
Only an hour's drive from where the world's elite athletes will battle for medals at the Winter Olympics in South Korea lies a ski resort frozen in time after it was abandoned more than a decade ago.

The Alps Ski Resort was one of the country's first winter sports destinations, attracting tens of thousands of skiers every year until it abruptly shut its doors in 2006.

Restaurants, swimming pools, chairlifts and ski hire shops have all been left as they were but the tourists have gone, giving the resort an apocalyptic feel.

South Korea has spent £580million on the sporting facilities for next month's Winter Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee has expressed concern over the absence of future plans for several of them, saying the Games' legacy should be addressed 'as a priority'.

The remains of the former holiday destination in Heul-ri - a tiny settlement of around 250 people in the country's far northeast, close to the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula - are not a good sign.

An aerial shot of the ski resort which has been abandoned in South Korea. In the foreground is the accommodation blocks where guests would have stayed and in the background the slopes and chairlifts can be seen

An abandoned ski hire shop in the Alps Ski Resort near Sokcho in South Korea. Boots - including a pair of dated black and purple Salomon ski boots - sit on the counter alongside a single ski. A basketball also rests up against the counter's base

Dirty crockery, bottle openers, cutlery, ashtrays and a device which skiers would use to attach to their cameras and wrap around their wrist to make sure their device doesn't fall into the snow remain at the Alps Ski Resort

The Alps Ski Resort, the hub of which is pictured here, was one of the country's first winter sports destinations, attracting tens of thousands of skiers every year until it abruptly shut its doors in 2006. It has now become derelict and the rusted clock tower has frozen in time

A rusty clock tower looms over the disused Alps Ski Resort, a former holiday destination in South Korea's far northeast close to the Demilitarized Zone

Hundreds of abandoned skis and golf carts are stashed away in a facility at the abandoned Alps Ski Resort close to the Demilitarized Zone near Sokcho

Ski and snowboarding boots piled up in boxes in what was once a restaurant overlooking the slopes at the Alps Ski Resort

Rows of chairs sit in the middle of an abandoned ballroom which has junk piled up around the outside of the venue which still has its curtains open

Aged, fading buildings stand below unweeded slopes, where a few bright red chairlifts dangle lifelessly from the cables.

The villagers are bitter.

'It's completely in ruins,' said Oh Geum-Sik, who used to run a ski rental shop next to the resort.

'All the businesses are practically dead.'

At an altitude of 1,052 metres (3,451 feet), the resort boasted the heaviest natural snowfall in South Korea, with skiers coming to the village long before the facility opened in the 1980s, laboriously trudging up the slopes to enjoy a brief downhill thrill.

A handful of elite athletes grew up with its abundant snow, among them Jung Dong-Hyun, who will compete for South Korea in alpine skiing at the Winter Games in neighbouring Pyeongchang.

The resort's owner went bankrupt in the face of increased competition from more accessible rivals with newer facilities

Aged, fading buildings stand below unweeded slopes, where a few bright red chairlifts dangle lifelessly from the cables. The rest are piled up on the floor in front of a yellow chairlift marked '4'

Villagers say that in the resort's heyday, cars lined the streets every weekend as skiers from as far as China and Southeast Asia packed its eight pistes, with around 30 percent of customers foreigners.

But its owner went bankrupt in the face of increased competition from more accessible rivals with newer facilities, according to an official at the Goseong County office.

Heul-ri was left in disarray.

Koo Jae-Kwan, who moved to the village 16 years ago to open an inn and a ski rental shop, said the closure has cost him around 700 million won - £475,000.

Oh Geum-Sik, who used to run a ski rental shop next to the resort, said local people had been hit hard by the collapse

A self-service canteen is left with tables piled on top of one and other and chairs pushed together as the floor slowly rots away

A grandfather clock stuck at the time of 11.00 is pushed back against an idyllic scene shot of what the ski resort was meant to look like. A vacuum cleaner, an empty bottle and two lightbulbs can be seen on the floor

Now a rusty clock tower looms over the disused resort, its hands permanently pointing to 6.50 in the bright midday light, and three guard dogs bark furiously at the sight of a rare visitor.

