Pod Snowsports — Local services in Yuzawa

What an experience!!!

We were two first-timer adults. We booked two 2-hour lessons over the course of two days with full rentals. From the get go, communication with Koji-san via WhatsApp was smooth and very helpful. I had a lot of questions since it was my first time and didn't know what to expect. Koji-san also suggested which snow resorts to go to based on our snowsports level.

Transport to the snow resort is included if you book rentals with them. What a win! If you're staying in the Yuzawa area, they can arrange a pick-up from your lodging to the rental shop, to the snow resort, and back! We stayed in another town, so our pick-up and drop-off points were at the train station. Despite the language barrier, the guys at the rental shop were super friendly and helpful!

On the first day, we had Alistair teach us skiing at Yuzawa Kogen. Highly recommend as he was super patient in his teaching. When he sees you struggle to execite something, he will explain and break it down into smaller steps and exercises to get your body understand and moving the way it should.

By the end of the day, Koji-san told us that Kogen will be getting hundreds of students on a school trip the next day and he diverted us to the further, quieter, bigger Iwappara resort to maximise our snow time. At this point, there was heavy snowfall and trains were cancelled. I asked Koji-san if I could switch to a later lesson time on the second day, in which he kindly help organise a few other lessons around.

On the second day, I changed gears and had Mikey teach snowboarding. Definitely lots more falling here. I especially like how he lets me get up by myself 50% of the time, and helps me the rest. That way I know how to get up, but also not deplete my energy in the first 30 minutes. Super chill guy. Had lots of fun chatting about space movies during the long chairlift rides.

We had the best time and it was the highlight of my Japan trip. Highly recommend and will...

Booked 4 days of snowboard equipment rental, Great service, they offer transport from your place of choice to the rental shop (where they can store your luggage too) and then to the ski resort of choice and then back to the rental shop to return and see you back to your final destination of the day. Transport arrived quickly, service at the shop is fast with Chinese speaking staff available. location of the shops were convenient and had multiple outlets near to different ski resort.

We also booked a private 3h snowboarding class. The instructor we were assigned was really friendly and also took initiative to maximise my partner and my learning individually (as my experience level is more than my partner's). However my partner felt that the instructor did not teach the basics well enough, and said she learnt much more when I taught her the same basics myself. So the lesson really depends on the...

With a 2-day lesson, I got a very pleasant skiing experience with David and Pod Snowsports. There was no problem making reservation through Messenger, and the staff gave sufficient info for me to be ready for the lesson. David is such great instructor/teacher, explaining things very clearly and his English is very good. He would try different approach or change wording to explain things when some student doesn’t seem to get a certain point. He is also very patient to repeat the important parts such as basic postures that a first-timer like me always forgot. Even though I understand the lessons, but for me it takes long time for my muscles to remember the moves and I know I made the same mistakes many times. David was always there to encourage me and gave very useful advices. I learnt a lot from the lesson and had great fun too. Highly...