1st Ski Trip

So yesterday I had my first opportunity to ski here in Sapporo, and let's just say I am little bit sore today.

So me and Alex left our dorm at around 9:50, and headed for Sapporo Eki. From there, you can actually purchase ski packages, that include everything from transportation to your actual lift ticket. So for 5800 yen, around 65 dollars, I was able to get a round trip train and bus ticket, ski rental, and 4 hour lift pass. I'd say it was a pretty good deal considering the train ride was 20 minutes, and the bus ride was another 20 minutes.

Once we got to the place I started getting super excited because I actually haven't had a chance to ski in 2 years. I was thinking that it would be like riding a bike you know, just grab some skis and head for the nearest black diamond. Well I wasn't right, but I wasn't wrong either. I was also super worried they would not have boots big enough, but they did.

So boots on, gear equipped, we went up several floors and out onto the snow to the familiar sight of a line at the bottom of a ski lift. Their express lift was nice because it had a full cover so the wind wouldn't tear at your face when you got near the top, but I think they were lying about the express part...

When we finally got to the top, you couldn't see anything more than 15 feet in front of you and the wind was screaming. We chose a red to go down first, a dark blue in America, and we set off.

As a quick side note, I love my ski boots and my skis, they are reasonably short and are made for doing tricks and going off jumps and things. The boots that I was given...were too big and the skis were suuper long.

So about halfway down I sort of fell...like a moron. It wouldn't be the last time. The conditions were terrible, and my goggles were fogging up, so I was actually having a hard time doing anything. There were huge snow drifts, but you couldn't see them at all, and moguls on parts of the hill where one would REALLY not expect them to be. So the first run had already turned into a disaster...fudge.

On the way up the lift then, I did something that I've actually never done before. I dropped one of my poles. I've honestly never been as embarrassed as I was at that moment. I've never done that before, never even come close to doing that before, but I was trying to wife off my goggles and I slipped my glove off, along with my ski pole. Moron.

So the 2nd run down we got to try to go down in between the snow lift towers. Normally this isn't so bad, except that the ski lift was above a FOREST, not part of the ski slope.

So we went halfway down the slope to a point where we could...easily...enter the forest to try to get my ski pole back. Little did we know that the snow was at least 2 meters deep, and not packed at all. So 15 feet down, I just sunk into the snow and fell down. And literally, I felt like the kid in Christmas Story, waddling around on the ground trying to get up. But the snow was honestly so deep, that I would put me hand down through it to try and push off the ground, but I would have to submerge my head in the snow before my hand would touch the ground. I felt like saying "Damn, were in a tight spot!"

So I finally used a small bush/tree thingy to pull myself out of the hole I had managed to fall into, and started off again, only to fall down again 15 feet later. It was honestly terrible. I was starting to get super tired fighting against the snow, and I was starting to think that it was impossible to find my ski pole. The other guy I was with had made it down a bit farther than me, but by then I couldn't even see him.

I managed to sort of roll/ski down to where I had dropped my ski pole, but I couldn't find it anywhere. After 15 minutes of futile searching I finally gave up and started down towards the bottom of the ski lift. I thought I was in the clear towards the bottom, but didn't see a 10 foot drop, so I went flying out of control into a wall of snow. On one hand it was kind of fun, but at the same time I was really tired and upset. I dug myself out and went around to the entry of the ski lift area, but I didn't see the guy I was with anywhere. I waited there for 20 minutes, and he finally showed up. Apparently he had had tons of problems as well, but had found my ski pole. Then rather than going straight down, he tried to cut through 30 yards of forest back to the ski slope. He said the snow was so deep it was up to his shoulders almost, and he is probably around 6'1" tall. He said he had to use his skis to push down through the snow to make his way out. Man this was not going so well.

After that he wanted to go down a black hill, so we got off at the top, and went down a path that was red, then turned into either a green or a black. So we stopped at the top of the black, and it looked pretty bad...snow drifts, moguls, large bumps that would turn into an unwanted jump if you hit them incorrectly...not exactly what I wanted to go down at this point. So we headed down, and sure enough after a few seconds I ate snow...lots of it. And the worse part was that it was steep enough that I just slid...another 20 yards down the hill before I finally managed to stop myself. Then I had to crawl like a strange animal back UP the slope I had just fallen down. Not fun.

When I reached the bottom my friend was already waiting for me and I told him that I had to switch these skis in before they killed me. So I got some smaller boots, and shorter skis, which fit me a LOT better. From then on it exactly smooth sailing, but I also wasn't eating snow for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...

Overall it was a pretty good day. The weather was super bad and they actually shut down half of the part, but there were still enough runs to keep us occupied. By the end of the day I was tired, cold, and starving. Hopefully next time I go it will be a little bit better :)

More photos on my facebook.