From ballet to bust, South Korea's Olympic venues face uncertain fate

FILE PHOTO: A ski shop is seen at the abandoned Alps Ski Resort located near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Goseong, South Korea, February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

GANSEONG, South Korea (Reuters) - With its rocky, overgrown, and snowless piste, the isolated and abandoned Alps Ski Resort deep in the mountains of South Korea's Gangwon province is a decaying monument to the fate of winter sports in the country.

The resort, once thronged by domestic and foreign skiers, closed its doors in 2006, throwing out of business small equipment rental shops nearby, many of them still stocked with dusty piles of ski boots and brightly-coloured snowboards.