Hakuba was an amazing experience. And for a beginner who saw snow for the first time, skiing was a challenge. So, I asked the localites about the easiest course. Many mentioned about Hakuba Goryu but only 1 (the hotel owner where I lived) and the bus driver(whose bus I eventually took) mentioned about Hakuba 47. They told me that this spot was less crowded than Hakuba Goryu, though both had similar amount of steepness.
So, after reaching to the Hakuba 47 skiing destination, I had to take an instructor(3500 Yens for 2 hours or 5500 Yens for 4 hours) and also the gondola cum lift pass(11 points for 4000 yens, 4 points one way Gondola and 1 point 1 way lift).
We practiced skiing before taking the Gondola. It was 2 hours course and the instructor told everything in minute detail from wearing the gear properly, doing warm-ups to the basic skiing postures and moves. The toughest one which I found was walking 90 degrees perpendicular to the slope with both the feet with the skis parallel to each other. The tough part was the softness and slipperiness of the snow, since every time I tried walking on the sideways trying to keep my legs parallel to each other and perpendicular to the slope I missed one of the two instructions and did a mistake regularly, this resulted in me getting slipped to the slope with no other knowledge to stop but fall and brake myself.This braking method of mine was very dangerous as it could have costed me my leg(s).
Still, I had a very confident and helpful Japanese instructor who showed faith in me and taught me how to brake with the skis. So, this was the most important part and also very tough (lesser than the sideways walking though). In this you need to make a V shape with your skis’ toes kissing each other and behind your body these are the opening of the <.The trick in this one is to bring your knees close to each other and put your body force forward. I tried some times and succeeded in 4th or 5th try, but did not practice it much as time was less and I thought practicing the sideways walk will be beneficial (it was not :p)
So, we went up using the Gondola which was so fast and the destination so far that I never felt nervous or dissatisfied with the amount of practice since I was enjoying this moment. There was snow everywhere and my eyes glittered with happiness and I was so excited to ski. Finally, we reached the top (this was still not the main spot since for that one needs to take the lift which is 1 point of the pass that was bought). It was colder here and the wind was stronger with more frequent puffs of snow hitting you on the face, goggles, jacket and everywhere else. This made me a little uncomfortable with the already heavy skis and shoes but I was excited to try skiing for the first time.
So, as was taught 1 hour ago, I did exactly that and tried skiing with full force. But to my bad luck I was not able to brake (not able to make the V shape), so I fell to brake myself. I thought this is the first try may be I was wrong or something so I tried again, fell again, and again and again and it kept on going for all 2 hours I was there. I still managed a 150 meter skiing without falling and that was amazing feeling 😀
Since, it was late and the sun was to set in about an hour, the instructor suggested to go down instead of taking the lift.
I think it is necessary to practice well before you go up to skiing spot since at the up if you fall its very dangerous as all the skiers are coming fast and can hit you if you are falling too often and lying on the ground for late, I was lucky that even after falling for more than 15 times at the top, I did not get hit even once.
This was one of the best experiences I had and would love to try skiing again some day, some day near than in far future since that is how I will improve and enjoy this lovely sport 🙂
