When a commercial airliner takes off, an incredible amount of fuel is required first to become airborne, and secondly to climb to a cruising level. During this latter stage, the pilots of the aircraft are quite busy with this and that, and so it is with the staff at the resort. The resort was now open, but logistics behind the scenes of bringing everything together and keeping it there despite a constant turnover of guests remained a challenge those first few weeks of full operations. In Japan, you have a double whammy in that first there is the Christmas rush of international guests followed almost immediately by the Japanese New Year’s Holiday.

Looking back now, there are about six crazy weeks from an operational perspective, divided into the three weeks immediately preceding opening followed by the first three weeks after opening day. It is not really until the second week of January that one can start to assume a proactive role in their resort work instead of a reactive one. During this time, it takes some discipline to tell yourself that no, your popularity has not increased, but instead you are just helping guests to get their fix of snow. Comparing notes with others in the industry has found similar initial feelings each November/December followed by the opposite come April/May when phones/e-mail etc. quite suddenly fall silent…

So, we were now into that second week of January and the winter workers finally could take some days off to enjoy the powder that they had come so far for. The pilots of the resort however were still busy. For me personally, three things had to happen before I felt like I was working at a winter resort in full flight…
  

Our guests represent the reality of when a resort is in full flight. A good measure of this for me is when perhaps the more conservative elements of society come for a visit; Thus, this was satisfied when a junior high school from Southern Japan, consisting of approximately 300 students and their teachers descended on ARAI for three days of skiing. The group flew into Haneda Airport in Tokyo and traveled from there by bus to ARAI. It was one of those “All Hands on Deck!” situations whereby any staff member able to teach skiing was called up for three days of duty. Fortunately, the staff appreciated the chance to get out of the offices for a few days. A local company also stepped up to bat and supplied some nifty skiwear for the group. The junior high school kids in yellow snowsuits looked from a distance like a huge group of bees or wasps.

The second thing that happened was that one of our staff members, Mr. Steve Kimura of Hawaii, finally returned to ARAI to help build/work at this year’s half pipe. I’ve always thought it neat that a guy who grew up riding some of the choicest waves the Pacific Ocean has to offer would one day transform his passion to the winter sport of Snow Boarding in a distant land. Supposedly Hawaii has three Snow Boarding shops with lots of the locals there traveling to North America for their powder fix each year. It was great to have Steve back here and working his magic once again up at the pipe - Mahalo.

The last thing that had to happen was for me to get myself out of the offices and up onto the slopes. Fortunately, the weather cooperated in the middle of January, so I was able to hit the slopes for a couple of hours. In addition to some nice snaps for this article, I got to enjoy some exercise, fresh powder and sunshine! Perhaps the best thing however of that brief outing was the feeling that it left me with. Getting out on the slopes is one of the best and healthiest ways to cure the Winter Blahs. It left me feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to take on the world again. It also reconfirmed why so many persons go to such extents winter after winter to get their powder fix.

There definitely is something magical about skiing and boarding, and I am curious to hear what kind of answers the readers of this column post in the forums. One answer I’ve received from staff here is that skiing and boarding relies on focusing on the immediate present in order to be carried out successfully. Do you agree?
  

So with the resort now in full flight, what is there left to talk about? When Mother Nature is involved, there will always be quite a bit going on. What kind of a flight will this be? Will there be any turbulence, economic or otherwise? Will the flight arrive at the scheduled time? Will the destination turn out to be the same one that was initially intended? Next time in the setting journals there may be some clearer ideas concerning answers to the questions above, but for the time being Mother Nature seems to be taking things day by day. Have a safe ride everybody and I’m looking forward to hearing from you all in the forums, eh?