Hoshino Resort Tomamu's "Adventure Mountain" is a story-based family slope that has no similar attractions anywhere in the world.
Please refer to this experience report what Adventure Mountain is like
Not only can children enjoy being immersed in the story, but adults who are skiing with them can also enjoy the fun of clearing the items, which is a different kind of fun than usual.
Parents who feel that the park is too intimidating can start by bringing their children here and getting used to skiing.
Adventure Mountain started in 2008. From the 2024-2025 season, Gota Miura was brought in as supervisor and a partial renewal was carried out.
In addition to the attraction of having fun sliding down each item and aiming for the goal, the resort has incorporated an element that naturally improves skiing there. What is the secret behind this?
We spoke with Gota Miura while skiing together at Adventure Mountain and the surrounding area
A course idea based on affordance theory??
-Please tell us about Gota's role
Miura Gota (hereinafter Gota) : Originally, Tomamu had original ideas such as Chokkari Daimajin and the forest fairy "Nippo."
I was asked to help out with the idea that we could create a theme park where more people could get involved and ski, and where people could safely step up their game while having fun
The terrain itself was made using what was already there, and then we added additional ideas, such as "Bell Bells" and "See-Saw" bridges, as well as jumps and small bumps.
By adding these things, we wanted to create a design where the elements of play directly improve skills.
-So it's a course where you naturally improve as you play?
Gota: Children have the ability to adapt to their environment, rather than being taught by someone. There is a lot they can learn through play. At Adventure Mountain, we place great importance on this.
The basis of this is affordance theory, which simply states that the environment teaches us
To begin with, I think skiing and snowboarding are experiences on another level compared to everyday life. They're long and heavy. If you don't do anything, they'll just slide down the slopes, and they have hard edges on the sides.
Schools teach you step-by-step how to use this kind of equipment, but skiing and snowboarding are done in nature.
Snow quality changes over time, and slopes are constantly shifting. Until now, there hadn't been many initiatives to encourage children to discover for themselves how to use skis and snowboards in such diverse conditions. This project
focused on how to use equipment while immersed in the environment.
Balancing safety and a spirit of challenge
--With skiers of all levels and backgrounds, it must be very difficult to strike a balance between safety and helping people improve when installing these items. What do you think about that?
Gota: The most important thing was safety. Adventure Mountain is a place where an unspecified number of people ski. And there's not always someone on-site to supervise. How to maintain safety under these circumstances was key.
There are two key points: course design and visually making the course appear dangerous. These are the safety considerations we take into account
Have you heard of the movie The Karate Kid? There's a scene where Miyagi, a karate master, doesn't teach the main character karate from the beginning, but instead has him wax a car and paint a fence. By ingraining the movements necessary for karate into his body, the main character unknowingly picks up karate, ultimately laying the groundwork for him to become a master
Adventure Mountain is also mindful of this. Skis will not turn unless you put weight on your outside foot. In the "Bell Bell" zone on the special stage, if you place a bell on the right side of the tube ring, simply ringing it will automatically force you to put weight on your outside foot.
This design naturally connects the goal of ringing the bell with the fact that putting weight on the outside foot causes the skis to turn. If the tube ring is placed in a wider area, speed will naturally be adjusted, and if you create undulations there, you will be able to intuitively understand how to move in three dimensions.
-I see
Gota: Another thing is to make people feel visually threatened. When humans see something scary, they always brake. I think making something seem really dangerous actually leads to safety.
For example, a cliff. Make the entrance zigzag, then stop and look at it. If you make the drop-off a little gentler than 90 degrees, even if someone falls, they'll just slide right off. If you draw a line that clearly shows a sharp drop, then probably no one will try to jump
--My kids ended up flying long distances on "Gake Gake." When you think about safety, that scary appearance acts as a deterrent to some extent
Gota: That's right. Also, there was a lookout point with a flag on it. If you just jump around on the wave heading there, you won't gain enough speed and won't be able to reach the top. But if you pump on the downhill side of the wave and gain speed, you can climb all the way to the top of the lookout point.
That kind of movement actually comes in handy on the slopes of a ski resort.
-Indeed , while skiing, I felt like I was paying attention to the terrain on slopes other than Adventure Mountain.
The original concept was enhanced with the fun of skating
Gota: When creating this concept, it was very important that characters like Chokkari Daimajin and Nipo were already created from the beginning. When children have a story, they become the main character and become more proactive than usual.
I think the setting for people to become characters from the story has been well thought out. The same goes for the stamps and gifts. I was relieved to see so many people, from schools and the general public, regardless of age, gender, or nationality, taking part, and I thought it was interesting
--The route to Adventure Mountain was also great. It felt like you could apply the movements you learned on the ride
Gota: It's great to be able to ski through the forest (an area open only to advanced skiers). You can fly through the mash and do a little tree run where you slide through the trees.
When my kids are skiing at Teine, they never come out of the woods (laughs). Once they improve to a certain level, they want to go somewhere that is more original than a course, somewhere that will stir their sense of adventure. That kind of proactiveness comes out naturally
--When you ski down Adventure Mountain and head to the lift at the base, there's a forest maze. You're sure to get sucked in there too
Gota: The Forest Maze wasn't very steep, so there were lots of small ups and downs. If you just skied normally, your speed might drop so much that you'd stop, but if you pumped frequently, you could maintain your speed. You naturally learn these things as you ski.
You see, when I raced the kids through the forest maze, I overtook them by sliding from behind. The kids thought there must be other ways to gain speed besides just using poles, and they tried them out
--You can really experience what the natural environment has to teach you
Gota: That's right. I think children will improve faster if they get used to the natural environment rather than learning how to ski in a complex, changing terrain.
-- Practice makes perfect. I think that's right. Thank you
Gota Miura
was born in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1969. His grandfather is Keizo Miura and his father is Yuichiro Miura, so he grew up in a skiing family. He represented Japan in the freestyle skiing moguls at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics and the 1998 Nagano Olympics. In 2003, he climbed Mount Everest with Yuichiro, becoming the first Japanese father and son to summit at the same time. He has also attracted attention outside of the snow scene, having been talked about as an extremely knowledgeable commentator on Olympic freestyle events. He is also a man of both academic and athletic achievement, having graduated from the Department of Sports Physiology at the University of Utah in 2001 and earned a PhD in Medicine from Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine in 2012. Nicknamed "Gon-chan," he is a man of both academic and athletic excellence.
Photo/ Key Sato
[Information]
Hoshino Resorts Tomamu Adventure Mountain,
Shimukappu Village, Yufutsu District, Hokkaido 079-2204, Japan
. Official website: https://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/adm/