Interview with Dave Enright - Part 3

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How do you see things evolving?
Well, I see the resorts opening up off-piste areas to their customers and snow parks at resorts being scaled down. The reason for this is future lawsuits from major injuries and fatalities in the parks and an attempt to keep riders in-bounds and buying tickets, rather than going off the back of resorts or not using the resorts at all. The resorts will move away from classic lift and ski operations to more multi-programme facilities. The will be snow rafting, sledding, snow scooters and snow bikes, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, motorized skiing such as heli skiing, cat skiing, etc. Small hills will go out of business or be bought out by bigger resorts, there will be more overseas investment in the Japanese snow industry and more foreigners coming from other Asian countries to ski/board in Japan. I hate to say it but there will also be an increase in accidents in the backcountry and out of bounds areas at resorts - and a high ratio of these will probably be foreigners.

How do you see your activities evolving?
I see myself and Evergreen getting more specialized and private. Working with more groups for longer durations rather than individuals for short periods. I get to know the people in the groups better over a longer period, and the group as a whole gains more from that experience. I think I will be doing less backcountry tours with clients this year and will continue with avalanche instruction to those still looking to increase their own knowledge of the winter mountains - as well as instructing at colleges in Niigata and Hokkaido. I will continue to pursue the possibilities of opening off-piste areas at resorts and training the patrol on how to control and provide rescue in these areas.

I would like to work with children more to introduce them to the wonders of nature and share with them the lessons to be learned outside the conforms of the classroom. I have already started this by providing outdoor education retreats for Japanese and International school groups, and wish to continue with more camp-orientated education for youth. I guess this stems from the fun I had as a child and the lessons I learned from nature with the activities that I did with friends, family and teachers - and my inherent belief that the future rests in the youth. I believe interactive experiences within nature and foreign cultures gives us a better understanding of who we are and why others are the way they are.

I don't want to sound as if I am preaching, but we should try not to be complacent with the lives we are given and the jobs that we do and if we find ourselves becoming such then it is a time for a change. That change might be a complete overhaul of our lives, or it might be as easy as a trip into the mountains to rediscover our true self and rethink our life journey.

In the Japan Alps,

Dave Enright
Evergreen Outdoor Center