I Fought the Slopes...and It Was A Tie

I went skiing in Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture (site of the 1998 Winter Olympics) the weekend of March 7th with four ALT friends (Ali, Leslie, Mieko and Ken). We rented a car (which was quite the hassle for Leslie and Mieko) and Leslie drove us up to Hakuba early on Saturday morning. We stayed in a really great B&B owned by an Australian guy, his Japanese wife, their adorable 2 yr-old daughter and friendly dog (B&B Santana Hakuba http://www.hakuba-santana.com/). I recommend it if anybody is planning on doing a little skiing or mountain biking in Nagano anytime soon.

The mountains were stunning, the weather was sunny and warm, and I was absolutely petrified. Before this, I had been skiing exactly twice in my life. The first time was for a school trip in 6th grade at Sundown Ski Resort in Dubuque, Iowa. The second and most recent time was sophomore year of college in Red Wing, Minnesota. That would have been about ten years ago. Needless to say, I am not very skilled at it. Also, these mountains looked a bit more difficult than anything I've ever seen in the Midwest!

My friends were all really good skiers and/or snowboarders. I definitely was the weakest link in our group. They were very patient with me though and were good teachers. I felt bad that I was holding them back, but they took turns baby-sitting me so they all had the chance to do more difficult runs. I fell some, but not as much as I had expected, even though at one point I got myself completely tangled up in a mesh fence! By the end of the first day, I had made quite a bit of progress. I was immensely relieved to find that I could take the gondola back down the mountain though, as there was no beginners' trail all the way to the bottom. Which, in my opinion, is really stupid. I was even more relieved when I heard about how icy the path down the mountain was. The others said that everybody was falling all over the place.

Although the views at the top were gorgeous and skiing was even a bit exhilarating at points, I think the best part of the day was when we were all at the bottom, enjoying Subway sandwiches! It was almost sad how excited we were - Japan is not well known for their sandwich-making abilities. A good sandwich is very hard to find. I think there are a few other Subways in Japan but I hadn't been to one yet. Although there are much better sub places at home (Jimmy Johns, Potbelly, etc.), I think that Subway roast beef sandwich was the best one I've ever had!

That night we went and relaxed at an onsen to help with our aching muscles, ate again at a delightful restaurant called Pizzikaya (Get it? Pizza + Izikaya. Pretty clever, huh?) that had really tasty food and used all homemade pottery, and fell asleep watching the absolutely terrible movie "Never Been Kissed".

The next morning was also warm and sunny and we headed to Happo-one Ski Resort, stage of the Olympic downhill race. Although I should have felt more confident, I was even more terrified than the day before. I somehow felt that it was a fluke that I hadn't hurt myself the day before and that I was definitely due for a serious injury. It didn't help that the slopes looked even steeper and icier than those at the previous resort. When we got to the top of the chair lift, I noticed that the map had no beginner trails reachable from that point. They were all beginner 2s or advanced ones. I was frozen in place for quite awhile and then started sweating profusely. The others all skied away so they could actually enjoy themselves, but Ali stayed to coach me down the hill. It probably took at least 30 minutes and much stopping and falling for me to make it down the one short but steep run. My body didn't seem to remember what it had done the previous day at all and I was freaking out a bit because I was so scared. Luckily, the others found an easier run for me which I went down several times and I finally became more comfortable. I was even able to make it down that first scary slope again without falling or freaking out. I started enjoying myself a lot more as the day went on!

It was a fun trip and I'm really glad I had the chance to go. The scenery was really beautiful and it was good for me to go skiing again. I do have to say that I was not sad to return the rental ski gear and climb into the car to go home though! Maybe I'll go skiing again... in another ten years.