Volume 8 - What about an employee and equipment appreciation day? DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE 6th March 2003 Page 2 of 2 (page 1 here)

Continued from page 1....  

What exactly was the mission that day? To visit the Half pipe at ARAI. To do so, I had to ski down to it from the peak of the lifts. Though I had ski passed the pipe on several occasions and even visited it before, this was the first time I had ever attempted to photograph it. To be honest though, when I’m taking digital photos on the mountain in bright weather, it is difficult to make out exactly the photo I’m taking. Fortunately, in my opinion the shots came out quite well.

　　
I really wanted to catch all the aspects of the pipe so made it a point to shoot everything involved. I understand that though making a pipe is difficult, it takes a lot of maintenance on a daily basis to keep it up. Even so, the half pipe gradually hollows out with regular usage to the point where half way through the half pipe season (right about now) the pipe is closed for a week of maintenance. During that week, the pipe is “rebuilt” for the latter part of the season.
　　

　　
Entering the pipe I could not help but feel a little bit self-conscious over the fact I was wearing skis instead of a board. Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about as mixed in with all the boarders, young and old I might add, was the occasional skier such as the one in the photo below. I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that until I actually saw the skier, I did not know that skiers could also use the half-pipe. Oh well, you learn something every day, don’t you?
　　

　　
Another neat thing about working at a resort is that you get to use all sorts of fun hardware to perform on-the-job duties. For the staff on the mountain, this also extends to the snowmobiles, which are essential for emergency operations and the like. When I was visiting the pipe I happened to spot a Snowmobile at the base of the pipe and managed to get a photo of it (though not a very good one I might add).
  

Hip Hop and Rock ‘N Roll! It is one the things I miss about not living in North America, loud DECENT music outdoors. The closest I’ve gotten to such in Japan has been while participating in aerobics classes, so it was refreshing to listen to the tunes on a fine day up at the pipe; However, as I used to DJ professionally on the weekends when I was a student at university, I wanted to check out the hardware involved:

  
I had been meaning to visit the half pipe for many reasons. To be honest though, I heard the half pipe before I saw it because, as you can see in the photo above, there are a couple of speakers set up in the snow at the bottom of the pipe. As soon as I heard the music though I realize I must apologize to a member of the Snow Japan Forums who asked if ARAI had annoying “Elevator Music” blaring out on the slopes like at a number of other Japanese resorts. Though I replied no at the time, the music at the Half pipe is obviously an exception. I must add however that the music is set so that it does not disturb those guests that would rather not visit the half pipe. Though basic, the music seemed to please all the guests up at the pipe that day, and many a border appeared to having a good time.

Mr. Steve Kimura! Steve is kind of a mellow take it or leave it guy hailing from Hawaii, who was mentioned briefly in volume 7 of the setting journals, “What’s it like to be part of a resort in full flight?” I’ve assigned Steve the role of duty free person in the ongoing analogy because he obviously has something to sell (Good music and snowboarding), but does not seem to mind too much if you yourself are not into those kind of things; Furthermore, over the time he has worked at the resort he has been “low maintenance”. His work, especially up at the pipe, has been carried out with a great deal of quiet pride.
  

  
When I was hanging out with Steve up at the pipe, I also got a real sense of how much he cares about each of his guests. He knows most of the regulars up there by name, and has become friends with most of them. Steve started working last winter season at the pipe. He essentially “waited” through summer, autumn and the first part of this winter to have the opportunity to do so again this season. Work at the pipe can be quite grueling, as it means scraping yourself out of bed daily at about 5:30 am and heading up the mountain to prepare for the arrival of guests.

To wind up the last volume of the setting journals, I said that whenever Mother Nature is involved, there is always quite a bit going on. How true that saying is. When I think back over the past week, I’m still amazed at how many different faces of Mother Nature I have seen. Last Friday saw fresh snow, cloudless blue skies and sunshine. On Saturday, there was warm temperatures and precipitation. On Sunday, all lifts at ARAI were closed for the day due to strong winds. On Monday, the snow was soft at all levels of the mountain due to warm temperatures, and today (March 4, 2003), fresh snow has once again fallen on ARAI with even more expected over the next 24 hours. The weather itself has proven to be very exciting.

So far the flight (or season) has been a busy but enjoyable one. As for turbulence, both the economy and the world’s politics continue to appear uncertain but neither has dramatically changed since the start of the season. Only time will shed light on the latter part of this season, especially this year.

Next time in the setting journals, I’d like to introduce a few more of the winter part timers here and also talk about the Prince Takamado Memorial Race - 2003. Until then, as always, please have a safe ride everybody and I’m looking forward to hearing from you in the forums.