muikabochi 208 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 We went to Tenjindaira today. Fantastic day, and I will post photos later, but it started off really strange. OK so I didn't notice that from 16th January until 19th March the resort only opens at 9am. My mistake. But still.... 9am? Why? (See image from their website below, bottom right it says the opening times) Anyway, we arrived at 8:30, thinking it would be open but ok we need to wait until 9am. That's ok, so we wait. So there we are waiting at the ticket counter and gradually more and more people are arriving. By around 8:50 there must have been over 100 people hovering around. Behind the ticket booth, you can see a guy and two ladies basically sitting around in the office and looking at the clock. Apparently, they will only start selling tickets when the ropeway starts at 9am. So spot on 9am they open the booth. Wouldn't it be a good idea to start selling the tickets maybe 5 or 10 minutes before, especially when there are 100+ people waiting. Oh no! They wait until the clock in their office was spot on 9am. Anyway I'm near the front, so ok we walk up to the Gondola quite quickly. Get on a gondola. And take it up to the resort.... takes literally over 15 minutes. I think I could have hiked up faster (if I were gnarly enough). Definitely the slowest gondola in the world! OK, so arrive at the little skijo that has 3 lifts. None of them moving. Walk over to one lift. The dude says that it might take 10 minutes for them to check the lift. What?! Go to another lift. It might be 5-10 minutes. So even though it is by now 9:25am, the resort is not "open", or not "open" in the sense that you can actually get on a lift! Why aren't they doing these checks before we turn up? Bad mannered dudes as well actually. And they wanted to stamp our tickets on the way down. I asked them why. So that we won't give them to someone else. Nice. ----- Any other instance of skijo not really giving off good vibes in the way they do things? Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Sounds annoying. Wonder why they only open at 9 anyway peak season? Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Yep I have been annoyed by that as well. There's no AM ticket either, even though there's a PM one. Cynically you might think because more people would get an AM than a PM or full day. But whatever, it's a magical place. Link to post Share on other sites
Ctrl-Z 0 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Naeba and their constantly reducing the services they offer and lifts not moving might fit in. Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Originally Posted By: muikabochi So there we are waiting at the ticket counter and gradually more and more people are arriving. By around 8:50 there must have been over 100 people hovering around. Behind the ticket booth, you can see a guy and two ladies basically sitting around in the office and looking at the clock. Apparently, they will only start selling tickets when the ropeway starts at 9am. So spot on 9am they open the booth. Wouldn't it be a good idea to start selling the tickets maybe 5 or 10 minutes before, especially when there are 100+ people waiting. Oh no! They wait until the clock in their office was spot on 9am. Typical. That sort of thing really does my head in. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Reminds me of when I went to Madarao last year. Beautiful powder everywhere and lifts opening super slowly... plus I got to watch the 'ski patrol' come down the center of untouched runs for almost an hour before they let their customers on the lift. It was after 10am by the time they let us up. Their excuse was they were checking the conditions... what a bunch of BS, the were just being selfish and flying down the center of the runs! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 yeah I was confused by the opening time as well.......and don't get me started on that Gondola!! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Slow for you as well hey? Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 And what's with the lifts not moving when you get up there? Sounds like they need a kick up the old bottom there. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Should be discounting the tickets if they are shaving hours off the opening times (which they did by not having the lifts running before 9am!) when it has nothing to do with weather conditions. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 My excitement at the incredible weather prevented me from getting too worked up about it, but it was annoying. People can't ski there before 9:30am basically. Which is a bit ridiculous when the morning is pretty much always the best part of the day. Link to post Share on other sites
Error404 0 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I can just picture them sitting there waiting until exactly 9am to open things up. That belongs in the Japan things that crack me up thread. Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I can vouch for muikabochi being very excited. It was really strange all this opening up business. Getting up there to the slopes at 20 past 9 or something and then having to form a queue as they test the lifts. Perfect weather. 10cm of snow overnight. No wind. What's their problem, why on earth had they not tested the lifts before? Testing seemed to involve a few staff going up on the lift. By the time they let us on there were 60 or so people lined up. Seemed like a real country bumpkin operation all round to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 The good thing about it though is that you don't have to haul yourself out of bed as early for 'first lift' Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I guess that and no real excuse The staff probably took the first gondola up and then had to test the lifts (there is probably a rule that they need to run the lift a full revolution and do a test stop) And not opening the ticket office until exactly 9.00am is very frustrating. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Does the Gondola operate at different speeds depending on the crowds? Faster at the weekend perhaps? The selling ticket thing and the lifts not moving when you eventually get there isn't on really is it. Link to post Share on other sites
ILoveZao 8 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 That doesn't sound good especially in such perfect conditions, it was not as if wind was affecting the operations. Minus points! Regarding Zao, I do think that they could organise themselves better in the really peak times regarding the gondolas and lifts. However many times we have the really busy days, it always ends up seeming like chaos. More information would be good I think. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Sounds a bit crap and those opening times are very confusing. Must be frustrating when you're there to take photos, because early morning will often have the best light. One hour less lift operation must save them some money, but that's a very conspicuous and loss of amenity way to do it. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Yep sounds like a very poor way to go about things. Link to post Share on other sites
charlotte 0 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 The not selling tickets and the lifts not moving when you got up there, that really is annoying. Were people complaining about it all? Link to post Share on other sites
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