanied. At least I learned my lesson though. To say it in the most poetic way possible, I confess that to kiss the snow with one’s ass is the most effective way of losing any fear.