Home
Seaoats got me started with the sking story. here is what I blogged a few years ago...
\
Snow and more snow. People ski down town, people seem to ski every where. Close to the front gate was a small hill (little Fuji). people used to check out a pair of skis from special Services and go play on the hill. It was not very high so it was a good place to practice. Some times the trick schedule made it hard to get off post so sking was a good thing to do. It was a lot of fun but damn hard work learning to climb back to the top after each run. One part of the hill had some big bushes at the bottom. There was a small gap in the bushes that you could try and get though. If you missed the gap and you hit the bushes and it hurt. So the trick was to learn to shoot the "Banzai Gap" Most of the trips and sight seeing trip were on the weekends. Most of the time trick workers could not go due to the work schedule. I am sure the Lifers and Dependents liked it that way. So we raised a lot of hell and they set up a over night skiing trip to Sapporo. I know there was one full bus but they maybe have been two.
So away we go the ski slopes. Wow this is big time stuff. There was a very nice lodge with a big fire place a lot of cool chairs to sit and rest in. they had a full Bar and the prices were no too bad. We stayed in a big room with a jillion little covered bunks stacked 3 or 4 high. . They were a little big small and cramped but it was ok. We all get our skis and run and jump on the chair lift. the chair lift is not as easy as it looks but we made it with just a few minor mishaps. Not knowing much about skiing and having a language barrier proved to be interesting. There were many different ways to ski down but which ones? Some employees of the resort pointed out what they thought was the best routes for a bunch of goofy Gaijins to use. Yee Haw I made it down. Way cool. Time to do some more. For the rest of the day we rode the lifts and skiied on the Novice slopes. Then It happened. Some of us were standing at the top looking at the Grand Slalom. This is really a bad boy. Very steep with lots of moguls(sp) bumps thay you use to crave you way down. It is like trying to weave the line on a highway. Not too hard when you are going slow but the faster you go the harder it gets. I am looking over the edge and some one pokes me in the back and pushes me over the edge with their ski pole. OH damn this is not good. There are other people on the run and you can really hurt someone if you run into them. I make the first couple of cuts but I am way way over my head. I fall to stop my self. But I still have to get down and it is very damn steep where I am. There are flags that border the edges that mark the out of bounds of the course edges. My plan was to get up and ski to the edge of the course and work my way down with out hurting anyone, my self included. I make it to the edge ok and as luck would have the are very few people on this part of the run. Too steep and hard. Duh. I get to the edge and turn and start down , not too bad pretty smooth snow is a little deeper. I think hell, I can make it, no one is in the way so it should clear sailing . The faster I went the more afraid I became and I crouched lower on the skis. This made me go even faster. Still no one was even close and I was still standing going very fast. As I got to the bottom my path crossed another trail that was almost bare ice. I fell. I bounced, hit, rolled. spun, It was spectacular to say the least. I guess it knocked me out for second or so, when I retained my bearings, there were alot of Little japanese guys with Green Crosses on their vests, talking to me. They were saying " Itai? Itai?" I guess they thought I might know the meaning of that as it is a fairly simple word meaning Ouch or That hurts. I rode me down to the lodge on a sled. I was was not hurt. All the people in the lodge thought it was a good show and none seemed to be very mad. Some guy bought a shot of whiskey(Suntory) so in a little while I was ok. I took a break from skiing for the rest of the day. That night we meet some Japanese guys who want to hang with us. It was ok with us. Some what later that night we got into a discussion about if you could ski down the road that led up to the resort. They said you could not do it. I said I could. So as the night wore on, we made a wager. 100 dollars(A lot of money) if I could do it. They would call the Taxi at the bottom and have him bring me back up if I made it. Looking back It was a pretty stupi thing to do. I had a small back pack and loaded with a bottle of wine and took off down the road. It was snowing pretty hard so the skiing was not too bad. Problem was I could not make all the turns. I just ran into the snow drifts to slow down. By the time I made it too the bottom I looked like a huge snowman. I walked into the Taxi station and scarred the hell out of them. But they ran me back up the mountain and I collected the money. True story. Later on I went skiing closer to Chitose at a much smaller place. I had been there a couple of times so I knew which trails to take. It was fun and I really enjoyed it. The chair lift had 3 stops on it. I always got off on the 2nd stop because like in Sapporo the 3rd stop was for very advanced skiers. One day I am not paying attention and I miss the #2 stop. Double damn. The ski chair lifts were balanced so they did not want you to ride them down. There were a lot of trees on this part of the slope. I decided to give it a try. I was doing good and almost made it when I skied in to a stump. Boom!! The ski shattered and leg hit the stump. I was really hurt. I took my one good ski and sat on it till I got down to where my friends could help me. There was a Japanese Doctor there and he looked at my leg and thought it might be broken but he did not think so. Someone had a car so we packed my leg in snow and they drove me back to town. Mr friend had a car in town so they drove me back to the post. The Medic took a xray and said it looked ok to him. I still have a large bump from that stump even today.
