2026-03-18

Taking the Technical Prize Ski Test

This is kind of a continuation of my previous post on taking a Japanese Ski Test. For a general introduction to the system please see my previous post. The Technical Prize Ski Test is the next technical level after Level 1 in the SAJ system.

Introduction

After passing Level 1 last year, my goal this year was to manage to pass at least one of the events of the test. I actually spent most of the season focusing on skiing bumps. By mid-season, I felt pretty good about bump skiing and confident in my ability to ski bump courses down the zipper line (albeit slowly).

I had been planning to go to Hokkaido for about 10 days of skiing. While looking into where to go, I happened to see that there was a test at the end of the trip at Sapporo Teine Ski Resort. I felt like this was a good chance to give the test a go.

That week in Hokkaido, I spent focusing even more on bump skiing. I took some lessons and really tried to improve my technique, focusing on my weight transfer at transition. The instructor at the lesson thought I had a reasonable chance of passing for the bumps (He said they're really lax on judging for the Technical Prize, but then again he's a former World Cup moguler so...).

Pre-Test Course

There is a mandatory pre-test course on Saturday 2/21. During this course, you ski the various events on the actual courses and the judges for the test will give you some feedback on how to better pass the test. This gives people some time to prepare for the actual test. The actual course was all on the Ocean Dive course.

• Flats (it's steeper than the picture looks, but not that steep):
  
• Moguls (on the left side of the course):
  

In the past when I've taken the similar pre-test course for the Level 1+2 tests, the teachers told you which event to do and then you would have 1-2 chances to demonstrate your skills. I think it's mostly because that pre-test course had like 1 instructor for a lot of students.

This time, we were allowed to ski whatever events we wanted and the teachers would then critique us. The weather was cold and so the snow stayed pretty firm. I did all the events at least once. During the course, I also realized that one of my poles was missing the basket... so I was definitely a bit handicapped on moguls in terms of balance.

The general feedback I got was something like this:

• Long Turns on Groomed Terrain: Too inside at the end of the turn, too far from the ski during the turn (aka not enough pressure on the ski)
• Short Turns on Groomed Terrain: Basically no chance to pass. Need to make actual turns. Less focus on speed
• Free on Groomed Terrain (総合滑走): Couldn't clearly tell the difference between the long and short turn during the required rhythm change
• Moguls: Good turns, but need to go faster (I tried going quite a bit faster with worse form, but was told to go even faster... I guess form is less important?)

Disaster

After the pre-test lesson was finished, I did some additional practicing on the mogul course. Very very unfortunately, one of my skis broke after it went straight into a bump when I was too far forward. It flexed past its limit and broke.

I managed to make my way down the mountain skiing on one foot. I then immediately went to a ski shop and bought some new skis. I bought an Ogasaka TC-S Light. I had tried the Ogasaka TC-S normal version in a demo session awhile back and it was way too hard for me to turn. The TC-S normal version was also noticeably more expensive. So, I picked up the TC-S Light and some new poles too.

Not wanting to take the test with 0 mileage on my new skis, I did a few laps at a nearby night skiing place. My impression was that the Ogasaka TC-S is WAY WAY WAY faster than my previous skis. I felt like I was going at light speed. They required a LOT more strength to properly bend during turns. I'd have to focus on really ensuring I could put my whole body and muscles onto my outside leg when using these skis. They also felt harder to use in moguls as they caught on edge easier. I was really not feeling very confident.

Day of the Test

Unlike the previous day, the temperatures rose much higher. The snow quickly softened throughout the morning. I was unsure how to best ski with my new skis so I decided to be very conservative in my approach.

As a general reminder about the scoring, +0 is passing, +2 means you're ready for the next level, and -2 means you should go back the previous level. Unlike Level 1 where 70 is the passing score per event, the Technical Prize requires a 75 per event (300 total) to pass.

Post event self evaluation:

• Long Turns on Groomed Terrain: Too slow, -1
• Short Turns on Groomed Terrain: Clueless as what I was doing -2
• Free on Groomed Terrain (総合滑走): Short turns sucked so -1
• Moguls: Too slow -1

Actual result:

Ouch, that was pretty brutal. I was directionally correct, but I underestimated the magnitude of the failure. I tied for the lowest score amongst the people who took the test.

As for excuses, they say the judges in Hokkaido are really tough so that might be part of what happened. And of course, I had the classic excuse of not being used to my skis. In the end, I only managed to live up to the stereotype of Honshu skiers being really bad compared to Hokkaido skiers.

Conclusion

I obviously did quite poorly, but I plan on trying again this season at Gala Yuzawa (where I go most often). I wasn't able to put my best foot forward since I had to take the test on unfamiliar skis after breaking my usual pair. Maybe on attempt #2, I can finally pass at least one of the events.

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

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