IN THE MEDIA
In a mere half an hour, I managed to learn some of the basic moves such as stopping, maintaining position while on the slope and changing direction. The instructions were easy to follow with Orr demonstrating the techniques.
While First Traxx is not a substitute for skiing and snowboarding, it will definitely prepare one better in terms of technique and fitness for a better sense of enjoyment when they actually do hit the mountain. Besides private and group skiing/snowboarding sessions, you can opt to host a party or office team building session here as well!
At the end of the session, I felt that this was a really good place to come for people who a) have always wanted to try this sport but can’t make it to a snowy mountain anytime soon b) want to train for an upcoming sky holiday or c) will try anything (or any workout) once, just for fun. It’s not cheap, but it certainly isn’t prohibitive, and well worth the money for the instruction, feedback and thrill you get.
I could definitely feel the soreness that the instructors had warned me about but it was something that I welcomed. I am excited at the prospect of being able to head down the mountain slopes with confidence but at the same time enjoying the thrill of it in a safe and responsible manner. I look forward to returning to First Traxx to complete my training.
I noticed tremendous improvement on my first couple of days back on the slopes of Hirafu in Niseko – I was definitely picking up much more speed as I made my turns and managed to perform smooth S-turns once I was at an incline I was comfortable with, which was my goal this year.
The instructor we had was friendly and professional, and the ratio of three students per instructor made sure they all had enough attention, hand-holding and gentle guiding to avoid crashes. After their first lesson ever the kids had enough balance to to keep on going and knew the basics of stopping – a good start! We were told that the surface translates well to real snow, and if anything it is less forgiving that a real-life slope. This means that if you crack it here, you’ll be grand on snow.