Back in November I met up with a bunch of my former students for a "nomikai" (drinking party, eh) and at one point the topic of skiing came up. Someone suggested going to Zao and there was interest around the table in that. There was brief mention of one of the runs there which has the word "kabe" (wall) in its name. Supposedly the thing drops down at what appears to be a 45º incline. Certainly that monster was beyond the abilities of everyone at the table.
A few days before New Year's, just as we got a drop of fresh drop of snow, a call went out for people who would like to head up to Zao. There was some trepidation that came up a bit later because of a weather forecast that called for incliment weather. Perhaps drinks might be in order instead? I replied that I'd be available for either. In preparation for skiing, I went out and purchased a new pair of snow googles. I dug my pair of snow pants and then started to dig through my stored clothes for my toque. After pulling out all the suitcases I use to store clothes, and pulling out all my unsorted clothes, there was no sign of it. I took a break from the search, walked into the kitchen for a drink of water, and upon turning back spotted, to a bit of embarrassment, my toque sitting on the top of shelf of the little organizer on top of my refrigerator, right next to my Santa hat which had been unused this year thanks to COVID-19 and its impacts.
On New Year's day the storm warning had been lifted and plans to head for Zao firmed up. I was up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am to pack an extra set of clothes for a post-skiing trip to an onsen and to do a last minute check of my skiing clothing inventory. Outside the air was cold and there was a bit of snow falling after the previous day's dump...
We got to Zao around 9am or so and managed to grab a couple of the last open parking spots left out front of the Yokokura gondola station. I rented a set of poles, skis, and boots, then was off for an experience which quickly exposed an element of the plan I had overlooked...it's been around 15 years since I last went skiing.
"Rusty" might not have done justice to describe my skiing abilities that moment when I faced my first run at Zao. I never was a great skier by any stretch of the imagination. I could manage well enough not to get myself seriously injured back in my younger days. It took a bit more time than expected and I certainly wouldn't have been accused of being graceful but I made it down in one piece and without any broken joints or dislocated joints.
At some point in the day the weather started clearing up. It was starting to look like a good day to be out on the slopes....
It was probably a little while after taking the above photo and pulling up for a quick breather about two thirds of the way down, I heard some music behind me. I looked around a noticed a boarder go by nochalantly with a set of headphones clamped on their head with the music playing at probably higher than that recommended by the Apple Health app.
While we were paused at the bottom of the run we were approached by a local TV channel crew comprised of an interviewer and a camera man. They asked us with they could interview us and I semi-seriously said "Yes, if we can do it in English". The interviewer responded with a "You can't be serious" kind of reply and I waved that condition aside to answer a coupld of simple questions.
Before lunch I made a fateful decision to switch to a shorter pair of skis. I've used longer skis (170cm plus) in the past but thought that perhaps a shorter pair might be a bit more manageable given my physical conditioning and the prevailing conditions of the runs which was an early season layer of pack snow with fresh powder on top.
The food establishments at the base of the hill were packed so we took a ride up the gondola to have lunch at the restaurants in a lodge near the top station. There I got a look at trees which were on their way to being transformed into the famous Zao "juhyo", ice monsters. Well, perhaps not at that height but I'd like to thing they were....
It was as we started our descent that I sensed that something was not right. I wasn't able to catch my edges as well with the second pair. After a couple of falls I noticed that the binding on one ski wasn't holding that well. Put bluntly, it was loose. What came after that was a cautious descent down a red run. I managed to plow my way cautiously to a lift station and my partners asked an attendant if they had a screwdriver to tighten my loose binding. That they had and I was at least sure that I wouldn't loose a ski thanks to it coming off.
Along the way down we passed the start of the previously talked about Yokokura Wall run, that being the run with the precipitous almost 45º incline....
We took the blue run that loops around to the bottom of the Yokokura Wall and I stopped there to take in a view of the awesome run...
The binding problem had sapped a fair bit of my strength and it affected my performance on the last leg down the mountain. So I begged off and decided to call it a day. I returned my rented gear and then settled down with a cup of coffee to await my friends.
The wrap-up for the day was a soak at a nearby onsen and then a stop at a Kappa Sushi franchise. I tried a couple of their special offerings, a three decker nigiri sushi and a zenzai dessert (zenzai is a dessert made with red bean soup and mochi)....
Even though I didn't have the greatest day in terms of skiing, the day was a success.
Being able to get out and shake the rust out on the slopes in good company made it all worthwhile. I'm certainly looking forward to heading out more often....
