Myself, Chris and Koko had decided to go to Sanosaka today.  However, it also turned out that Wayne, Sandra and Mitch with Adrian also wanted to go, so we all got a lift and rode together for most of the day.  The powder and crowding over in Sanosaka was unbelievable.  It was also a cheap day for men on a Wednesday.  You have to take quite a few lifts and runs over and over to get through all of the three different mountain resorts.  The powder was really nice, deep and fresh.  We could have run all kinds of powder lines all day.

Mitch took us up and into a tree run that was just off a closed piste run (apparently this run has been closed for about 20 years, because of an accident all those years ago!).  The tree runs were so full of powder and you could choose your lines through, as long as you have loads of confidence.  Must admit that my confidence wasn't as high as it has been through the trees but is was all good.

The last run of the day was the best.  It was a really long ride down to the bottom and practically straight.  We all just pointed our boards down the slope and just went for it.  Really fast, if a little bumpy.  I'd recommend for people who come to Hakuba to go to Sanosaka often, as it was empty and had loads of powder runs to take.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy spells
Snow: 12cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder.
Wind: Light to moderate
Temperature: -4 to -12
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

This morning myslef, Koko and Chris had decided to hir out some Snowscoot "bikes".  It was amazing how cheap they were to hire.  Only 1000 Yen for two hours!  However, trust me, after two hours you are physically drained, so that is more than enough.

We all three headed up top with Stephen (who was skiing) and gave our first go down the slope.  I will say that I took to it virtually straight away, and was very quickly going down the slopes at speed.  Chris and Koko took a while longer but were really getting into it near the end of the two hours.  We did a few easy runs then hit a really steep part of a red run, and it was quickly obvious that none of us had ever ridden these things before!  By the end of the two hours I was looking for hit's, jumps and any kind of varied terrain and was really enjoying it.  The only thing I would say about the bikes is that it really gives you an upper body work out.

After lunch we got back on our boards and did some runs.  The weather was a really bad Wiches V**ina (= Cold, Wet and Nasty).  So we didn't do too many runs.  The powder was really deep and fluffy however, but quite wet.  I also wanted to take Koko and Chris down the off-piste run that I did yesterday.  However, when we got to the top of the run, I went first and immediately hit a drift up to my abdomen.  On trying to hike out, it was obvious that the conditions were quite dangerous so we decided to not hit the back country and instead head on down and catch the bus.

All in all a very entertaining day.

Visibility: Heavy clouds with extremely poor visibility
Snow: 22cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder, and snowing heavy all day
Wind: Strong to gale force
Temperature: -6 to -14
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today started off a bit lazy and I just couldn't get going.  I headed straight to the top of Goryu and decided to see if the kicker we built was still in place.  The snow and wind had completely obliterated any signs of the kicker and also the igloo.

I headed on down through the 'alpinaglade' and discovered that the wind had caused a top level of icy conditions.  However there were still areas where the powder was nice and light.  I headed straight on down the slope and down the double black mogul run.  Wasn't that exciting and I just couldn't get motivated.

I headed all the way back to the top again, and this time I was some people I recognised go off into the back country, an area where I had wanted to go.  The only reason why I haven't hit this back-country is that I have no idea where it leads out.  So I headed down as normal, down the piste and when I arrived at the gondola I say some of the people who did the back country.  Hmmm.  This encouraged me to go up and give it a go as I knew that there had to be an easy ride out.

I hit the top of the back country and it was so worth the ride.  There was just so much light powder, the trees were nicely spaced, the terrain was challenging with loads of drops, hits, jumps and amazing carve lines to take me down the slope.  The bottom run out was actually quite scary.  There were loads of trees that you had to duck under, avoid, and all on a very narrow track with a big drop off to the side.

I met Stephen at the top a couple times as he had decided to dig out his Igloo as I did the run again and again and again.  Good riding, just a pity that there was no-one else to enjoy it with me.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy patches
Snow: 2cm
Piste Condition: Light powder on top, some wind swepped and icy conditions
Wind: None to light
Temperature: -3 to -7
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Headed out for a ride on Saturday as the snow had been falling all night, and I also had a forced day off in the week.  I decided to head on out over to Happo One as I hadn't been there for a while.

