Let’s skiing winter season happy enjoy time 2003! Great! by James Hardy

It is happening again. Creeping up on us while we were still complaining about typhoons, shaken by larger than life quakes, the season is coming. Years ago, when I was wet behind the ears in the ways of ski, such things meant little. Equipped with hand-me-down Day-Glo pink salapettes and my goggles more suitable for arc welding, in my defence, I knew no better. My snow plough was just that, moving white stuff off the piste and into the bushes. But now, I am the most expert weekend skier in the world. Years of fighting ignorance, kanji, and stupid summer injuries sustained in lesser sports have taught me much. So, here, without further ado, is ‘Let’s skiing winter season happy enjoy time 2003! ? the ultimate guide to stuff you might want to know if you are new to snow, Japan style!’   Hidden behind this hirsute and witty title is the accumulated wisdom of thousands of man hours spent in Japanese mountains. However, this has chosen to express itself in subjective random pieces of information thrown together, rather like a Japanese High school English textbook. Hopefully, it will be slightly more useful.

First, some things to consider before you start:

1) Be patient when shopping
I made the schoolboy error of running into Xebio sports in the first week of October, throwing cash at a bemused shop assistant, and grabbing the first suitable skis, bindings and boots I found. BIG MISTAKE! If I had waited until at least the middle of November, I would have seen all the camping chairs, tents and hilariously named ‘Dutch Ovens’ (funny to this Brit anyway) replaced with more skis, boots, boards, and last year’s stock, which was half price.

2) Take someone experienced with you
I bought all my kit on my own, and had to rely on my ‘knowledge’ of skis, boots and all that to help me. Oh, the folly of youth. Last season I had to replace my boots, because they were too big and didn’t really suit my skis. I have also wasted money on goggles that misted, holey gloves and unholy socks. Most Japanese stores don’t seem to offer much expertise on fitting (to foreigners at least), so take someone who might have even half an idea of how to fit, check and buy kit, whether it be skis or boards. Or speak Japanese. Or import.

3) Shop around
The big stores catering for snow sports include Xebio, Alpen, and Victoria. Despite headlining their website with some of the worst examples of engrish I have seen, (‘The next emotional emotion is motion’… yeah, er, right), Xebio Super sports has tended to have a great selection of kit, although you might find other places offer better deals. Ask people about closing down sales, look out for flea markets, (laugh in the face of economic meltdown), check out the 2nd hand stores, and if you are up in the mountains, look at ex-rental. Japanese people throw stuff out because it’s the wrong colour. Let’s taking advantage of their fashion sensitivity! If you use your common sense, you can find top notch clobber for a song. That said, anyone who has skied for a while will tell you that second hand stuff is great, but will then insert a disclaimer about buying broken or unsuitable bindings/skis/boots/boards. It is better to be careful about fitting than finding a cheap bargain, and snow sports technology has been evolving at a supersonic rate in the last few years.

4) Season passes
If you know where you are going, look at buying a pass early. A lot of resorts offer discounts on passes bought early on.

5) Opening day freebies
I have never understood the logic of Japanese resorts. Some open regardless of conditions, others wait even if there are 2 metres on the ground. However, when they do get going, watch out for opening day/week offers! The best way is to check out their websites and see what they can tell you. If like me, you can only read enough kanji to insult someone, try www.av.com/babelfish for help.

Mid-season enlightenment: What do you need to know?

1) Konbini
As I mentioned in my previous article, aside from their obvious nutritional value and genki drinks, these places run voucher schemes which will buy you lunch, a drink, and day pass in lots of resorts. You often have to choose from a restricted menu (which means a choice of curry rice, as opposed to a choice of, er, curry rice) but it can save you cash. NIKUMAN!

2) Travel agents deals
All the majors offer big snow deals, and it is a good way to get to other mountains when local slopes start to melt or bore. Also check out JR deals - there is a great package from Sapporo station to Niseko, involving express train, bus, rental and 6 hour pass at Hirafu. WIZARD!

3) Websites
Year in, year out, the resorts are improving their net presence, which means web cams, special online deals, and weather reports. Also, look out for special events: in January we went night skiing with fireworks at Eboshi Miyagi Zao. Obviously not with fireworks as friends - I mean they were part of the attractions. Hanabi, synchronized ski displays, and Japanese hip-hop late into the night. KABLAMO! Websites are also indispensable if you want to avoid the school slalom contest that closes half the resort, and fills it with squabbling children with helmets and no sense of personal responsibility. SnowJapan’s bottom-of-resort-page links are your way into a whole new world of strange JavaScript heaven and Engrish joy! Let’s translation!

4) Curry Rice
Below is my highly subjective, completely arbitrary ranking of resorts in southern Tohoku, based on their food. 

5) Foot warmers
The disposable kind. You can put them in your gloves too, you know.

View through the goggles

And that’s about it. It looks like being a great season (like I have any idea about the weather, but it’s flipping cold for October) and I hope you feel enlightened. To those who know more, or differently, I apologise. For those of you who don’t, everything written here is TRUE. He he.