It's the start of winter in Japan and my friends have been planning their snowboarding weekends recently. In our group, I'm the only one who is not so enticed with winter sports. Aside from being overweight which could be a potential problem when moving around in snow, I am also scared of heights and the thought of sliding. So I always end up not joining my friends on their snowboarding trips. Honestly, I may have FOMO but it's really not possible for me as of this time.
You may not have guessed, but I have actually been to a ski resort before and tried skiing. It was February 2019, before COVID happened and I was on a vacation with friends in Hokkaido. At that time, I didn't know what to expect and because some friends who have been living quite long in Japan have been doing snowboarding almost every weekend, the buildup was quite there so it made me excited to try.
From our hotel in Sapporo, we traveled via train and bus. The ski resort was actually very accessible, I don't remember it being a hassle to commute. In an hour or less, we were already at the ski resort.
The ski resort in Mt. Teine was called Sapporo Teine. It was pretty nice, big and great for beginners and intermediate skiers/snowboarders. It seems like when you're at the top, cities would be overlooking. There were lifts and a bunch of courses to choose from. Did you know this ski resort hosted a few events of 1972 Winter Olympic games?
They also provide lessons, in English and Japanese, either by group or privately. At that time, we thought the lessons were expensive and we're not really quite sure yet if we want to be passionate about the sport, so we didn't take the lessons. If I would go back in time and decide if I would take the lessons or not, I still think I wouldn't.
At that time, we were focused on skiing as another friend convinced us ski would be easier to do than snowboarding. One friend have been doing snowboarding a lot but he didn't force us to choose snowboarding. So of course we chose ski.
We didn't have wear so we rented it, and it was a bit pricier. Since we're a bunch of beginners, we have decided to rent only one ski for the 4 of us. The other 2 rented snowboarding gears. When we rented only 1 ski for the 4 of us who would be sharing, the staff was surprised and told us that there's a specific size for each ski and that you need the ski to be adjusted to your size. I didn't know what happened and how we convinced the staff to allow us to share the ski, but it were able to share one ski for us.
I think that was a mistake I could never forget because now I still don't know how to ski or snowboard. If I have my own, I could at least play around with it and tried.
One friend who never knew snowboarding rented the snowboard gears and because we have a friend who knows the sport, he was able to teach and give tips to that friend who relentlessly tried even with all those falls. And now, he's able to enjoy snowboarding.
What happened to the 4 of us who shared one ski? We enjoyed! Not the ski but taking photos and memories of playing in the snow. Even though we haven't learned to ski, we made a lot of great memories to cherish.
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We were in the beginner area, so it was pretty crowded but we found a place for us to have fun.
And actually, I tried to ski. I was able to slide for a mere 5 seconds and then I got completely scared for my life so I intentionally fell. I think because I didn't want to have bruises, it added to my fear. Now that I recalled, I think I wasn't completely ready - in Japanese we call that 心の準備 (or mental preparation).
We were there for half a day, and even when we haven't been properly playing the winter sport, we still enjoyed each other's company. It was funny, we even recorded a video of us dancing at that time in the ski resort and my friend's acquaintance spotted him. 😅
It was already dark at 5PM so at around 6-7PM, we have decided to go back to our hotel. The bus was quite crowded and we didn't want to be stranded in the ski resort. They were some people who were enjoying their night runs so yes, at Teine you can do night ski or snowboarding. It became more magical when it snowed a bit at night. It must have been so cold for those night runners.
That was my only experience of winter sports. It's not a huge experience but that was the only time I was exposed to ski or snowboarding, except from the talks of my friends. I would love to learn snowboarding but then COVID happened, so traveling wasn't an option before. Now that it's free, my weight and my fear are holding me back. I am still not ready this winter, so maybe we shall see in the next few winters. Hopefully I would overcome these restraints and be able to try the sport one day.
Thanks for reading!