The weather was atrocious with full blizzard and white out conditions.  I got all the way to the top and couldn't see a thing.  I knew where I wanted to head and gingerly made my way over to "Sky Line".  At the top of Sky Line I headed to the very right and found what I was looking for.  On the very far right there are some brilliant tree runs.  With the threes there it also provides better visibility as there is a contrast between the snow and trees.  My confidence in my riding made for the tree runs to be much faster and a lot more scary .  I basically hit the same run again and again taking different lines through the trees.  I did actually clip a few trees on the way and cause a few snow slides (but in a very safe and controlled area!).

The weather and my now well worn jacket conspired to me calling it quite an early end to the day.  After 13:30 I was soaked through.  I headed on down the mountain and stayed in the Happo One Ski School to dry off a little.  By the time I dried off I was just simply too tired so called it a day.

Visibility: Complete white out.
Snow: 20-40cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder with icy conditions underneath
Wind: High to gale force
Temperature: -4 to -14
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

Today was a back country kicker building day!  The night before we bought a few large Chu-Hi (Highly alcoholic fruit drink - like a Alco-Pop) and also made dinner.  So the back-pack was loaded and myself and Chris and Koko headed on to Iimori.  We rode on over to the gondola and then to the lift at the top.  At this point Chris and Koko found Stephen, so he teamed up with us.

We headed on up around the top of the mountain to where we had previously had chosen to build the kicker.  I started up the hill and started to build the kicker, with Chris joining me very quickly.  Koko headed off for a couple runs, as she was still recovering from yesterdays crash.  It took myself and Chris about two hours to build the kicker before we were ready to hit it.  It had a short but very steep run in, with a huge run out.  We then broke for lunch to let the sun hit the kicker and melt/solidify.

When we got down to the base spot, we found that Stephen had dug out a huge wind breaker/igloo (without a roof).  Through the day it got deeper and we had an area where Chris and Koko could prepare their dinner, and also dug in 'egg chairs'.  Real good job!

After lunch we then decided to hit it.  Chris went first and it threw him up in the air.  He did say there was too much of a lip, but I thought I'd go anyway.  As such, I made the biggest splash of the day.  The think just threw me and I splashed way down the slope on my back.  The landing was however so soft it didn't hurt.  Through the day we hit it again and again.  Chris had a few spills that cartwheeled him a couple times, and for what ever reason didn't manage to land any, including his 180 attempt.  For what ever reason the kicker just simply wasn't a kicker to spin off (YET...what about tomorrow  ).  I only managed to land the thing three times, each time simple but big and long straight airs, all other attempts resulted in a splash out.

After we had drunk all the Chu-Hi, Koko decided to head on down and Chris decided to go on a Chu-Hi run.  There was a problem here in that Chris had left his jacket, and his lift pass was in it.  It was about an hour before myself and Stephen had worked out that they weren't coming back.  In the mean time we decided to try rolling down the hill whilst videoing it.

The day was getting late and thre was a nice wind lip near where we had built the kicker.  I decided it was time that I hit the wind lip.  The first attempt I got up some speed and went for it.  The landing was a lot harder than I thought but then went real soft.  As such I stacked my first hit.  The second hit, this time again I hit it with speed and I thought that I was going to stick the landing, but on the rid out it got real soft and the nose went in and I flipped.

We were too tired by now and we decided to head on down.  I gathered up Chris's jacket and gloves that he left, all the empty cans, and me and Stephen headed down.  I stopped in at "The Pod" on the way down to wait for Stephen and had a cheeky vodka red-bull.  Myself and Stephen then headed on over to Iimori for the bus.

What a good day.  We hit the Onsen to chill.  I've really caught the sun today and the tip of my nose is burned...OOops.  Sun block on that all day tomorrow me thinks!  Still it can't detract from all the good kicker riding.

Visibility: Blue-bird.
Snow: Dusting
Piste Condition: Bullet proof and icy, with sun crust on top of any powder
Wind: Moderate, decreasing to none.
Temperature: 3 to -1
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

With the weather staying warm once again, todays riding wasn't that great.

In the morning the conditions were at their best, but very quickly turned into slushy conditions with all the blue-bird and sunshine.  We headed to the top of the Iimori lift and hit the trees straight away (myself, Koko and Chris).  We all had a lot more confidence in riding the trees today.  We were just crashing through and brushing the branches away.  Confidence was much better.

