Don't know if you've seen these articles:

Skiing in China

You are correct about Heilongjiang being cold and icy, although Yabuli is nice if you hit powder conditions, and it has decent equipment rentals (but pricy). It is dry, so you won't get the wet stuff in other locations. I tried a few others up there, and none impressed me.

Personally, skiing in Xinjiang strikes me as being more interesting, probably because I've never been there.

Good luck!