Japan ski resorts are very priced to have some of the deepest and lighter poles. A winter of exceptionally heavy snow (some areas had more than 12 footpack this week) should be a skier or a snowboarder’s dream.
The ski ground in Japan this winter is « Super Big and Super Gnarly », the Austrian professional skier Tao Kreibich, 27, Said in a video On a recent landscape excursion to the country. « You can do some crazy things. »
Yes, but …
While many of the 500 skiing areas more or less of Japan are Have a banner seasonThe giant snow steps have made challenges that have gained benefits and provoked safety problems.
« Heavy snow is a joy and a concern » for the complex workers, said Shinichi Imoto, a spokesman for the Washigake ski resort, who is seeing some of his biggest derivations in a decade. « There are worries if it does not fall and cares if it falls too much. »
Some complexes had to close lifts Give the crews longer to get out. Road closures have reduced access for visitors. In some places there are more skiers and snowboarders than usual was lost in the country or attached to avalanches.
Operations have returned to normal at many ski resorts throughout the country. But the effects of snowstorms last month, which led to school closures and the cancellation of trains and flights, still feel.
In Kagura Ski Store, about hundreds of kilometers by road north -East Washigake, visitors’ numbers have dropped this year, although the snow has been good and abundant, said a spokesman, Kazuto Harasawa.
Unusually heavy snow forced the complex to close six times last month. The closure of a nearby road, combined with the elevation of the high mile of the complex, did not help. « We are experiencing record snow and our staff is exhausted so please understand it, » Said on social media By the end of February.
The snow also forced Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort, about 12 kilometers by Kagura road, to close one day in late February, its first closing in more than 30 years of operation. A spokesman, Takashi Onozuka, described the snowfall this season, which is about twice and a half last year, as a « truly disaster level ».
Customers were pleased with snow quality during a recent cold instant, added: « But it is difficult for workers. »
Even if ski elevators can be cleaned, car parks and other areas, strong snow presents safety risks in trails and landscape areas.
Trees accidents usually take into account many of the deaths of skiing in the United States, conform to data from the National Association of Skiing Areas. Other causes of death are avalanches and fall into deep and loose snow around large trees.
In Japan, Hokkaido North Island had reported 28 cases of people stuck in the mountains while skiing the country in late January, more than double than the previous season, according to Local Police. This data was collected before early February, when Obihiro, a city in the southern part of Hokkaido, received 50 inches of snow More than 12 hours, a national record.
Mr. Kreibich, the Austrian skier, knows a little about the risks of skiing off the court.
He and a dressing room, Gabriel Koschier, 28, flew to Japan for a whim in early February because snow in the Alps was not particularly good at the time. They headed to a complex in the Hakuba Valley that had Events hosted For the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
They took an elevator to the highest point of the complex and went up for an hour, looking for a pristine landscape. « Although I pursue snow around the world, I think I’ve never seen so much snow anywhere, » he said in a telephone interview.
Although the sun shone and the dust was exceptional, Mr. Kreibich and Mr. Koschier began to see cracks in his snow bag as they slid on a roll of wind of wind and almost unpleasant. Kreibich said he also realized that the snow under his feet felt « a little strange. »
Mr. Koschier then slid almost 1,000 feet in an avalanche. Survived, shaken but without injuries. Although the moving snow had been deep enough to bury it, it had dropped above below.
After Mr. Koschier’s skis found, the couple returned to the softer terrain complex. « From that moment on, we were happy to go down and take it calmly, » said Kreibich.
That night, they toasted their luck for good.
Leave a Reply