It is a cold and clear night at the resort with all three hotels full and many day visitors expected for Sunday, February 22, 2004. A great deal has already happened at the resort during the first three hours of this day, with more activity expected over the next three leading up to the arrival of dawn. For the resort staff, some have just finished work; others are in the midst of a shift, while the rest (including this writer) will begin moving towards starting their work on one of the busiest days of the season. Read on for the second installment in this series within the setting journals…

A car bearing Osaka number plates parks in the overnight parking lot at the resort, and the driver leaves the engine idling for the sake of his passengers that are snoozing away. The driver then jumps out of his vehicle and heads for the 24-hour toilets that are necessary given the nature (no pun intended) of park operations. These toilets are found just off the plaza and feature universal access along with lighting and heating - something that involves considerable expense when one factors in expenses related to utilities, supplies as well as cleaning services. Also within this parking lot are several other metropolitan vehicles as well as active snow clearing vehicles belonging to the Guest Relations Division.

The resort offers four outdoor parking areas and public access is only permitted in one of them at night. In the three that are closed, monster snowplows race across them clearing snow. In the one lot that is open, only smaller snowplows are used and it is good to have staff in the lot periodically during the night to make sure occupants in the cars are OK. Due to the cold weather, it is better to have all the overnight vehicles together “to look after one another” instead of scattered independently on snow covered roads. Suffocation within idling cars is a real concern when the snows fall heavily overnight.

Time in my mind is a cultural-specific concept and while some staff may be paid during their breaks, the start and finish times of their respective shifts changes according to workload at hand. Each division handles this differently of course, with assistant managers and above considered to have overtime built into their salaries. While full time employees may or may not receive overtime, seasonal part time workers on designated shifts usually do.

An alarm clock rings within the rest area of the Mountain Division where one of the groomers has been catching some sleep since his break began at 1:30 AM. This rest area is found on the fourth floor of Zendana Station (1,000 meters above sea level), and in addition to providing a resting place for weary groomers away from their grooming station in the village, also serves as shelter for staff when storms prevent regular access to the village via the Gondola. Several years ago when I was working at the Terrace Restaurant within the same facility, restaurant staff were returned to the village by Pisten Bully late one Sunday afternoon when the Gondola went out of service temporarily due to poor weather conditions (Fortunately, there were no guests on the upper parts of the mountain that day as the Gondola had shut down that morning soon after delivering the restaurant staff to the Gondola peak).

Two disaster prevention center members from the Human Resources Division are at their workstations monitoring present usage of utilities and ensuring that supply for the coming morning rush will be steady. When the location of the resort was decided, the basis of the decision revolved around the twenty or so meters of snow that the mountainous area receives annually. Unfortunately, the base of the mountain required infrastructure, including power generation, to be built from scratch. With such infrastructure in place, it needs to be monitored round-the-clock.

The main office at the resort (located on the second floor of the village station that also houses the gondola base) is home to leaders of most of the divisions of the resort as well as executive offices, the ubiquitous smoking corner as well as an elevated part that contains the mountain base. The senior staff member manning the base is from the Accounts Division, and he has just shut his eyes once again following a radio conversation with one of the Pisten Bully Drivers presently on the mountain (napping during this shift by the person manning the base is acceptable when it is both quiet and the staff member makes sure the phone is answered promptly if it rings).

What is a financial officer from Accounts doing pulling a graveyard shift in the base? Well, only a few people with intimate knowledge of mountain operations can carry out such work, and this particular gentleman has it, given that he has been involved with the resort project since its inception.

A chartered metropolitan bus pulls off the expressway at the exit closest to the resort, and the driver makes his way through the night to the overnight parking. The Sales Division at the resort competes for this type of business, and the decision to send this bus to the resort will have been made months in advance, perhaps in June of the previous year. Such a fact will most likely be oblivious to the occupants of the bus, many of who will be visiting a snow resort for perhaps the first time. To be clear, most of the guests come from metropolitan areas, with Tokyo leading the way over Osaka and Nagoya. Traveling overnight on a bus, and then taking on a new snow sport the following morning is not the best way to get one’s first snow fix, but seems to be the only way for the masses to get out on the slopes.

An unfortunate chef of the Restaurant Division arrives in the kitchen of a hotel restaurant to begin preparations for that mornings breakfast buffet. Especially in larger resort hotels, breakfast is usually a hurried affair for most of the guests that are chasing snow, which puts additional stress on a kitchen. During peak season, such kitchens are geared to serve events in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The number of staff working in the kitchens is geared towards firstly the number of overnight guests in the resort, and secondly whether there are any special events or not. In the busier kitchens, there can be up to 10 staff consisting of a chef, first/second cook, assistants as well as the humble dishwasher(s). While the resort does not run out of food, perishables such as fresh fish are obviously limited in supply and need to be restocked day to day.

Good access plays a crucial role at snow resorts and especially for the hotels, having it can mean less congestion and thus smoother operations during the morning and evening rushes. The Hotel Division is responsible for maintaining it’s own outdoor lots and vehicle access points, meaning that at least once during the night hotel staff will need to clear snow from key areas. This can be a tricky business, as such lots are usually full on weekend nights, and the snow plower needs to clear snow both as quietly as possible and without hitting any of the parked vehicles.

The first of a series of electronic bells signaling Gondola operations provided by the Human Resources Division reverberates throughout the Gondola Base. It is inevitable that with safety being paramount, bells and the like linked to the operation of equipment early in the morning occasionally are heard by guests that are light sleepers. Although the bell at this time is the first main one of the day, silencing it would mean giving up the aspect of awareness that it provides to those preparing the Gondola for regular daily operations. The bell needs to be loud I’ve been told to signal to everyone within range of the Gondola that operations will begin soon - whether those in the area are close to the base, mid-station, or peak.

My alarm goes off and I drag myself out of a comfortable bed and stumble through a cold house to the shower. This is my regular weekend routine as a member of the Inventory of Skills Division. Essentially, I need to arrive at the resort by no later than 6:45 AM to perform three morning duties of opening up the plaza escalators, standing by to help with hotel checkouts as well as filing the daily English weather report. To be at the resort by such a time, I need to be in my car by just after six AM with working gear, packed lunch and breakfast in hand.

The resort has become a relatively easier place to work in the past few years as more fluent English speakers have been brought on board. While I still have to work most days during the white season, the various divisions handling English-speaking guests have become more competent, meaning that an occasional day/afternoon off that could not be taken two or three years ago is now possible.

A senior member of the Mountain Division arrives at the village station and proceeds to warm up one of the specially marked snowmobiles parked just outside. Although still dark outside, this staff member is involved with Avalanche Control, so needs to get out to remote parts of the mountain to establish if explosive charges need to be detonated before the first Gondola Operations at 7:30 AM. Explosives detonated via gas are used when necessary prior to opening up the mountain to the public to proactively control avalanches.

Back at the base, the Accounts Division staff member mentioned earlier is busy preparing the first formal weather report of the day for the 6 AM deadline. Such a report (compiled from a satellite feed updated every 10 minutes) contains snow levels at various parts of the mountain, wind speeds/direction, scheduled lift operations, status of the mountain runs in addition to weather forecasts for the day. At 6 AM, this report will go onto the Japanese Web and also be faxed to the front desks of the three resort hotels.