We then wanted to head on up to the top as we wanted to ride on over to 47.  Unfortunately it was closed at the top so we had to settle with riding from the top of the Goryu gondola.  Heading down we grabbed every drop and powder that we could find.  The conditions at this time were still great, so we headed down the 38 degrees mogul slope.  Everything was filled with powder so it made for an interesting run.  Hit the deep powder, hit a mogule, get out of control and repeat   Near the top however, Chris and Koko got a good video of Chris and flying powder through the trees.  At the bottom, there was the good dip and real nice powder to crash on through.

We then hit the Iimori park a few times.  Again, for what ever reason the confidence was up and I was hitting the jumps, rails and pipe-rails much faster and better.  This however went a bit wrong for one of us.  Koko hit the up-along-down box and unfortunately took a big tumble and landed hard on her knees.  This forced a coffee stop, while we checked out the damage.  Thankfully with some hot and cold treatment it wasn't too bad.

After that and some positive encouragement given to Koko we headed on up over to the gondola to the top.  This time the runs over to 47 was open, so we headed on over to the new 'breaking the rules' tree run.  Koko was taking it easy and was doing some videos and mostly followed the cat-track.  The run through the trees was great for me and Chris.  As the sun had been beating down on the slopes the conditions of the slopes had really deteriorated.  So when we hit the top of the 47 gondola we decided to call it a day and run all the way to the bottom.  Again, Koko was videoing so we decided to take the cat-track.  Man it was so slow!

Visibility: Blue-bird with occasional patchy clouds.
Snow: Dusting
Piste Condition: Variable, from hard pack softening to spring slush
Wind: None to light.
Temperature: 2 to -3
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today I didn't go riding.  My increasingly dodgy ankle is suffering.  So instead I walked down to Hakuba village with Stephen.  Went to the post office and posted a postcard to my Mum (*awww*).  Had pizza at the place next to the train station.  Headed back up to Echoland and then straight to the Onsen.

Hike in the morning.  Myself, Chris, Koko and AJ went straight on over to Goryu and straight to the top of the mountain.  We had decided to hike to the top of the Goryu mountain, which we proceeded to do.  It was a very, very hot day today to do a hike and it was a tougher hike than the last time.  The view from the top however on a blue-bird day made up for that fact.  I headed off first, followed by AJ, Koko and Chris followed up the rear.  The ride down this time was more fun, as I pushed it a little more than the last time.  Everyone had a good ride however, and AJ said that his heart was really beating through the exilaration (he hadn't done anything like this before!).

We headed straight on down to the Escal plaza by going the straight route down the mountain.  It was nearly lunch time and we had only technically managed one run .

After lunch we put some runs through the Iimori park.  I was getting more confident on the first jump and was getting to the point of not scrubbing any speed off.  My rail, pipe-rail, and other jumps were all riding well and I was even tempted to try the 'drum tap' jump, but chickened out and jumpy popped the air instead.

After that we headed on over to Hakuba 47.  Whilst on the hike I had noticed that there was an extra out of bounds, through the trees run that we could take that leads onto the green cat trail.  So we headed on over into it and experienced some absolutely great 'silk like' powder through the trees.  There were now some big drops back down onto the cat trail, so they were a bit knarly to undertake but still great.

We then took some runs around Hakuba 47 and also through the park.  The park has been completely re-shaped from the last time I went through and the jumps had gone from a good decent size up to massive.  Had my first big crash on the first jump.  Came in switch and had planned to do a front side 180.  Just didn't spin enough and landed a 90 and ended up going face first down the transition "scorpion" style.  Still, no damage done.

We then headed on back up to the top of the mountain so Chris and Koko could pick up their backpack.  We were all feeling pretty beat so we headed right to the top and walked around the cat-walk to our favorite powder field.  We all just straight lined it all the way to the bottom without stopping once.  Really exhilarating, especially given the speed we were getting. Speed is your friend!

Then end of a tiring but great day. 

Visibility: Very Good.  Blue-bird with occasional patchy clouds.
Snow: None.
Piste Condition: Hard pack.
Wind: None to light.
Temperature: 2 to -5
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Visibility: Very Good.  Blue-bird morning, clouding over in the mid afternoon.
Snow: <2cm.
Piste Condition: Soft dry powder, but packed down in most places.
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: 2 to -4
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today got of to a real slow start.  Let's just say that yesterdays "couple of beers" turned into some 10 hours of drinking!  *ugh*  I did however get up and dragged AJ on over to Iwatake on the 09:30 bus.  First time for either of us over at Iwatake.  What I can say is that whilst the runs are not very long, they are very wide and open, and there is a load of jibbing to be had all over the place.  Also because of the Japanese mentality of following the rules rigidly, there was loads of powder to be had for us less rully   It's also a perfect resort for those beginner and novice riders with its wide open terrain.

