Ski Trip & Winter Camp 2008 (Jan 25/26/27)

Let's play snowboarding! Let's onsening! Yea Gifu mountains!

Welcome back and Happy New Year! As promised, here's the information about Winter Camp 2007, brought to you by Gifu AJET. This is one of our big annual events. We tear up the slopes, soak in the onsen, and rock a pasta supper and nomihoudai party in the lodge. As always, anyone and everyone is welcome, so spread the word and spread the love. Last year we had a blast with a great mix of JETs and Japanese, and even had JETs in from several other prefectures.

There is TONS of important information in this email. Please read it all carefully to the end, **then copy, paste, and fill-in completely the RSVP from the bottom**:

THE VENUE

We have reserved the Fureai No Yakata Kashimo, a huge beautiful wood lodge located in Kashimo Village, about 20 minutes south of Gero, an area famous for its forestry. The lodge is heated and boasts 4 spacious tatami rooms upstairs for sleeping and 2 cavernous rooms downstairs for more gregarious activities. In true Japanese style, we will be responsible for cleaning the lodge before we leave on Sunday. GIFU AJET will make a roster of cleaning assignments. Remember, many hands make for easy work.http://www.kashimo.net/fureai/

THE ACTIVITIES

Take your pick from any of the following for Saturday January 26th:

1. SKI/SNOWBOARD AT HIDA FUNAYAMA ARKOPIA

There will be a bus to transport you and your gear from the lodge to Arkopia and back again. The bus will leave the lodge at 9:00 and arrive at the slopes about 10:30. The bus will also stop at an onsen on the return trip, so we'll all will be fresh and clean for dinner and drinks back at the lodge. If you are driving/carpooling, feel free to hit slopes whenever you like. Lifts are open 8-4:50.

**The cost of lift passes and rentals are NOT included in the cost of the camp. You must bring your own, or rent them at the slopes.**

1/2 Day Lift Pass (from 12): 2800 yen
Full Day Lift Pass (lifts start at 8): 3500 yen
Ski Set Rental (skis, boots & poles): 3000 yen
Snowboard Rental (boots & board): 4000 yen
Clothing Rental: 3000 yen

If you are interested in having ski or snowboard lessons, Arkopia offers lessons. The costs vary depending on the number of people participating, but should be around 3000 yen for a 2 hour lesson. These need to be booked in advance, so indicate if you'd like a lesson in the RSVP info below.

You can make your rentals on Saturday at the slopes. They have ski boots up to 30cm, and snowboard boots up to 32cm. You may want to call sometime in advance if you have monster gaijin feet and are concerned about availability 0577-52-2219.
For more info see http://www.hida.jp/arkopia/ (Japanese only) orhttp://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=316(English only)

2. GERO ONSEN DAY TRIP

Soak your weary bones in the famous onsens of Gero. The river is lined with a variety of natural onsens, most for about 500 yen (though there is a free co-ed open air onsen on the bank of the river by the bridge!) You can explore Gero at your leisure. Get some lunch, do some shopping, maybe even go to the Gassho Village Folklore Museum. Transportation will be arranged amongst drivers.

3. RELAX AT THE LODGE

Bring some DVDs, CDs, boardgames, and books and kick back with friends for the day inside the warm cozy lodge. Go outside and build a snowman (snow in Kashimo not guaranteed) and enjoy some down time around town and in the mountains. Ahh...

COSTS AND WHAT YOU GET

Saturday Night Only - 5000yen per person

--Transport to and from Arkopia/train station/onsen
--Pasta supper on Saturday night - veggie friendly
--Accommodation for Saturday night
--Showers
--Party on Saturday night
--Nomihoudai beer and cocktails
--Soft drinks and snacks
--Sunday Brunch

Friday and Saturday Nights - 6000 yen per person

--Same as above, plus:
--Accommodation for Friday night
--Breakfast Saturday morning
--A few extra hours of sleep
--More time to socialize(We will be also going to a local restaurant Fri night 8-10. The cost is NOT included from above).

