東京は雪
昨日・・・起きたら・・・・外は真っ白だった。東京で雪とは珍しい。皆さんあまりご存知ではありませんが、私の実家の島根県は雪国です。(と言うより失礼にも島根県が何処にあるか知らない人が多い。ったく!)本州の西に位置していますが本州では島根県までが寒冷地です。(公務員の弟は島根勤務の時は寒冷地手当てもらってました。でも今は広島なので無いそうです。)今日島根の友達から届いた写真 実家近くの”三瓶温泉スキー場”です。そしてこんなコメントも・・・『東京がたった2~3センチの積雪で大騒ぎしてるのが不思議でたまらんち~!』島根に住んでいる時は殆ど仕事が終わると殆ど毎晩スキーに行ってたな~。チェーンくらい自分でつけれますからね。その昔英語で書いた三瓶温泉スキー場についての紹介文お時間のある方読んでいってやって下さい。Skiing at Sanbe As the cold has descended on Shimane like a leaden blanket what are you planning to do to preserve your sanity until we see the sun again in March? If you put your faith in kotatsu, tangerines and television then think again! Have you ever heard of Mt. Sanbe(三瓶山)? At 1126 metres above sea level Mt. Sanbe has beautiful natural scenery and what's more there are also the ubiquitous onsen all of which make it one of the things that my hometown Oda City (大田市) can show off about. Mt. Sanbe can be enjoyed in every season of the year but as my own favourite sport is skiing I will introduce you to the winter life of Mt. Sanbe. The Sanbe Onsen Ski Area, on the eastern face of Mt. Sanbe, put up the first lift in 1961 and since then it has become an essential part of winter life for the residents of Oda City and those further afield. Recently it became the first ski area in Shimane to allow snowboarding although this isn't very widely known which means that the place is still somewhat of a well-kept secret among the local snowboarding community (there are still many places which ban snowboarders from using the slopes.) I started skiing when I was 20 which is relatively late for a resident of Oda but this proved useful in that all of my friends had started when they were children so there were plenty of instructors willing to teach me. When I started to ski there were only two lifts at Sanbe but the number of skiers was also much less so if you bought a day ticket you could go up dozens of times. Nowadays, with the revival of interest in skiing and the snowboard boom, even though there are now four lifts, the queues, especially on public holidays, can be daunting and the slopes very crowded. I can also highly recommend the National Sanbe Youth Hostel (国立三瓶青年の家) which I will now introduce. The Youth Hostel was set up with public funds so anyone can stay there. One of the buildings is in the style of a log house and has a large 20-mat room with a traditional fireplace in the middle. At night, everyone can gather round the fire and tell ghost stories, drink beer etc... Last season a mixed group of Japanese and foreigners stayed there and held a weekend ski camp. We went cross-country skiing during the day and then downhill skiing under the floodlights in the evening followed by a party till the early hours. On the Sunday we all enjoyed another day of downhill skiing and returned home Sunday evening with no energy but many good memories. Youth Hostels often have an image of being rather formal and strict places but this one is a bit different. It is a publicly funded place so there are no set rules about what can and can't be done. It has been used for club trips, soba-making parties, world food parties, cycling meets, volleyball competitions, nature-viewing parties as well as international ski camps. The Hostel also has all kinds of ski equipment which you can borrow and can even arrange instructors. When we tried cross-country skiing last year we were all beginners but with the help of a very kind and patient instructor we were all able to master at least the basics. When staying at the Hostel you can choose to do your own cooking such as鍋(nabe - stew) or even a barbecue over the fireplace in the middle of the room. The building is slightly separated from the main building so you can party through the night without disturbing anyone. All around the Youth Hostel there is usually a minimum of a metre of snow which covers everything and waking in the morning to a completely white landscape is an amazing experience. It is a place where you can feel really in touch with Nature. A great way to wash off the sweat caused by repeatedly falling down the mountain is one of the nearby onsen. There is absolutely no better feeling than lowering an aching, cold, wet body into the steaming waters of a hot spring pool (the water from the hot spring is also sprayed up from holes in the road to prevent it freezing over). It only costs a few hundred yen and there is a discount if you show your lift pass. Don't forget to pack your towel with your ski wear! A final word of warning, if you are planning to drive to Sanbe (which is the only practical way of getting there) snow tyres, chains and some knowledge of winter driving techniques are essential. Or you could just buy a four-wheel drive! Enjoy your skiing! そしてその当時の私