2025-05-18

Japan Ski Test

Introduction

One of my goals in this year's ski season was to pass the SAJ Level 1 test (一級) in Japan. Here's a diagram vaguely describing the system. I'll describe a little bit about what the general system is like as well as my travails this season.

Level 2 and the system explained

You first have to pass the Level 2 exam. There are 3 events, and A passing grade for a specific event for Level 2 is 65, but you only need to have a total grade of 195 (65 average on all 3 events). I did with the following scores:

The idea behind the scoring system is basically: +2 on the passing score for an event means you're equivalent of passing at the next level. -2 would mean you are quite far from the passing level and you would only really pass the previous level.

Thoughts before starting taking the test

Based on my Level 2 scores, I was doing pretty well in Long turns and Short turns, but my Stem Turns needed work. Luckily for me, stem turns are no longer tested in the Level 1 exam!

There are a total of 4 events in the Level 1 exam, and a total score of 280 is needed (70 average). I felt pretty confident in my long turns and if I improved my short turns a bit, I thought I would be at the passing level. The two new events are:

• Short Turn (Bumps): The intention here is to see you stay within the specified bump lane with a reasonable speed.
  • I've been struggling with bumps for a long time so I thought this would be the most challenging thing to pass.
  • Compare to a lot of English language instruction, the main difference is that you must stay within the lane. If you go to the nearby lane (sometimes there is literally only 1 lane), you won't pass
  • There's a movement pattern that in English is called the "green line" and in Japanese is called ズルドン (zurudon). From what I've read, you can pass with this turning pattern, but if you lose too much speed you'll fail.
• Overall Skiing (総合滑走) or Free: The intention is to see you switch turn size from large to small or vice versa
  • This is pretty similar to long turns so I felt pretty confident

According to this site, it takes 30 days on snow to go from Level 2 to Level 1. According to this site, the pass rate for Level 1 is around 30%.

A month into the season, I started trying the test. All attempts were at Gala Yuzawa, which holds the test basically every Sunday throughout the season. The test is generally conducted on a relatively short course with around 20-25 degree angle max. The courses I had tests on were: Super Swan, Joanna B, Joanna A, Gigi, bottom section of Entertainment (Super entertainment? ).

Courses look like:

• Flats:
  
• Moguls:
  

Feb 2, 2025

I felt pretty good before my first attempt. I had taken some lessons a few weeks back and the instructor said that if he was the judge, he'd give me a +1 score on Short Turns. I thought I'd probably do poorly on the bumps, but I could get a +1 in another category and pass.

For the bumps, I attempted what the Japanese call the "bunk line", which is called in English the "blue line" or the "round line". I had practiced a bunch the previous day on the same course and managed to complete the course a reasonable number of times. The snow was quite icy that day (for Japan).

Feb 23, 2025

Since the last attempt, I practiced focusing on Short Turns, attempting to do a carving short turn. After failing and crashing with the bunk line, I resolved to do zurudon/green line for the bumps. I had read that if executed properly, you could pass so I focused on execution. The day was quite snowy.

March 9, 2025

March 23, 2025

I remember for the Short Turns, losing control so I thought I was for sure losing points there. I remember thinking to myself that my Free event was good and that my Long turn event was a bit suboptimal. But the result was the opposite... For the bumps, I thought I had executed the zurudon pretty much perfectly, but was still greeted with the score of 69. I interpreted that to mean that I can't pass through the plain zurudon only. I needed to either drastically reduce the amount of time my skis were directly perpendicular to the slope or I needed to change my strategy entirely. I chose the latter.

Failing this time felt pretty bad as it meant that I had made 0 progress since the first exam. I was fine ignoring the 3rd attempt as I was sick.

April 21, 2025

This was in late April so the snow was very slushy and soft. The day of the test was very cloudy and relatively cool day. As a result, the snow was relatively firm for spring.

I spent nearly all the time between tests working on bumps. I took some bump lessons and practiced my bunk line turns. Because of the lessons, I finally understood what I was missing (the body must stay ON TOP of your skis when doing moguls, unlike for carving) when attempting the bunk line previously on the first attempt and why I had failed. I was able to do bunk line turns very consistently by this point on the expected bump course. The number of courses open at Gala had drastically decreased by this point, so I had a pretty good idea where the test would be held as well.

Any remaining time I had spent trying to figure out exactly what was needed to pass in the Short Turn category by watching youtube videos explaining the things the judges are looking for. Apparently, the key is to control your speed in the first half of the turn instead of all in the second half.

I actually felt pretty confident in the bumps event in being able to execute and stay within the course. I also believed that should have had the correct strategy. I think if I had upped my speed I might have even gotten a 71. I was more worried about the Short Turns, where during the execution, I had felt mediocre. But luckily, I managed to pass. I was very happy to have finally achieved the goal!

I got someone to take some video so you can judge how bad I am for yourself:

Overall thoughts

The process was a lot harder than I expected. I had hoped that I could get a +1 in my long turns, but to be fair long turns weren't a major focus throughout the season. That'll have to be something I improve on for next season. Looking at the video, I definitely need to work on my transition. I definitely want to keep getting better at bump skiing as well.

I definitely felt major improvement in my bump skiing though. Once spring comes to Gala Yuzawa, the right side of the main course (Entertainment) becomes a single very very long lane of bumps. It never gets that deep because it starts anew every day. However, even though the slope is low (maybe 15 degrees), we're talking about nearly 1km of bumps. I remember last year being unable to basically control myself at all on that course. I was simply getting hurled along for the ride with basically no control. In particular, I remember being able to slightly slow my speed down with my right foot by scraping snow, but my left foot basically had literally 0 speed control. This year, I was able to complete the entire run of bumps multiple times. I could properly use both legs to control my speed (maybe even slowing down too much!). The biggest challenge this year was simply that the course is sooo long my legs got tired and I had to stop to catch my breath/recover my legs.

Even with a number of additional points on the Level 2 exam, it still took over a year to pass the Level 1 exam. Given that and the fact that I only passed the Level 1 exam with the exact passing score, I really doubt I can pass the next level (Technical Prize) anytime soon. It's my next goal though.

Any error corrections or comments can be made by sending me a pull request.

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