Imagine traveling halfway across the world and participating in the same sport you do back home. Lewis Cass foreign exchange students, Yuta Yashiro, and Nelson Melin had the opportunity to travel north to Boyne Mountain in Boyne City, Michigan last weekend. Both Yuta and Nelson are from different parts of the world, Yuta from Japan and Nelson from Germany. The Kings’ Courier sat down to ask a few questions about differences in skiing in Michigan versus back home.
Nelson Melin, a resident of Cologne, Germany, compared the size and facilities in Michigan to those back home in Germany. Nelson replied, “Ski resorts in Europe and the Alps, in general, are normally larger than the ones in Michigan. They don’t necessarily have more slopes, but the elevation is higher. That results in longer ski runs, longer lift rides, and a longer skiing season.” Nelson went on to describe, “Après-ski (conditioning and strength) in Europe is a big deal for many people, but for me personally, skiing was always the main focus rather than the après-ski.” Melin talked about what he misses back home in Germany. He responded with, “I only miss the good food in the restaurants by the slopes. This was my first time skiing without “Schnitzel (breaded, fried, flat piece of meat) and “Skiwasser” (raspberry syrup and carbonated water), and it was definitely different.” Nelson described some of the differences in difficulty between the mountains in Germany versus those in Michigan. “In the Alps, we have blue, red, and black slopes (blue being the easiest and black the hardest) and not green, blue, black diamond, and double black diamond-like here. The black slopes in Europe are harder than the black diamonds here because they are steeper and narrower. We don’t have slopes with moguls, which can be a challenge for some people. I would say that the difficulty is about equal, but depending on the resort, European slopes can be harder.” Melin went on to describe the ski culture here, “Before our ski trip, I thought the ski culture here was less relaxed than in Europe because of the ski patrol, but after skiing here, I have to say that it’s about the same. I didn’t have any problems with ski patrol, and I had some nice conversations on the lift.”
Yuta Yashiro, from the mountainous island nation of Japan, was asked about the differences in ski resorts back home versus the US. Yuta said, “Yes, they have an inn (Ryokan), which is a traditional Japanese hotel, and they usually have a hot spring or onsen (a hot spring) in town.” Finally, Yuta was asked about the differences in ski culture between Japan and here? He responded, “There is a cabin nearby when skiing in Japan; it is basically a hotel on the slope. Also, the hotel’s breakfast is bad compared with the Japanese one, by the way.” Seems like the breakfast wins for the US!
In conclusion, it seems both the German Alps and slopes in Japan are similar to those right here in Boyne City, Michigan, but you really will not know until you try it yourself!
