by
Shanti Sosienski
Over the last week I was at Tsugaike, a ski area in the Nagano Prefecture,
Northeast of Tokyo. A prefecture is like a county, and Nagano is one of the
biggest in Japan. It's two times the size of Tokyo prefecture. Nagano is
also the site for the 1998 Olympics, which in our shred culture is a big
deal because this is snowboarding's Olympic debut.
As the beginnings of spring pop up in this area, the construction is obvious everywhere around the Nagano prefecture. Purple and turquoise colored heavy machinery lines the road from Tsugaike to Nagano looking like Barbie toys for giants. The occasional traditional yellow cats are around, but brightly colored machinery seems to be more the norm. The roads are all being improved, new hotels are sprouting up, and 7-11's are plentiful in the Nagano area. But will this be enough?
"These people have no idea fucking what they're in for," Phil Henderson, the Australian manager of a snowboard shop called Fat City in Hakuba (the town near Tsugaike resort) told us one afternoon.
"Look at this road," he said showing us a newly built two lane road that is supposed to provide smooth flowing access from resort to resort around Hakuba. "It's really a joke. These people haven't got a clue about what's going to happen to this place during the Olympics. There is hardly anywhere for people to stay, the roads are all small and windy." He just laughed and shook his head like he couldn't believe it was really going to happen.
While I wasn't actually staying and snowboarding on the mountain where the snowboarding events will happen next February, I did take a day off from sliding the pipe to go to Kanbayashi, the resort where the Olympic halfpipe competition will go down next year.
To get Kanbayashi we drove east from Hakuba/Tsugaike through the traffic-laden heart of Nagano until we reached a small turn off about half an hour past the city. The road for the resort was so small that we actually missed it at first and had to ask Ojiichan (Grandfather in Japanese) how to get to Kanbayashi. Ojiichan was a smooth headed old man who smiled a toothless grin and told us in Japanese to turn around and take a right.
This was one of the many times that I was incredibly happy we had our guide and translator Yuki Hirata chauffeuring us around. It's hard to visualize how all of the Americans, who are used to convenience when traveling to ski areas, will find their way to Nagano. Apparently the Japanese government doesn't think it's going to be much of a problem because not much has changed in this area of Japan in spite of the approaching event.
A monkey at the monkey park sitting there like a monkey. |
The road we turned onto looked like a sleepy residential street in the suburbs winding up into the mountains. Then we came to some signs that actually had English on them. "Snowboard Halfpipe," said one of the signs. The other said, "Monkey Park." In America our common wildlife is deer and rabbits, in Japan it's monkeys.
If you think Tahoe has a lot of ski areas, you should see the Nagano prefecture. More than thirty ski areas dot the surrounding area, most of them are small with only three to six lifts. Kanbayashi is surrounded by something like twenty of these small ski areas. The close proximity of all of the resorts would lead one to believe that this area should be an ideal location for the Olympics to be held. However, while driving on crazy, twisting, backcountry mountain roads it's easy to wonder how all of the people are going to fit into this compact country, and where will they all stay? But that wasn't our problem at the moment. We were trying to find Kanbayashi. We finally got to the parking lot of the resort which looked like it could hold maybe thirty cars. I couldn't help but wonder while looking at this small parking lot if the Japanese government thinks that no one is going to come to the Olympics, or at least not to the snowboarding events. Obviously they've never been to the U.S. Open.
The hill was fogged in, but we could still tell that what we were looking at was most of what the mountain had to offer. In all honesty I'll have to say that upon seeing the muddy brown and white indentation on the hill, which would become the Olympic pipe next year, we were a little more stoked to see the monkey park. A few guys floundered in the flats at the bottom of the run in an attempt to learn the hottest new winter sport. Strips of white corn snow attempted to cover the fact that winter was definitely over for this mountain. The resort was milking it though. These guys probably paid at least 35 bucks to muck around in the bottom goop.
Where I was staying at Tsugaike, there are three Vail-sized resorts all within visibility of one another. Kanbayashi hardly matched up to Tsugaike, but what can you expect, snowboarding is still in the back pocket of skiing. We get Kanbayashi, one of the resorts where they actually allow snowboarding. Yes, this is a country that still holds firm to the age-old anti-snowboarding ethic.
Even at Tsugaike, an area that claims to be embracing snowboarding, there are still some restrictions on snowboarders. Everyday we watched helicopters filled with skiers lift off from the base of the mountain for one hundred dollars a run. Snowboarders aren't allowed on the heli-operation no matter what they pay.
Snowboarders are allowed at Kanbayashi, which is obviously a good thing considering this is where most of them will probably end up hanging out. The Olympic halfpipe is steep and doesn't look like it'll be too bad if the transitions are built correctly.
Earlier this season a test run of the course took place when the FIS held one of its international contests at the area. According to one Japanese competitor, Rio Tahara, the halfpipe was incredibly steep, icy, and difficult to ride. Hopefully this won't be the case next year, though, as the kinks get worked out, literally. Pipe dragons haven't quite made their debut in Japan, so we'll see what gets created.
About a kilometer above Kanbayashi ski area (remember, we'll be going metric in Japan, so get used to it), up a well marked trail is a natural onsen (Japanese hot spring) filled with monkeys, yes monkeys. So, if the snowboarding ends up sucking, at least attendees will be able to walk up the trail and get entertained by the 270-plus screeching monkeys that frolic the day away in the hot tubs. It's quite a spectacular sight for anyone who hasn't experienced these human-like creatures up close and personal. They lunge at you when you get too close and bare their fangs. They scamper and dance around your feet, grabbing at anything you put on the ground. They pose for pictures and ... but wait, this has nothing to do with snowboarding in Japan.
Snowboarding in February should be good because this is when the country sees most of its snowfall. In April the slush we played on was decent, baring an incredible resemblance to Tahoe minus the sun. The legends of deep snowfall that people have reported in February in this area pretty much becomes rainfall by April.
While we weren't exactly impressed by the tiny one room lodge, steep halfpipe, and limited parking at Kanbayashi, it still nice to know that Japan has actually accepted that snowboarding is going to be an Olympic sport. Earlier rumors around the U.S. were that snowboarding was only allowed at a few resorts in Japan, however, after seeing how many snowboarders there are in Japan, I think that the rumors were only American's blowing steam.
On our drive back to camp from Kanbayashi we passed a newly built bridge that had two statues proudly displayed on posts. The left one was a skier, the right a snowboarder. We all looked at it with smiles on our faces, happy to see that snowboarding really will attempt to be in Nagano next year--that is if any of the snowboarders can figure how to take the train there.
For more information on the Jeff Fulton Snowboard Camp in Tsugaike: www.hitpark.com
Day 3: Sliding
On the Japanese Pro Scene
Day 2: Patience
Is Not An American Trait
Day 1: Welcome
To Japan: Now Get In Line