While the great appeal of backcountry skiing in the great outdoors lies in the many dangers lurking in the snowy mountains, backcountry guides are experts who ensure safety on snowy mountains while providing an indescribable skiing experience based on their extensive knowledge and experience. This article takes a closer look at the personalities and
guiding of up-and-coming guides who have chosen professional guiding as their profession and are slowly and steadily delving deeper into this world, one step at a time.
The origins of a worryingly unprofitable guide
"We keep the number of participants as small as possible and take them to quiet areas. Even if you're experienced in backcountry skiing but new to our service, we'll invite you to join our half-day 'Get-Together Tour' to see your skills and then invite you to join a tour we propose at a later date." This
isn't recommended for those simply seeking pleasure and adrenaline. This guide is perfect for those who want to settle down, engage with skiing and their body, and embrace skiing as a lifelong sport. While this system may seem tedious at first glance, it's actually a friendly and thorough curriculum that ensures safe and steady progress for both parties. He laughs off concerns that limiting the number of participants and offering only half-day tours would be unprofitable.
"It's fine. As long as I can enjoy skiing, eat, and survive (laughs),"
says Masaaki Sato, born in 1976 to a part-time farming family in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture. He currently lives in Hakuba Village, where he moved at age 20, but returns to his hometown to help his parents with farm work during busy seasons like rice planting and harvesting.
"Rice helped me grow, so I want to continue to be involved in rice farming. When I was little, it snowed a lot in Ueda, and I often went skiing in the mountains behind my house
They were the so-called plastic ski boots. When I started elementary school, I tagged along with my uncle, who was a lift attendant at Yunomaru Ski Resort, and made my debut on the slopes. My father was also a skier, so he would take me to Sugadaira to ski
Focusing on basic skiing with an eye on the technical selection
Wanting to continue skiing, he enrolled at Ueda Chikuma High School, which has a ski club. His home slopes are the Sugadaira Plateau, a mecca for sports training camps and a place with a rich history of skiing. He honed his skills day after day on the hard, narrow, and steep, advanced runs with a high rate of sunny days. During a joint ski training camp with other schools, he was forced to leapfrog the moat of Ueda Castle, and the thought of quitting the club crossed his mind, but he continued because he wanted to ski.
After graduating from high school, he went on to the Japan Sports and Recreation Academy (JaSRA) in his hometown of Sugadaira, aiming to compete in the National Athletic Meet. He only made it to the National Athletic Meet preliminaries, but determined to improve his skiing, he quickly obtained a license as an assistant instructor at age 20 and began working at Hakuba Happo-One Ski School. He then began basic skiing with the aim of competing in the technical competition.
"I could see the Northern Alps from the window of my house. In October and November, everything turned white, and I would go to school looking at the mountains, thinking that it had already snowed in Hakuba. I had always admired Hakuba, with its wide, large slopes, and came to Hakuba in 1998, when the Nagano Olympics were held. At first, the snow was soft and I couldn't ski at all. In Sugadaira, you can ski if you just use your edges, but in Hakuba, the soft snow creates resistance and it's hard to ski the way you want. I really felt the depth of skiing."
After working as an instructor in Happo-one for around 20 years, he changed jobs frequently as a company employee, and at the age of 33, he started going to the mountains to settle down as a rider and guide.
"After I got my guide qualifications, I worked as a mountain climbing guide in the summer. But the summer customers had so many different wants - they wanted to see flowers, take photos - that it was a bit too difficult for me, so I stopped guiding in the summer. Now I go into the mountains with the TV film crew Bocca and the Otari Murayama Guides Association, maintaining hiking trails and replacing signposts. When I'm not working in the mountains, I do part-time work at a sheet metal shop, replacing roofs."
There are probably 50,000 people who continue to work as guides without any knowledge of plants or cameras. I could tell that Sato is a guide who wants to meet the demands of his customers at a high level.
A BC guide highly recommended by Mr. Kuroda
Sato obtained his Stage II ski guide qualification in March 2018 and began working as a backcountry guide in Hakuba.
"I worked for Niki Minatoyuki's Port Snow and Takahashi Mamoru's Power Zone for five or six years. Naturally, there were a variety of customers. Even though I would interview them beforehand, I felt it was risky to go into the snowy mountains with only the information they provided."
Since leaving Power Zone, he has only guided people he knows, such as those introduced by acquaintances, to the snowy mountains. He doesn't advertise publicly and doesn't accept first-time visitors. He is committed to maintaining a safety margin. However, international mountain guide Makoto Kuroda encouraged him to go independent and open his doors to everyone.
"Thankfully, Kuroda is a senior who has been very helpful to me, teaching me how to behave in the mountains, even though I had only ever skied, and introducing Kuroda's customers to my lessons. He was a great encouragement, so this season I created a website and started my own company."
Kuroda, who encouraged Sato, had this to say about him:
"Mr. Sato is obviously a good skier, has great stamina, and has no problems with any of the things that go beyond guiding, but I think his good personality makes him well suited to being a guide. I don't think he's the type to be fawned over by the media, but I think he'll be a guide who will be well-received by customers who know what they're doing
I also like the fact that they understand that safety, not risk, is what they're selling. They understand that they're not just showing amazing places, but taking customers to fun places."
Mr. Kuroda is an international guide who contributes to the development of young people as a lecturer at the International Nature and Outdoor College and an examiner for guide qualifications. He has seen hundreds of aspiring guides, and he gives his stamp of approval
"The house we bought second-hand in Hakuba is called 'Tabiya' by the neighbors, so we named our business 'Tabiya'. It's written in kanji as 'Takubiya'."
When asked if it means an original ski shop that pioneers the mountains and doesn't compare itself to others, Sato replied with a laugh, "Well, when I asked an AI, it said, 'What do you think of this Takubiya?'"
