Evergreen International Ski School (Happo) — Attraction in Hakuba

We booked a private group lesson, there were 4 people in our group. We arrived on our first day and met the instructor - he assessed us on the baby slope and as we’d all skied before he took us over to a nearby green slope to continue with the lesson when he realised we were all at a certain level.

We got over to the green slope and during the first run I experienced a really severe cramp in my calf muscle. We got to the bottom of the slope and it was clear that I couldn’t continue to ski that day (the cramp lasted an hour and I couldn’t stand let alone ski). This all happened in the first 30mins of a 2 hour lesson. Whilst we waited, the other members of my group weren’t offered another instructor to take over, nor did my instructor continue with them and call a non-instructing member of staff to sit with me. We all just waited around for an hour whilst I was cramping and trying to find a taxi to take me home (it was a holiday weekend and everything was fully booked). The instructor said that perhaps the ski school could give me a lift back - he called and asked and the school declined. Of course, it was a busy weekend so I understand, but by this point we had been waiting for an hour and I was really suffering. They didn’t offer to find me alternative transportation or to take me back to the school to wait indoors (at this point I was lying out in the snow for an hour).

Eventually after I was picked up (after one of the members of my own group managed to get a pick up from our hotel group almost an hour and a half later), the instructor took the final two members of our group on the slope once more, where they did one run. Evergreen then called the instructor and told him he was late for another lesson and that he had to leave them. All in all, we had around 30-45mins of skiing out of a 2 hour lesson.

After the lesson, Evergreen did not follow up with me at all, despite the injury occurring in their class and despite the instructor saying it was the worst cramp they’ve ever seen and not knowing whether I made it bak to the chalet or not. The following evening I emailed and explained what happened and asked whether there was anyway they could redo our lesson or make up the time that was missed. I said that I understood that it was no one’s fault, and that it was a busy holiday weekend, but our group would be still here after the national holiday would end so we could come during a less busy time if that was easier. Evergreen declined to make up our lesson. They claimed that we were given a full lesson (and the director even detailed a timeline of events despite him not being present nor any medical/incident notes taken by anyone onsite during the incident). Myself and my group pieced together the timeline from calls and messages that we had all made to taxi/transport/our hotel group, and messages that I had sent to a family member who is a doctor asking for advice to alleviate cramp). Evergreen wrote that it was my own responsibility for any injuries sustained, which is fine - I accept that I could not ski that day and of course I was disappointed, but I was also aware that the other members of of my group were not at fault here and no replacement instructor or lesson was offered to them, even though they sustained no injuries and were ready and able to carry on with the lesson.

My group and I felt the situation was not handled correctly or competently (no medical assessment provided, no notes taken, no follow up, no transport provided when it was clear I was in lasting pain. After we left Hakuba, the owner of evergreen reached out to me via email. There was no apology though he did offer to make up the lesson knowing that we had already departed back to Kyoto (I had detailed our departure date in my...

Had a full day first-time beginner group lesson. Our group was originally meant to be with Finn (from Australia), but as we were waiting for the class to start, it became apparent that there were more students there than what was anticipated, so the group was split between Finn, Aaron (from Canada) and another instructor. They were splitting us right at the start of the class and I am puzzled as to why this was unexpected for them as everyone books these classes well in advance.

While we were waiting for the reshuffle and for Aaron to check everyone in on their system, neither of the instructors initiated any small talk, ice breakers or casual conversation. We got to the meeting point at 9:15 and mostly stood in silence until after 10, when the class began. It would have been appropriate to ask the students their experience level, how they are feeling in the new gear, or even what to expect during your first day learning to ski. It’s a gruelling day where you feel clumsy, tired, and have to fall and eat dirt and get up while strapped into tight-fitting boots that limit mobility.

When the class started and we were finally split into three groups, our instructor, Aaron, showed us how to put our skis on, how to take them off, how to break and how to turn. The instruction was not very descriptive and although I was doing well, my partner and many others were clearly struggling, with some students tearing up as they fall for the 12th time. Aaron was meant to teach us how to get up when we fall, but never did and never did anything to address the crying students. If a student fell during a drill, Aaron would just say “that’s ok, try again” without proving useful feedback. Of course, many students got progressively unmotivated as they kept falling due to the same mistakes. Several students didn’t return for the second half of the class, after lunch.

For the second half of the day, Finn and Aaron decide to reshuffle us again based on ability so that the more able ones would be taken to the top to do our first decent from the slope instead of doing drills on the bottom of the slope. Only three of us were deemed skilled enough to go up. When we got to the top, Finn briefed us on safety on the slopes and we then followed him in a line down the hill with a few breaks. My partner really struggled and Finn did help by going with him for half of a slope, which helped somewhat. We were then joined by another student who was ‘promoted’ to go up the slope from Aaron’s group and the guy really struggled, so we didn’t really see Finn after that.

The whole experience was confusing, unsupportive, and overpriced. We got very little feedback and did not feel like the pricing justified the level of instruction we received. If we had to redo this experience, we would get a full-day private lesson for my partner and I, but it won’t be with Evergreen after...

We (totally nine people) booked 3 6-hour private lesson with EVERGREEN and requested a private instructor who can definitely speak Mandarin. We completed booking and payment 3 months ago before the class starts. On the webpage, it says if we buy 6-hr lesson, we can choose private instructor who can speak Mandarin as well as the techniques we would like to learn. On class, we told Chinese instructor what techniques we would like to learn, he clearly said that he won’t be able to do that because he is not qualified for teaching those skills. OK then we suggested Evergreen a workaround solution, we asked if Evergreen can send us a qualified English instructor to teach us higher level skills and Chinese instructor can be the translator but we got REFUSED! I want to addressed this again, we definitely let you know our levels and what skills we want to learn when we made a booking, but the instructor you sent could only teach us BASIC skill that we already have. You apparently IGNORED our request! It’s a cheating again, we paid but we didn’t deserve what we paid!! We paid and you should offer without prejudice to our rights. We booked 6-hr private lesson with instructor who can speak Mandarin, upon our arrival to meeting point, we were just informed you assigned us an English instructor! We talked to the front desk staff asking for help but they IGNORED our request with very bad attitude! The front desk staff didn’t even find any solution for us but just IGNORED and we could only accept because no one was willing to help us! The instructor was truly nice and patient, just as I said, we don’t understand English and that caused the problem we couldn’t learn well from this nice instructor (Not his fault he was teaching with passion and patience, we liked him), finally we almost gave up learning due to language barrier! We didn’t deserve what we paid again!

Evergreen team came to Taiwan for promotion last year and we were greatly impressed by your passion and profession and we thought Evergreen must be a great ski school, that’s why we immediately determined to join the classes in白馬 (Hakuba) without any hesitation. However what we were treated is totally different from what you are supposed to offer! We feel so disappointed and unsatisfied by your service and attitude, no passion no service only “IGNORE”. We are not responsible for your miscommunication during your team, YOU SHOULD NOT WASTE OUR TIME AND MONEY BY OFFERING SUCH A TERRIBLE SERVICE! What we are requesting now is to know how you can resolve this issue with your sincerity. We will never give up to fight...