Still Going Strong
Written by Mr Mark Conlon
You would think after five days of solid skiing, interest would wane a little and the boys would get sick of skiing in the best conditions that they have ever skied in. Wrong. When I hit the slopes at 11 am there was only six sets of skis in the ski room, just about all the boys were out there and it was snowing heavily as predicted by our weather guru Mr Conlon (1 out of 6 ain’t bad for a geography teacher out of area).
After 12 noon roll call a number of boys headed over to a specially made jump area, renamed Joeys Hill, to practice some air and get a few shots. After this, the boys spread out over the resort, but after yesterdays blue-bird day (Sun and blue skies), it was back to snow and plenty of it so we were restricted to Grand Hirafu and Hanazano as the high lifts were on hold due to strong winds.
To give you some idea of the amount of snow Niseko gets, the average annual snowfall is about 15 metres. So far in the last two weeks they have had four and half metres and it is still snowing. Check out the photo of how they remove some of the excess snow that builds up around the streets of the village. By comparison a good year at Perisher blue might be 2 metres total. Last July when we were at Falls Creek we were skiing on 20cm of natural snow and 60cm of man made snow.
We were again treated to a traditional Japanese meal this evening and most of the boys enjoyed their first experience of eating raw fish. The verdict was positive although some weakened and threw theirs in their hot pot to cook a little.
It was nice to have a positive report from our host Miwa on the boys behaviour and manners around the pension and from one of the Joeys parents who is over here with his family, who observed the boys dining at the “all you can eat buffet” yesterday where he commented on their excellent behaviour and manners. It doesn’t matter where you are, there always seems to be someone watching and observing, so to all the boys over at Niseko Village, you did Joeys proud, well done.
One day on the snow to go and we hope to have a first for a Joeys ski trip – helmet cam, so stayed tuned.
Photo 1: Jack Cullen (Year 10) prepares for a day on the slopes.
Photo 2: It takes more than a shovel to clear the snow around this place.
Photo 3: Louis Collins (Year 8) flies through the air.