TRANSPORTATIONDRIVING/CARPOOLING:

We have transport to and from Gero station and the mountain, but we encourage you to drive/carpool to the lodge since it is MUCH cheaper than the trains and because the infrequent trains make picking up a lot of people on Friday night difficult. It also allows you to go to the mountain early if you want and/or explore however you want on Saturday.

FRI: please arrive at the lodge any time after 7:00 There is plenty of parking.
SAT: you can ride the bus to the slopes at 9:00, or drive if you would like to go earlier. We will need to arrange carpools amongst the drivers for Gero/onsen daytrippers.
**You can also arrive any time on Saturday.**
SUN: we need to leave the lodge by 12:00.(Directions will be included in a later email.)

TRAIN

Gero station is on the Takayama line which runs from Minokamo to Takayama. It is a 30min drive to the lodge from Gero station so we will provide a ride. There are very few local trains. There are more frequent express trains, but at a much higher cost. Please see http://www.hyperdia.com/ to plan your trip from you location. For reference: the local train from Gifu to Gero is 1620yen one way, a little over 2 hours. The "Hida Express" is 3280yen, a little over 1 hour.

FRI: there will be 2 pickup times, 8:45 or 10:40. This accomodates the local trains from both the North and South. Because of car space for pickup, we may have to balance the numbers if more people choose one time over the other.

SAT: the bus will leave for the slopes at 9:00. We will leave the slopes at 5:00, stop at the onsen, and then continue to the lodge. We will need to arrange Gero/onsen carpools for daytrippers.

**People arriving by train on Saturday can arrive at any time, but will need to
1. join an onsen excursion,
2. arrange your own transportation back to the lodge, or
3. possibly join the bus back to the lodge later that evening (7ish?)**.

SUN: we will give a ride back to Gero station for those taking the trains. We will leave the lodge at 11:00.

OTHER IMPORTANT DETAILS

The lodge has 60 full futon sets. The RSVP limit is up to 75 (we had 70 last year). Even if you expect to arrive early, if you can please bring a sleeping bag to help someone out. Snuggling up with a friend is also encouraged to save futons, and increase warmth.
We will be collecting payment at the Midterm Conference, and when you arrive at the lodge for non-ALTGifuJETs.
There will be speakers for music. Bring your iPod/music player if you like. Bring games, books, etc if you will be relaxing in the lodge on Saturday.
Don't forget ski equipment such as hat, gloves, goggles, sunscreen!, snowpants, etc.
Don't forget bathing supplies for the onsen and/or the lodge.

####Please RSVP by Tuesday January 22nd####

There is an 75 person limit.Copy, paste, and fill-in the following. Please seperate information if replying for multiple people. Yes, it's a lot, but we need it all to make everything go smoothly. Thanks!RSVP to gifu_ajet@yahoo.com :

NAME:
PHONE #:
FRIDAY&SATURDAY NIGHTS or SATURDAY ONLY:
IF FRIDAY, WILL YOU GO TO SUPPER 8-10?:
WHICH SATURDAY ACTIVITY (ARKOPIA, ONSEN, LODGE):
DO YOU WANT A SKI/SNOWBOARD LESSON? WHICH:
TRANSPORTATION, ARE YOU (A DRIVER, CARPOOLING, TRAIN): IF DRIVER, WHO IS RIDING WITH YOU? (And please let us know if you have more room for others):IF TRAIN, PICKUP FROM GERO STATION 8:45 or 10:40?
DIETARY REQUIREMENTS:

***NOTE: we must receive your RSVP information by Tues, 22nd. We must receive any cancellations NO LATER than Wed, 23rd at 4:00pm. If something comes up after Wed, please find someone to replace you. If you do not find a replacement and are a no show/last minute cancellation/missed your train/whatever, you will still have to pay in full. Every AJET event is zero sum so we need exact numbers. We give the lowest price we can, and AJET volunteers have to pay the difference when people don't show...***

Your Gifu AJET Family,