Yongpyong (Dragon Valley) Ski Resort is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, located in Daegwallyeong-myeon,

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, Gangwon-do. It is the largest ski and snowboard resort in Korea, and offers

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

in the summer months. A 1949 news article covered a ski slope in

Daegwallyeong Daegwallyeong (Hangul: 대관령; Hanja: ) is a -high mountain pass in the Taebaek Mountains of eastern South Korea. It runs between Pyeongchang and Gangneung in Gangwon Province. It is an important historical pass that connects the regions of ...

, which had only the ski slope at that time. Yongpyong's first

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial l ...

was built in 1975. In 1981, a Korean company called Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd bought the owner(유국개발) of Yongpyong Resort, and in turn obtained the resort. SsangYong began to experience financial difficulties from the

1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

. In 2003, Segye Ilbo, which is owned by the Unification Church, bought Yongpyong Resort. Yongpyong is currently owned by the Unification Church (the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity), a new religious movement founded by

Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon (; born Yong Myung Moon; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unif ...

, through the

Tongil Group Tongil Group ( ko, 통일그룹) is a Korean business group ( chaebol) associated with the Unification Church (UC). (“Tongil” is Korean for “unification,” the name of the Unification Church in Korean is “Tongilgyo.”) It was founded in ...

. Yongpyeong-myeon, a nearby township (''myeon''), is not related to the resort. The ski season runs from November to early April. It has 31 slopes such as Yellow, Mega Green, Pink, Red, New Red, Blue, Red Paradise, Silver, Silver Paradise, Gold Valley, Gold Fantastic, Gold Paradise, New Gold, Rainbows 1,2,3 and 4, Rainbow Paradise, 15 different lift facilities, including one gondola at a length of , and Korea's largest ski house (Dragon Plaza). The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

at the base area is at approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, and the lift-served summit at Dragon Zone is at .

Events

Yongpyong Resort has hosted men's World Cup technical events in four seasons (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) with

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

on the Rainbow 1 slope and

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

on It was one of the three main sites of the

1999 Asian Winter Games The 4th Asian Winter Games ( ko, 제 4 회 동계 아시안 게임, je 4 hoe dong-gye asian geim) were held from January 30 to February 6, 1999, in the province of Kangwon (Gangwon), South Korea. The games were staged in three different clusters ...

which were hosted by Gangwon. It was the site of the IPC Disabled Alpine World Cup and the 2009 Biathlon World Championships, although the event was marred by lack of snow due to an unseasonable warmth, and criticized for poor spectator attendance. Yongpyong hosted the technical alpine skiing events for the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

and

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

. It was also part of the unsuccessful bids for the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

(missing out to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, respectively). With a greater vertical drop,

Jeongseon Alpine Centre Jeongseon Alpine Centre (정선 알파인 경기장) was an alpine skiing area in South Korea. It was located on the slopes of the mountain of Gariwangsan, in Bukpyeong-myeon in the county of Jeongseon. Overview Jeongseon was a venue for the Pye ...

was developed to host the alpine speed events of

Downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

, Super-G, and

Combined Combined may refer to: * Alpine combined (skiing), the combination of slalom and downhill skiing as a single event ** Super combined (skiing) * Nordic combined (skiing), the combination of cross country skiing and ski jumping as a single event * T ...

. The capacity of the venue for these events is 12,000 (4,500 seats / 7,500 standing).

In media

Some scenes of the 2002

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

drama ''

Winter Sonata ''Winter Sonata'' () is a 2002 South Korean television drama series, starring Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo. It is the second part of the season-themed tetralogy '' Endless Love'' drama series directed by Yoon Seok-ho. Filming primarily took ...

'' were filmed at the resort. The resort was also used as a filming location for 2013

Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) () is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting System (서울방송). Its f ...

drama '' That Winter, the Wind Blows''. The filming, during a two nights and three days film shoot at the Resort, was featured in a pictorial in Issue 97 March 2013 edition of fashion magazine, ''High Cut'', with lead actors Jo In-sung and Song Hye-kyo featured on the cover. It was also featured in the Korean drama Goblin (2016–17) and the Korean drama

Sad Love Story ''Sad Love Story'' () is a 2005 South Korean television drama series starring Kwon Sang-woo, Kim Hee-sun and Yeon Jung-hoon. It aired on MBC from January 5 to March 17, 2005 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. Plot From the m ...

(2005).

References

External links

* – '
PyeongChang 2018
– '

– World Cup events * ttps://skimap.org/SkiAreas/view/1217 Skimap.org– Yongpyong Tourist attractions in Pyeongchang County Ski areas and resorts in South Korea Venues of the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiing venues Sports venues in Pyeongchang County Unification Church affiliated organizations {{Winter-Olympic-venue-stub