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By Hutch
OSIG Events Coordinator 2001/2002
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So there I was...knee deep...or more like
waist deep in it. IT? What? NO---Powder!!
A trip from Iwate Prefecture to Kamui Ski
Links (near Fukugawa), then Sapporo, and back down to Aomori for a few days at
Hakkoda has lead this young man to a reliance on the white powder of choice-
deep snow! The Northbound trip was one challenge after another.... refused taxi
transport from the eki to the distant ferry terminal (sukii wa nagaku sugiru!!)...
then ten minutes before my final destination in Hokkaido I lost my wallet!!
Hardly a yen to my name and eight days still left in my trip I quite frankly I
was screwed...After the especially joyful experience of police reports, eki
reports, canceling credit cards, post office cards etc....I was moved by what
happened to juxtapose my whole problem. The kindness of the human spirit really
can bowl you over, and it came from so many people- Japanese and gaikokujin
alike.... it was pretty much enough to make anyone crack up! Needless to say I
pulled a killer trip out of a disaster.
ONTO THE SNOW you say!! Well, arriving late
to meet Toby (the dude that helps run this SIG!) and an extreme Aussie boarder
at Kamui Links near Fukugawa (north of Sapporo).... I still managed to grab a
pass and get in a couple of turns. Although I'm from BC, Canada I have not
taken in much powder--surprisingly-- it took a trip to Hokkaido and Aomori to
change that. I tried to keep up with this destructive duo the next day...(I
sure loved the 'T' word...traverse!)...Despite the major bails -- they usual
just heard me cursing somewhere up the mountain as I ate more snow! -- The
caught air and the facial hits of powder made it all worthwhile.
The next day I departed from Fukugawa, (in
pain I might add) and headed for a couple of blurred days in Sapporo--organized
by Hokkaido AJET... I had to make an effort to see the sculptures given that I
spent so much time at the Sapporo Beer Factory (beer, beer, beer and Genghis
Khan!!), the chocolate factory, ramen shops eating crab, and climbing nearby
mountains (that I almost got kicked off). Near frostbite from my decision to
sketch some of the MASSIVE sculptures on Odori in the evening, I again met up
with the members of CLUB BONGO! We (Toby, Mamiko, Nick, Fiona, Rob, Victoria,
Steve and yours truly-Hutch) all piled into Toby's baby and headed SOUTH this
time...(for warmer climates I think not) towards Hakkoda-san in central Aomori.
We crashed on the ferry (not literally) and were on the slopes the next morning
by 9am!!
I've skied in Japan before.... WAY back in
high school I lived in Iwate...but I have never skied on a mountain like
Hakkoda-san. We were dumped with so much snow that one day we couldn't even
make it up the mountain...so we took off for a movie theatre and saw 'There's
something about Mary'-damn good!
Hakkoda is not like the skiing I've done
before...the mountain is serviced by ONE cable car with a capacity of 101....
it fires up 2100 vertical feet in ten minutes and off-loads the passengers into
what is usually near white-out conditions at the summit. Hapless Tokyo Japanese
tourists donning little other than light jackets and cameras come to see the
'snow monsters' (snow encrusted trees)...which they can hardly see anyway.
After scraping down the first fifty meters
of windblown snow we entered a winter wonderland of at least knee deep POW (as
Toby puts it). The trails total three...only three...but unlike Japanese hills
that are roped off there are only poles to HELP you find your way. Tree skiing
is addictive (I'm living example of this).... I don't want to go back to ice,
ropes and kibishii ski patrol...just give me powder + powder + powder! After
getting in at least 6 runs a day, (Steve got in somewhere close to ten!!!) [the
shortest one is about 4 km (Direct) and the longest about 7km (Forest run)] we
hopped back in the BONGO and headed for the cabin......we crammed 16 in there
as the 'locals' (Aomori JETs) joined us (Dave, Scott, Dave, Krista etc etc).
Some damn fine curry I might add...a welcome addition to Mars Bars and onigiri
on the slopes, (mind you the guides' cabin had some to-die-for home-cookin').
To top all this off...has got to be the
rotenburo (outside onsen).... it'll be something I truly miss when I go home.
Just picture the facial expression of the Japanese was priceless when they saw
four screaming naked white guys in a full out snow war with two corresponding
women (and a recruited obaa-chan) across the wall.
Bottom-line...I have a whole new
appreciation for skiing in Japan. If you want to change you pre-skiing question
from "I wonder if we'll be getting any powder tomorrow?" to "I
wonder if we'll be getting one or two feet?" then Hakkoda-san is the
end-all...oh yeah, and Hey! Santa-san, in case you're listening.... all I want
for Christmas next year is my new white drug of choice.