The day started off with is simply cruzing down the slopes looking for hits and powder stashes.  Ideal hangover riding.  We then proceeded to take runs all over the place and I believe that we managed to ride the complete mountain.

We also hit the park in Iwatake.  I do however have to say that given the level of the average rider over there at the time the park was way to big in it's hits.  The very first jump has a very long table on it, and no matter what I did, and riding straight lined from the top, I couldn't get past the knuckle.  The spine however was in great conditions and I made some good hit's from it, along with the bench and rails.  Unfortunately AJ did manage to fall off the rail and bang his head, nothing serious though thank goodness.  We went around again, but it had effected his confidence a little so we decided to hit some more runs.

We simply made our way around the mountain looking for interesting features to hit and powder to ride.  There was just so much to be had!  We even took a ride in switch all the way down one of the upper slopes and practiced our 180's.

Eventually however, the hangover and tiredness caught up and we caught the 16:20 bus out of there.  I might have to go back to Iwatake later, especially when there is another big powder dump, as there is just so much that has not been touched (but we would be breaking the rules!").

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 5-20cm with light snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Soft but wind swepped in places.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: -2 to -7
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

After yesterdays great powder, we all thought today would be a really good day.  Unfortunately we were massively disappointed, and I forgot to GPS track todays riding!  The winds, even at the bottom runs was really strong and whipped up the powder.  As such, there were no lifts or gondolas up the mountain, so we had to settle for the lifts at Iimori and Goryu.

As we thought it would be a good day, we all headed out for the first bus and I took out the big Palmer to take advantage of the powder.  Myself, Koko, Chris, Dan and AJ.  Even though the wind was high the conditions of the slopes were in surprisingly good condition.  We rode everything we could, but had to make it work unlike yesterday.  The runs were super fast and to the sides just in the trees the powder was in good condition.

We all rode as hard as we could and also sessioned the Iimori park for a while.  The Palmer is not great in the park, but we were all hitting the jumps, rails, boxes, and everything else.  I decided to try out the big rail, the up-along-down box and also some spins on the rail-pipe.  The big rail and the up-along-down box are really intimidating, but once you have hit it a couple times you gain the confidence and start to try and hit it faster.  My attempts at spins on the rail-pipe weren't up to much but I didn't stack any.

After lunch we only hit the park and some runs a few times before we decided that the terrible weather conditions had taken their toll and decided to call it an early day.

Let's hope tomorrow the snow continues to fall and that the wind drops away.  Now off to the Onsen for a hot spring bathe and and relax!

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 1-2cm with light snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Wind swepped with some nice powder and some nasty ice patches.
Wind: Gale force.
Temperature: -6
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Powder, powder, powder!

There was a huge dump over night.  Some 20-30cm, and as I was up and early I had the best of it.  Myself, Chris, Koko, Dan and Louka all got the bus over to Iimori.  We arrived so early that the lift wasn't even open!  We shortly got up on the lift however, and the powder was just so deep and sweet.  We made lines through the trees, piste and just everywhere.

The Goryu gondola wasn't running to begin with, but that was no problem as we made the most of the Iimori side, until we saw the gondola start to move.  As such we headed on over and caught the line quick enough so that we were only a few gondolas from being first.

Up top however, it was obvious that there was a load of gusty wind and the top lifts weren't really running.  Again, this did not really matter as we just hit everything we could.  There was a really good double drop pillow hit near the top of the gondola that I managed to hit with good confidence and speed. Magic!  We did as much of the top as we could, riding is some bottom-less powder.  Even the mogul runs down to the base were great and you could really hit the bottom bowl with a lot of speed and just crash through the snow (with loads of weight on the back foot to counter the deep, deep snow).

After lunch the winds were really getting up and the guys had all decided to call it a day, as the good stuff had been tracked out.  I decided to give the gondola another go on my own, and was glad to see that the run over to Hakuba 47 was open, so I took it.  A mistake!

Hakuba 47 at the top gets the wind really bad.  On the way down the double black diamond the wind was so strong, and whipping up the snow so bad that I was getting battered and couldn't even see the board on my feet!  I had to stop there for a bit, as I really could not see a thing, and in the moguls and near the trees it's not a good thing.  I also stopped because a woman had lost here ski in the deep snow and was there on here own.  I stayed until she found her ski and then carried on.

