On Saturday and Sunday, came the real test of my skiing skills.
I went to Yamagata Zao, a famous ski resort in Japan, with Shige, his best friend Ishimura and Ishimura's girlfriend, Hisako. The three of them, being born in the Tohoku region in Japan, are adept in skiing and snow-boarding, and so I was very aprehensive, especially when Shige said that he will bring me to the most difficult course.
The weather was fine and blue skies covered the whole mountain range. Beautiful.
I took the lift up one of the beginner's course. Though I had 2 previous ski lessons this season, I forgot everything when I stood at the edge of the slope. The slope was not that steep, but my knees trembled. Ishimura, who is adept in skiing in short skis, gave me a quick revision but I took more than an hour to ski or rather edged down the slope. Meanwhile, Shige in his snowboarding gear, sat in the snow, waiting for me.
The morning ended without much mishaps. I had a little confidence by then, as the time taken to ski down that course shortened from 1 hour to 30 mins to 15 mins. And I could get along without any tumbles in the snow, all by myself.
Lunch came and went.
As we wanted to see the Snow Monsters ( trees totally covered in snow and as a result look like monsters) at the top of the mountain, we went higher up the mountains, took a few ski lifts to the middle of the mountain range, where there were a couple of beginner courses. However, visibility dropped as we ascended.
I trembled as I got off the ski lift. I could not see 10 m ahead of me. And I had to ski down the slope, or else I could not go home. I was on the verge of tears, and I nearly wanted to give up. It is already bad if the slope is steep, but when I could not see what was ahead of me, I simply could not take it. But Shige and his friends were in front of me, guiding me down the slope. At the end of the slope, I was a little relieved. But now, we had to go up all the way to the top of the mountain (1736 m) to see the snow monsters.
Luckily, we took the gondola. And luckily, I did not have to ski down as there were gondolas going down the mountain. At the top of the mountain, it was freezing cold (-13.6C). Strong gusts of wind blew and the visibility dropped even further. After taking a quick look at the snow monsters, I took the gondola down, while the rest of them skiied down the mountain via the most difficult course. Yes, in this freezing cold and poor visibility. Later, when I saw the photos of the most difficult course, I nearly vomitted out of shock (just joking). The slopes were almost perpedicular to the horizon! Even the most skilful skier will tumble in the snow at least once, down the few hundred meters slope. Of course, all of them fell. I heard that even Hisako was sobbing while skiing down the slope.
Anyway, I was glad that I finished the first day without any major injuries.
We stayed over at a Japanese inn, filled our bellies with good food after a hot dip at the famous Zao hot spring, before taking a walk along the hot spring street, where we bought alcohol and snacks for the night. Yes, at night, we drank and ate ice cream while playing UNO.
The next day, we went to a different course. This time, we took a cable car to another part of the mountain. The skies were perfectly clear and it was really beautiful at the top of the slope.
But then I had to ski down the slope again. All of them assured me that it was easy, as I skiied down slowly down the simpler slopes. However, the final slope nearly put me back on my verge of tears again. My knees buckled and my breathing got heavier.
It was no beginner's slope. I think the slope was inclined at around 60 degrees to the horizon. Even, Ishimura admitted that the slope is for intermediate learners. But I had no choice. If I want to go home, I have to go down the slope. And it was very long (200 m??).
I twisted and turned my skiis as I was taught, but I fell every 2 to 3 turns. Meanwhile, the experienced skiiers whizzed by me. There were no beginners like me. Giving up on me, the rest of them took to skiing by themselves. After 3 rounds down the whole course, Shige still found me at the slope, maybe 50 m away from the start of the slope. In the end, he taught me a simpler way of going down the slope. Not really skiing but sort of, where I lay my skis parallel to horizon and slide down just like snow boarding.
It took me one hour before I conquered (or rather being conquered by ) that slope. I spent the rest of the ski trip, skiing at some simple beginner course elsewhere.
It was fun but really really scary.
But I am raring to go for the next ski trip.
Here is the website of the mountain range,
Yamagata Zao. And here is the
ski resort guide.
And here are the
PICTURES!!
