Volume 6 - Why don’t we open early? DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE     12th December 2002

"Opening a full sized ski resort for the winter is very similar to the process involving an airplane taking off"

At the end of the setting journals - volume 5 (October, 2002), I said that I would take you on a pre-season tour of the resort. November is usually very nice with the autumn colors, warm sunny days, and basically the chance to catch one’s breath before the start of a busy winter season. I pictured myself strolling out of the offices with the excuse of taking a few photos, but really such a venture was intended to be the chance to talk a walk in nature on company time!  However, such is the dynamics of a full sized winter-based resort that though planning one month ahead may seem reasonable from a human perspective, it doesn’t mean much to mother nature.  She had other plans, and blessed us with approximately a meter of snow a month earlier than she traditionally has done over the past nine years of ARAI's operation.

Mt. Ohgenashi following the arrival of the snow

Insider's Lowdown of the White Season

Following the early snows, people started to ask us why ARAI doesn’t open early. I understand that a few places in Japan actually have opened earlier than intended. Characteristics of such locations typically include:

Facilities - regular ski grounds without hotels;
Courses - relatively short up and down style;
Operations - a “skeleton crew” can usually provide basic services; &
Snow- quite often artificially made.

Opening a location such as the one described above is similar to the process of a private plane taking off. Only a few people may be involved, but they need to have great knowledge and capability to get the job done safely and properly. Such conditions naturally permit freedom when it comes to departure times, which are also more flexible as the amount of resources involved means it is not usually a make or break decision.

Places that have not opened early this year, and have stuck to their set opening date share the following traits:

Facilities - full winter resort offerings including hotels;
Courses - longer and a wider variety;
Operations - require the manpower of a workforce at least 500 strong;
Snow - usually just the real thing.

For full sized winter resorts without Gondolas, the early snows this year will actually make it more difficult for them to open as scheduled. The main reasoning behind this is that winter supplies etc. that are normally driven up the mountain before the snows arrive, may have to be transported in bits and pieces on the chairlifts this year.

Opening full-sized snow resorts is like the process that must be undertaken when a respectable commercial airliner takes off. The overhead involved is extremely high, and many more people of all shapes and sizes are involved - workers and guests alike.

Preparing to deliver standardized quality on such a scale for all shapes and sizes so that it is delivered to the customer in a seamless manner takes time. In sum, the ski hills are really catering to a different market than the full sized resorts.

CASE STUDY : ARAI Mountain & Spa

"Planning is a systemized way of relating to the future. It is an attempt to manage the effects of external, uncontrollable factors on the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, objectives, and goals to attain a desired end. Further, it is a commitment of resources to a market to achieve specific goals. In other words, planning is the job of making things happen that may not otherwise occur."

The above quotation, from a business course linked to Heriot-Watt University in the UK, really puts the fact that ARAI is not opening early in a proper light. For ten years now, ARAI has been opening up the mountain to the public on the second weekend of each December. When the decision was made to open on Dec. 14^th of this year, the resort already had 16 years of data to study (9 from previous seasons and the other seven from when the resort was being developed). You would think that opening a resort would become easier each year, but as ARAI has grown over the past ten years, so have the details involved in the process of opening it. The fact that ARAI is a privately run company so widely defined means we have to stand by ourselves in comparison to the other full sized resorts in Japan, that typically are run by several different companies.

Lets take a quick look around the resort to see what needs to be done:

Human resources:
ARAI has approximately 150 full time employees, but needs to interview, hire, and transport an additional 250 seasonal workers for every December. Once here, they require training followed by a working assignment, suitable clothing for them to perform their job, plus housing and meals. For a seasonal staff member to up sticks and move across the country to work at ARAI involves a lot of tying up of loose ends beforehand, and it’s often not possible to drop everything several weeks earlier to come and work.

Maintenance:
Twice every year ARAI closes the entire resort for approximately a week to carry out routine maintenance that is unsuitable to be performed while guests are staying here. These two weeks (usually June and November of each year) offer some of the staff a chance to take a holiday to make up for the missed summer and New Year’s holidays. The rest are either directly involved in the maintenance or experiencing the endless noises, tests and trades people. To be honest, the whole time reminds me of the bridge on the old TV series “ Star Trek”. I’ll be on the phone to some poor soul and all of a sudden the PA system will erupt with sirens for a fire drill.

Suppliers:
Everything from linen service to food needs to be ordered ahead of time, and direct and reliable lines established with distributors that are willing to deliver to a mountain throughout the winter but only for that period.

Mountain operations:
Arai presently has approximately 2 meters of snow. Up until last week there was approximately 100 to 150 cm of snow. Such a level of snow is characterized with severe undulations. The fact that thirteen Pisten Bully’s are required (compared to an industry standard of 4 or 5), to carry out operations indicates that ARAI has both a great deal of area to cover on a regular basis and a lot of snow to deal with. Though the vertical difference between the peak and base is approximately 1000 meters, the longest course extends over 5 km. To be able to groom courses to a satisfactory level to open to guests requires approximately 1.5 to 2.0 meters of snow.

Lifts:
For the past ten years ARAI has always carried out emergency rescue operations during the month of November. Customer safety is prevalent to opening early in the resort's opinion. Also, as mentioned in earlier volumes of the setting journals, off-season maintenance of the lifts and Gondolas follow a strict schedule. The resort did in fact ask the lift guys this year about the possibility but the reply was that it would be impossible to complete the scheduled maintenance if we did so.

No doubt ARAI will take off again this year like it has over the past nine. Once we’re up and cruising we’re hoping to have a smooth flight through the winter season. Commercial planes rarely take off early for a number of relevant reasons. Are full sized winter resorts really that much different? In the next volume of the setting journals, I’m looking forward to talking about the resort having ascended to cruising level. Time will tell if we can all take our seat belts off ….. Until then have a good but SAFE one, eh?