I want to teach beginners and intermediate skiers how to ski on snowy mountains
As mentioned above, at Takuya, first-time customers first participate in a half-day "First Time Tour." They assess their skill level and then select the next class they should join.
"If we don't do this, they won't be able to protect themselves, and I think the customers will have a hard time. It's important to take the right steps. Skipping the in-between steps will leave them with incomplete skills and knowledge. Hakuba has many companies that offer tours for advanced and expert skiers, but I want to focus on beginner to intermediate skiers and teach them how to ski on snowy mountains. In reality, the range of intermediate skiers is quite wide, and many people are probably hitting a wall. Ultimately, I want to be in a position to push intermediate skiers who haven't yet reached the expert level."
Assessing each customer's physical strength, skill, and personality, and tailoring the instruction method to suit each individual, inevitably requires a small, elite group.
"When I'm guiding alone, I can only guide with a maximum of three people. If it's four or five people and I'm feeling uneasy, I'll quickly add a sub-guide."
With a long background as an instructor on the Happo Ridge, one would think that Happo would be his main guiding area, but it turns out that his main area is Tsugaike Kogen in Otari Village
"At Tsugaike, you can gain altitude by gondola and choose from a variety of slopes. Direction, length, gradient. There are so many options. As you walk, you can check the snow quality on the various slopes, gather information for the day, and draw up a plan. I sometimes take regulars who have grown tired of Hakuba to Shiga Kogen. Shiga is wonderful on a snowy day."
Why not go to the popular Happo-one, a familiar destination where he spent his impressionable years in his 20s and 30s?
"I'll go if it's for fun, but I rarely take clients. It's too risky to suddenly go skiing on a big slope with so many skiers. There are so many guides and skiers, and I'm worried that my judgment might be clouded. I don't want to be biased and make a poor decision that could lead to an accident. For that reason, I avoid crowded places. My clients come to relax and unwind, so I try to guide them to quieter mountain areas as much as possible. I also keep the number of people small. If 10 people ski on the same slope, there won't be anywhere to ski."
On the day of the guide, the routine from waking up in the morning to heading to the site is an essential part of the daily routine. He also asks that clients be notified of the meeting place on the morning of the tour, if possible.
"I get up before dark in the morning and use a snowblower to clear the snow in front of my house while checking the amount of snow and its moisture content. Then I go to my computer and check the amount of snowfall using Powder Research, watch live cameras at the ski resort and the national highway, and check the data from the anemometers that Moriyama Kengo, the avalanche management manager at Hakuba Happo-One Ski Resort, has installed in various places (they will be open to the public from this season) and decide where to enter the mountains. After that, I finally contact the customers and tell them the meeting place."
In spring, when the snow becomes stable and granular, the distance traveled increases, crossing ridges from Tsugaike and heading into streams. He also ventures out of his home mountain.
"Mount Nabekura, Mount Kurohime, and Mount Sado in Hokushin are great places, too. And of course, once April rolls around, I also climb Mount Tateyama."
A late-blooming contrarian goes his own way
His contrarian attitude, which hates being the same as everyone else, also permeates his clothing and gear.
"I wore Mammut for about 10 years, but last year I switched to British brand Rab. They're designed with the wearer in mind, made with high-quality materials, and well-made, yet affordable. Another plus is that they're reliable because they're field-tested in the rainy UK."
When I was younger, I just started skiing in the mountains and didn't have much money, making it difficult to even buy gear. Seeing my struggles, Matsumoto of the Hakuba ski shop Rappy offered his support, saying, "Why don't you try this?" At the same time, Rappy began selling Rab products last year. Now it's his turn to give back, and as Rab's Hakuba sales manager, he's excited to promote Rab to customers. He
also made a fresh start with his skis, switching from Blizzard to WAPAN, an up-and-coming Japanese brand made in Colorado, USA.
"Last season, I tried out the Center 122 "I" and the Center 105 "Ro" at Tsugaike, and they felt amazing. As I transitioned to a new style of skiing, I switched from Technica boots to Dynafit." He's
starting a new business, refurbishing his gear and apparel. A late bloomer as an independent guide, the 48-year-old is set to be busy from now on.
"Just because I created a website doesn't mean customers will come, so I think I'll probably spend more time hanging out with Makoto Matsubara, as I have done until now (laughs). I think it's hard to hit the sweet spot without stretching my legs and looking at various slopes, so having fun is important (laughs)."
He heads to a quiet mountain range with a small group of elite beginner and intermediate skiers. Clad in unique gear and skis, he generously shares the skills he's honed on the rugged slopes of Sugadaira and the fluffy slopes of Hakuba.
"I'm not good with large groups of people, so I want to continue to be a person and a company that pays close attention to small details. People call this a niche business model, but I'm just a contrarian (laughs)."
【Profile】
Masaaki Sato
Born in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture in 1976. Owner of "Takubiya," a guide based in Hakuba and Otari. Dedicated to competitive skiing from childhood through high school, he mastered basic skiing before moving into the world of snowy mountains. He has worked at Hakuba Happo-one Ski School for around 20 years and is renowned for his easy-to-understand lessons on snowy mountain techniques. He gained experience in snowy mountains at "Power Zone Hakuba" and other places, and will be going independent from the 2024/25 season. His specialty backcountry areas are the Otari village area, including Hakuba and Tsugaike. He holds the Japan Mountain Guides Association certified mountaineering guide stage II and ski guide stage II. Former SAJ official instructor.
Qualifications held: Japan Mountain Guides Association certified (JMGA)
, mountaineering guide stage II , ski guide stage II
TABIYA Official
website: https://tabiya.jp/
Official SNS: Instagram