\Snow and more snow. People ski down town, people seem to ski every where. Close to the front gate was a small hill (little Fuji). people used to check out a pair of skis from special Services and go play on the hill. It was not very high so it was a good place to practice. Some times the trick schedule made it hard to get off post so sking was a good thing to do. It was a lot of fun but damn hard work learning to climb back to the top after each run. One part of the hill had some big bushes at the bottom. There was a small gap in the bushes that you could try and get though. If you missed the gap and you hit the bushes and it hurt. So the trick was to learn to shoot the "Banzai Gap" Most of the trips and sight seeing trip were on the weekends. Most of the time trick workers could not go due to the work schedule. I am sure the Lifers and Dependents liked it that way. So we raised a lot of hell and they set up a over night skiing trip to Sapporo. I know there was one full bus but they maybe have been two.
So away we go the ski slopes. Wow this is big time stuff. There was a very nice lodge with a big fire place a lot of cool chairs to sit and rest in. they had a full Bar and the prices were no too bad. We stayed in a big room with a jillion little covered bunks stacked 3 or 4 high. . They were a little big small and cramped but it was ok. We all get our skis and run and jump on the chair lift. the chair lift is not as easy as it looks but we made it with just a few minor mishaps. Not knowing much about skiing and having a language barrier proved to be interesting. There were many different ways to ski down but which ones? Some employees of the resort pointed out what they thought was the best routes for a bunch of goofy Gaijins to use. Yee Haw I made it down. Way cool. Time to do some more. For the rest of the day we rode the lifts and skiied on the Novice slopes. Then It happened. Some of us were standing at the top looking at the Grand Slalom. This is really a bad boy. Very steep with lots of moguls(sp) bumps thay you use to crave you way down. It is like trying to weave the line on a highway. Not too hard when you are going slow but the faster you go the harder it gets. I am looking over the edge and some one pokes me in the back and pushes me over the edge with their ski pole. OH damn this is not good. There are other people on the run and you can really hurt someone if you run into them. I make the first couple of cuts but I am way way over my head. I fall to stop my self. But I still have to get down and it is very damn steep where I am. There are flags that border the edges that mark the out of bounds of the course edges. My plan was to get up and ski to the edge of the course and work my way down with out hurting anyone, my self included. I make it to the edge ok and as luck would have the are very few people on this part of the run. Too steep and hard. Duh. I get to the edge and turn and start down , not too bad pretty smooth snow is a little deeper. I think hell, I can make it, no one is in the way so it should clear sailing . The faster I went the more afraid I became and I crouched lower on the skis. This made me go even faster. Still no one was even close and I was still standing going very fast. As I got to the bottom my path crossed another trail that was almost bare ice. I fell. I bounced, hit, rolled. spun, It was spectacular to say the least. I guess it knocked me out for second or so, when I retained my bearings, there were alot of Little japanese guys with Green Crosses on their vests, talking to me. They were saying " Itai? Itai?" I guess they thought I might know the meaning of that as it is a fairly simple word meaning Ouch or That hurts. I rode me down to the lodge on a sled. I was was not hurt. All the people in the lodge thought it was a good show and none seemed to be very mad. Some guy bought a shot of whiskey(Suntory) so in a little while I was ok. I took a break from skiing for the rest of the day. That night we meet some Japanese guys who want to hang with us. It was ok with us. Some what later that night we got into a discussion about if you could ski down the road that led up to the resort. They said you could not do it. I said I could. So as the night wore on, we made a wager. 100 dollars(A lot of money) if I could do it. They would call the Taxi at the bottom and have him bring me back up if I made it. Looking back It was a pretty stupi thing to do. I had a small back pack and loaded with a bottle of wine and took off down the road. It was snowing pretty hard so the skiing was not too bad. Problem was I could not make all the turns. I just ran into the snow drifts to slow down. By the time I made it too the bottom I looked like a huge snowman. I walked into the Taxi station and scarred the hell out of them. But they ran me back up the mountain and I collected the money. True story. Later on I went skiing closer to Chitose at a much smaller place. I had been there a couple of times so I knew which trails to take. It was fun and I really enjoyed it. The chair lift had 3 stops on it. I always got off on the 2nd stop because like in Sapporo the 3rd stop was for very advanced skiers. One day I am not paying attention and I miss the #2 stop. Double damn. The ski chair lifts were balanced so they did not want you to ride them down. There were a lot of trees on this part of the slope. I decided to give it a try. I was doing good and almost made it when I skied in to a stump. Boom!! The ski shattered and leg hit the stump. I was really hurt. I took my one good ski and sat on it till I got down to where my friends could help me. There was a Japanese Doctor there and he looked at my leg and thought it might be broken but he did not think so. Someone had a car so we packed my leg in snow and they drove me back to town. Mr friend had a car in town so they drove me back to the post. The Medic took a xray and said it looked ok to him. I still have a large bump from that stump even today.