A grubby mattress greets visitors in the lobby and a faded banner promising that 'Customer satisfaction begins now' droops loosely above a dried-up swimming pool.

On the wall of a hollow banquet hall hangs a painting of the bustling resort in its prime, and dead plants lie on the dirty floor, wrapped with holiday decorations from more than 10 Christmases ago.

South Korean winter sports destinations have to contend with short slopes, sometimes brutally cold temperatures, and intense competition from Japan, and an official at the Korea Ski Resort Business Association said that most are struggling.

A desolate scene of abandoned furniture and dead plants is all that is left to greet visitors. A poster on the wall shows what the resort was meant to look like and a calendar hangs from the wall

A photo shows the apartments visitors would have stayed in when they visited the Alps Ski Resort. The weeds have burst through the tarmac and the hotels have been left to rot

A hallway inside an apartment block which guests would have used at the resort which closed its doors in 2006. Wallpaper can be seen on the floor having peeled off the walls and pieces of the ceiling dangle downwards

A green chairlift marked '1' sits unused at the bottom of what would have once been a run that came down adjacent to the apartment blocks and clock tower

With the resort shut down, the surrounding ski hire shops and bars were all forced to close with absolutely no trade coming in

'There has been a drop in the number of visitors and a number of ski resorts have closed,' he said.

Beijing banned group tours to the country last year in a row over the deployment of a US missile defence system, crippling its biggest market.

'What will happen after the Pyeongchang Olympics is worrisome,' the official added.

'Right now, there are a lot of government-led efforts to create a ski boom ahead of the Olympics. But even now, that hasn't really helped with reviving the ski industry and that will all come to a stop after the Olympics.'

Attempts to reopen the Heul-ri resort with new funding have been unfruitful.

The latest plan from Korean investor Alps Seven Resort promised 80 billion won £58million to renovate the existing slopes and condos, and build more accommodation plus a theme park, a government document showed.

But it failed to meet the deadline for payments and the scheme was scrapped.

Alps Seven Resort could not be reached for comment.

The resort opted for brightly-coloured ski lifts, which can be seen here with the main accommodation area in the background. A yellow, red, pink and green lift can be seen at the bottom of the slopes

A row of ski hire shops and bars line on e of the main streets leading to the resort. Guests would have skied the mountains on the right hand side and stayed at accommodation in the centre of the picture

A swimming pool at the resort. It appears a stage was set up inside the pool at one stage, but water still remains in the deep end. Dying plants and banners surround the facility

A stairwell with an elaborate decoration running through the centre of it gathers dust as a dead plant and a grandfather clock lie dormant in the walkway

The main lobby of the abandoned Alps Ski Resort which someone has been using as a squat with a stained mattress and a pillow in the foyer

Rows of pink and white accommodation blocks which would have housed the guests during their stay at the ski resort in South Korea

A former restaurant looking out onto the slopes which would have been packed with skiers remains as it was more than a decade ago

If it had gone ahead, the renovated facility would have opened for business last month, just in time for the Pyeongchang Games.

'Maybe one of the ski competitions could have taken place here,' lamented Heul-ri village chief Shin Dong-Gil, adding the resort's 500 rooms could have been a welcome additional accommodation option for Olympic visitors.

Instead, sacks of concrete are piled in the buildings.

Former ski shop owner Oh now farms bell peppers for a living but still has his 250 sets of ski equipment, hoping that one day he might be able to rent them out again.

But like springtime snow, the villagers' expectations for the resort are steadily melting away.

'I don't think it will ever reopen,' said Koo, who has also mothballed his kit - and his guesthouse.

'It's that one percent of hope. That's the only thing I'm holding on to.'