For A Peak Inside The Japanese Resort Industry: Volume 3 - A Matter of Life & Death "All it takes is one set of tracks. The problem is not the leaders but the followers."

To follow up what has been touched on in my previous columns, I intend to explore further the reasons why Japanese resorts do not let people into areas marked out-of-bounds. To effectively do this, I interviewed one of our ski patrollers and felt that we communicated clearly with each other over the two-hour interview. Of course, a few things were perhaps lost in the translation etc., but we carried ourselves without prejudice with the common goal of helping guests understand us better.

Could you tell me a bit about yourself and provide some details about your background?

My name is Ko Tanaka and I'm a 34 year-old Japanese male born and raised in Tokyo. I entered Tokyo Agricultural University with the intention of becoming a vet, and graduated with a degree related to the genetics involved in stockbreeding. While I was a student, I hung out with people that were interested in mountains and skiing on the weekends. The more I saw mountains, the more I learned to appreciate their beauty.

Following graduation, I entered the pharmaceutical industry as a sales representative for Eli-Lilly. I loved the company but found the job as a salesman to the Japanese medical community tough, with a lot of late nights involved. It got to the point where I felt that I was drifting away from the outdoor interests that I had developed during my weekends away at university, so I left and headed to France to reconnect with them.

There is a famous European school of skiing in Chamonix that I intended to enter, but at that time unemployed foreigners were not accepted. I tried to learn French and assimilate into the culture, but eventually returned to Japan to look for work. During that time, I read an article in the paper about ARAI and their work concerning avalanche control. I found myself here a few days later and have never left.

How much training and experience do you have as a ski patroller?

It needs to be made clear that the skills necessary to be a mountain guide are different from those of a ski patroller. Briefly, guides are concerned more with showing people safe and enjoyable ways to ski or board, while ideally ski patrollers focus on the weather and conditions of the mountain; hence, they are always the first up the mountain in the mornings and the last one's down in the evening each and every day of the season.

Mountain guides need to have experience skiing in mountain snow as opposed to choosing a particular type, and fortunately from skiing in France I had no problem with this. My first aid skills were also up-to-date and I had managed to keep reasonably fit. The only area that I was weak in was handling explosives; fortunately, I'm a quick learner and am talking to you today, so I've been successful so far in that area as well.

Patrol teams find avalanches to be a very complicated subject as they are influenced by multiple constantly changing factors. My company has sent me both to Temple Basin Mountain in New Zealand and Alta Utah Ski Field in North America for my ongoing study of the subject. I was particularly taken with the use of the Avalanche Cannon in Utah, and have contemplated using it here.

What qualifications are necessary for a job as a ski patroller?

If I were interviewing a candidate for such a position, I'd ask him/her the following questions:

I've seen a lot of mountain guides come and go in this business. It is quite rare for someone to last more than a few seasons without other aspects of his or her life being placed in jeopardy by the stresses associated with this work.

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