I spend the rest of the day just going up and around all of Hakuba 47 and also the park.  I am really starting to like the park in 47.  The snow in parts was so deep, but wind swepped that you could be in waist deep powder on second and then on scoured ice the next.  After a few hours of taking a battering with the wind, I decided to call it a day...but what a day

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 20-30cm with snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Loads of fresh light powder.
Wind: Moderate increasing to gale force.
Temperature: -7 to -10
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today started off a little slow and did not get much better.  Myself, Alex, Chris and Koko headed on over to Hakuba 47.  We headed on up and took a couple runs on-board before heading into the Hakuba 47 park.  I went through the pipe and didn't do too bad and got some really good and high push off the walls.  It was then straight into the jumps and rails.  I pulled a switch 180, small but still felt good.  I then switched over to the box and just did a 50-50.  Over to the bigger jump, and because of the conditions I hit it very much harder than I expected and because I couldn't see the landing it turned out to be a very much bigger jump than I expected.  I then hit the last couple jumps and again I hit it much larger than expected.

We then headed back up the lift to hit the pipe again.  It turns out that Chris hasn't actually ridden a pipe before, so myself and Alex had to persuade him to give it a go.  Alex had borrowed a new board and he had massive toe over-hang.  So for him the pipe just wasn't going to happen.

We then headed up to the top, as we were supposed to meet everyone over at the "Pod" at 11:00.  As there was some nice powder around today with all the snowfall, we hit a few powder drops and a huge load of jibbing spots.  We did however decided to head straight down and through the mogul field.  Even with the new load of fresh powder it was a hell of a lot of hard work.

When we arrived at the Pod there was a very large number of Snowbeds residents in there.  We had a drink and found that one of the guy's had cut his leg badly (clash with his friends earlier up the slope), and after we took a couple photos he headed off to get it seen to. Ended up he needed six stitches.

After the Pod pit-stop we headed on over to the Iimori park.  The wet snow was giving trouble in getting enough speed for the jumps and they were not good.  The rails and boxes were good however.  By now however we were really starting to feel the effects of the effort made (so I was quite sweaty) and the very wet snow conditions.   So we simply got up the lift and rode on over to the Goryu plaza and got the 13:30 bus back.

Visibility: Cloudy.
Snow: 3-8cm with wet snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Light powder with hard packed ice underneath.
Wind: None.
Temperature: 0 to +2
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

The plan this morning was to get the 08:00 bus over to Goryu.  The second part of the plan was to do some hiking at the top of Goryu.  However, by the time the others got their fingers out we ended up getting the 09:30 bus to Iimori.

Myself, Chris, Koko and Alex headed on up the chair lift at Iimori and took the cat track on over to the gondola.  After the gondola we got the lift to the top of Goryu.  This is where the hike started.  We rounded the mountain and were disappointed to see that the other lift was now in operation, and that the powder field that we had nearly to our selves on Friday had been completely tracked out.  This wasn't the objective first thing however.  Instead we carried on round and then started the hike on to the top of the resort.

Koko decided not to join us in the hike so it was left to us boys.  After a good 45-60 minute hike, and a number of times of putting the pressure on Chris to go higher...("I didn't want to die!" - Chris) we ended up quite near the top.  On the way however we met this 72 year old man who was snow shoeing and was on his way down from the top.  Hope for an old b'stard like me

Near the top, I took the opportunity to let the guys know that I have experienced a few avalanches.  As such, it was insisted that I went first  I popped on over the snow shoe track and into some sweet, sweet powder!!!  I kept pretty much to the ridge as the avalanche risk really was quite high today, and the guys followed my lines quite close (still making their won and getting some sick powder).

Koko at the bottom got some video of us coming along the ridge and then coming down through the trees.  Should be uploaded shortly!  High five!

After such a hike we decided to ride to the bottom and grab a drink.  The piste was really quite packed and as the sun was out in force today the conditions were not ideal.  After grabbing a drink, we decided to hit the park a little.  Was a bit more confident in the park today, despite the ankle still being a problem, even after having a couple days off.

We then took the lift up to take the race track run.  It was really quite icy but you could pick up some good speed.  We then headed on over to the gondola again and up to the top again.  It was here that we then had lunch at Alps360.

We did a few more runs, and made some really good powder drops and jumps.

