Guide diaries: Juan Cruz Garcia Barros
When it comes to local secrets, there are no better experts than our guides here at Niseko Photography & Guiding. We’re spending the next few weeks asking each of them a series of questions. Next up is Juan Cruz Garcia Barros, our Argentinian guide who is a qualified ski instructor and talented photographer.
Where did you grow up, Juan?
I grew up 20km away from the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
How did you start skiing?
I started skiing by going on a ski trip for teenagers to which some of my friends were going when I was about 16 years old, I took a couple of lessons and then followed them everywhere on the mountain skiing in a wedge and falling a lot.
Favourite spot to ski or board:
My favorite place to ski is probably Las Leñas Ski Resort, where I work as a ski instructor in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. It doesn’t have the amazing snow quality Japan has, but it makes up for it with awesome terrain, great asados (awesome Argentinean barbecues) and incredible people.
Favourite thing to do on a day off:
Go explore Hokkaido and its hidden places, usually close to the sea.
Favourite place to eat:
Any tiny Japanese ramen shop concealed behind a tiny door in Kutchan.
Juan tearing it up in Niseko
Favourite piece of guiding or photography equipment:
My thin touring gloves which have a waterproof cover that pulls out and turns them into mittens.
It’s a powder day! What do you do first?
I wake up, have a nice breakfast, stretch, and then either go backcountry skiing or sometimes just try to catch first chair at the resort and lap it several times
What do you love about Japan?
The culture of respect to others, the order, the language, its history, just its culture in general – and the snow!
What do you wish you knew about Japan before you got here?
The first time I came to Japan wasn’t to Niseko, it was to Echigo-Yuzawa in the Niigata Prefecture in Honshu, and what I wish I knew, and surprised me, was that nobody spoke English there. Though honestly it turned out to be for the best, because I got to experience the culture and know the people better, make some Japanese friends, and it forced me to pick up a little bit of the language in order to survive the day to day life.