Tasci back from Japan

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 35, 17 February 1987, Page 11

Tasci back from Japan

A group of young Turoa Alpine Ski Club skiers returned recently from a three week exchange trip to a Japanese skifield, where they were "smothered with kindness" by their hosts, according to team manager Dave Scott. Fifteen club skiers aged 12 to 17 years, from Ohakune, Auckland and Wellington travelled to Shiga Kogen, a ski town on the west coast of Japan and 8 hours drive from Tokyo. They were guests of the Shiga Kogen Ski Club who sent a group of youngsters to Turoa in August last year. The TASCI skiers were accommodated as homestay guests by a number of families who live either in the skifield town, or in the surrounding area. They were treated to the experience of true Japanese home life with much warmth, sincerity and good humour by their Japanese families, said Dave Scott. "They smothered us with kindness and hospitality, they showered us with gifts

and entertained us with a great variety of cultural events, and offered us an over abundance of food," he said. The TASCI team spent I6'/4 days skiing in the area with the emphasis on race training, working on technique rather than speed. An area of the skifield was set aside for their training. Their coach for their stay was Canadian Allan La Chance who joined the team in Japan. Mr La Chance is a level four ski instructor who worked at Turoa Skifields in winter 1986. He was aided by Tosh Kodama from Shiga Kogen as well as other Japanese coach-interpreters. "All the kids improved their race technique," said Mr Scott, "they all worked very hard on their skiing. It was a very demanding trip for them," he said. He said it was very good for the kids not only for the ski training but also for the experience of living away from their families, in a country with a very different culture to ours. There are some similari-

ties between the area around Shiga Kogen and the Waimarino said Mr Scott. The area has a mixture of tourism and horticulture as its source of income, with golf and forest walks in the summer and skiing in the winter. They grow asparagus, apples and rice in summer along with a new crop — kiwifruit. The area has some geothermal activity with natural hot mineral water pools. Though Shiga Kogen pools often have monkeys coming down from the skifield trees to bathe. The skifield has 80 lifts, all chairlifts and gondolas. with the ski runs amongst the

trees. Snow fell almost every night of the team's stay with no closed days. Though some lifts were shut down when high winds affected the skifield. All fifteen TASCI skiers and manager accepted the 'Shiga Kogen Challenge', which is to ski all 80 lifts within three days. All skiers (including the team manager) completed the 'course' in 2Vi days.