Yamada "Kun-san" Yuhei and
GORYU PARK

1. From Sapporo to Hakuba: The reason I embarked on balancing competitive sports and work.

I'm from Sapporo, and until now I've mainly been skiing in Hokkaido. As a rider, I've also worked on conveying my skiing style and way of thinking through videos and photos. The reason I chose to "work as a digger in Hakuba" is because I've grown to want to take freeride competition more seriously.

All FWT Qualifier domestic competitions in Japan are held on Honshu, and overseas competitions are also basically held on steep rocky slopes. Against this backdrop, I was drawn to the diversity of the Hakuba backcountry area, exemplified by alpine areas such as Hakuba Happo, and felt that if I was going to seriously pursue the sport, I needed to move to Honshu.

The reason I decided to work at GORYUPARK this time was because Captain Kondo (now producer) and Kobayashi (now course director), with whom I worked at another ski resort a few years ago, were already working there. I trusted their high-level perspective and consistent commitment to safety management, so I contacted them again and decided to join this team. I had never skied at Hakuba Goryu before, so the fact that they were there and accepted me knowing my abilities meant a great deal to me.

2. Looking back on the season – days of park construction and skating

The 24-25 season was also a season in which we focused on training new recruits. Many of the staff at GORYUPARK come from areas outside of snowy regions, and quite a few of the new recruits are not used to handling snow itself. For these colleagues, we spent our days gradually teaching them the basics, such as how to use shovels and shapers, and snow removal, by going around the work sites together. It was also my first experience to supervise so many new recruits at once, and I realized how difficult it is to teach and how vague my own explanations were.

Midway through the season, I suffered a major injury—a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a meniscus tear—which forced me to retire from competitive skiing early. Park producer Captain Kondo, who himself has extensive experience with injuries as both an athlete and coach, naturally accepted that knee injuries can happen to anyone in skiing or snowboarding.

As a competitor and also because of my sense of responsibility towards my work, the disappointment was immense. I spent less time on site, but that gave me more time to observe my surroundings, and I think I became more aware than ever of the essence of "the job of building a park."

3. The biggest challenge: Between the field and the competition

The job of a snow digger requires more physical and mental strength than you might imagine. Shoveling snow, maintaining the slopes, dealing with temperature fluctuations, wind, and early morning shifts—the physical strain is significant, and if you're doing it alongside competitive skiing, fatigue can accumulate and affect your performance.

When you're on the management side, you realize that there are surprisingly many visitors who are unaware of the park's dangers. It's our job to prevent such people from engaging in dangerous behavior and to communicate the dangers visually and structurally. Even the way ropes are strung and poles are erected has meaning, and these alone can guide customers without using words.

Because they are skiers themselves, they can sense the patterns of accidents that are likely to occur on site and the signs of danger. I believe that is the significance of having skiers on the management side of the site.

4. Fun and Fulfillment – Creating the “Skating Place” Our Own

The most rewarding part of the job is definitely seeing the joy on customers' faces when they say, "I did it!", and witnessing firsthand the tangible progress of our fellow diggers. From a child who manages to land a box for the first time using the features we've prepared, to a snowboarder who has repeatedly tried flat down finally succeeding, these seemingly ordinary moments are filled with "dramas of success," and we feel a real sense of accomplishment knowing that we're supporting them.

Furthermore, I feel that GORYUPARK is an excellent environment for honing my skills. Surprisingly, there aren't many places in Hakuba where you can hike up and practice tricks thoroughly. GORYUPARK's night skiing provides such a practice environment, and being able to work on my challenges after work is truly invaluable.

And above all, it's a workplace where we routinely check how to place the lip and other items we've created, and how to actually use them, while we're skiing. Conversations like, "It would be fun to play around with it this way if we placed it like this," or "That lip was great," are exchanged on a daily basis, and because it's a workplace where there's a "back-and-forth movement" between skiing and maintenance, we develop not only our skills but also our "eye." The precision of our skiing is fed back into maintenance, and the sense of maintenance is then used to improve our skiing—I think that two-way interaction is the core of what makes this job so interesting.

5. A message to young diggers: Balancing safety and style

I myself have skated in many larger parks during numerous overseas trips. That's why I completely understand why younger skaters might feel that the beginner-friendly aspects of GORYUPARK are "not enough."

However, truly safe parks, regardless of size, are only those designed with a high level of safety management and a clear intention. Unfortunately, in Japan, I have witnessed many instances where beginner parks are built "half-heartedly" by patrols or ski resort staff with insufficient experience, resulting in dangerous conditions being left unaddressed. For example, situations where the angle of the lip changes too abruptly, causing riders to flip over and be thrown off.

Furthermore, a digger's job isn't just about making the lip look nice. Our role is to design a balance between rider safety and challenge. That's why we senior diggers believe it's important to pass on our experience riding in parks all over the world and our commitment to world-class safety standards to the younger generation on the ground.

6. In conclusion—to shape the future of the industry

I have a strong feeling that if we only cater to "hardcore skiers" like myself, the industry will inevitably decline. That's why I believe that providing a safe and enjoyable environment for beginners and those just starting out will ultimately contribute to the survival of skiing culture itself.

GORYUPARK was a place where people who shared those values gathered. I myself feel that working, skiing, and thinking here had a definite impact on my own competitive activities and artistic expression.

For those who are about to take on the challenge of becoming a digger, I hope you will not only pursue your own style of skating, but also be mindful of creating a space that supports others who are taking on this challenge. If you do that, I believe it will lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning and significance of your own skating. And I'm sure that when you go to other parks, you will be able to notice the intentions behind what the digger wanted to create and how they wanted the park to be used.