Visibility: Blue bird.
Snow: None.
Piste Condition: Hard packed with some patches of ice
Wind: None.
Temperature: +4
Crowding: Heavy.
Lift Lines: Heavy decreasing to none.

It was a long weekend here in Japan and today was the bank holiday Monday.

This morning started off with 11 of us from Snowbeds heading off to Hakuba 47/Goryu together.  We all set off up the mountain together where Chris was going to show us some new lines.  The group quickly whittled down to 8 as the lest experienced riders decided to go off on their own.  We headed up the lift at Imori and took the run down the cat track and over to the gondola.  Taking the gondola to the top, a short ride down to the next lift, this is when Chris's experience on the mountain told.  He showed us some really nice and easily accessible drops down onto some really nice powder.  The group was gradually dwindling down to 5.

We then headed on over to the Imori park.  Unfortunately on the very first jump I managed to really tweak my already dodgey ankle.

We rode around experiencing a number of different powder stashes around the whole place.  It was then that Chris showed us the real 'stash'.  Taking the lift to the very top of Goryu, you then had to take a little hike on over to where one of the lifts was not in operation.  This is where there was a really nice powder fields that was completely un-touched.  It was what can only be described as 'bottom less powder'.  On the way down everyone got bogged down in the snow and had to dig their selves out.  Thankfully for me I managed to keep my speed and got through the powder with little effort.

We then headed on down the slope to meet up with Mark and Henna at the "Pod" bar.  We didn't meet up with them unfortunately, and it was then that we lock Chris and Koko.  So the group was down to three.  Myself, Alex and Jamie stayed at the Pod and had a vodka redbull and an Australian pie.  We also met Geremie, another Snowbeds patron.

After lunch, we three then decided to head on up and hit the power stash again.  This time however, the visibility was better and I could see that there was a good jump spot.  I rode down first and hit it real big style.  Jamie who was behind said that I really hit it, the snow exploded and I got a really big jump (good to have a witness!).  As it was so good.

Doing the powder stash the second time, I pointed out the jump to the Alex, who missed it the last time.  This time however Jamie had his camera ready and caught me on the jump.  Wasn't as big as the first time bit was still good.  Alex for some reason didn't see the jump, Ollied early and bailed the jump.  Got it on camera too The powder was too good to miss, so we decided to go for it a third time.  This time I took the video camera and filmed Jamie and Alex.

By now on the way down, my ankle was really giving me trouble.  Really could not manage to hold a toe edge turn.  So, thankfully on this last run we decided to call it a day.

For the up coming weekend, it's a long weekend holiday in Japan.  Apparently every bed in the resort(s) are fully booked.  So it's going to be a very busy weekend on the slopes, so it's time to start drinking...

Once again today I started off really early.  I woke up however with a really sore back, and it took me quite a while to work it loose and become more responsive.  I headed on over to Hakuba 47 with a few from Snowbeds.  Mark, Hanni, Ivan and Calum.  Myself, Hanni and Ivan headed on straight up the lifts at Iimori and took advantage of the lovely soft groomed runs for a few runs.

We then wanted to head on up to the top of the mountain, however the winds were high so the lifts were closed, so we could only go as high as the gondola would take us.  So we took the Route 1 run a few times.  There was an area between some cat tracks where there was some great powder and in there there was this one pillow of snow.  I hit this and took a huge air, and managed to no stack the landing in the deep powder.  Was disappointed that somehow on the next two runs I managed to not find it again?  On the way back down to the gondola there are a couple of small jumps.  We were hitting these jumps and I was managing to get some really good air.

The confidence in my riding over the last couple of days has really come back and I am feeling really good about it given my injury last year.

After Mark and Hanni left at lunch time, I headed on up to the top of the mountain.  It was a complete white out and could not see much further past the front of my board.  This didn't stop me however, as I'm a sicko and actually like these conditions.  I completely sessioned the top lift and a run that takes in powder riding, a natural jump, small tree run, and a long wide piste run (but very choppy).  I hit it about 15 times, and each time I hit the jump I was really getting some long distance.

It was getting really cold at the top, and I was getting tired so I took the run all the way to the gondola again.  Was really in a good jibbing mood too and was trying to hit everything I could find.  On the way down I met up again with Ivan and Calum and rode the green run with them a couple times.  Calum then headed off for the bus and me and Ivan did some switch riding runs for a while.  I gave Ivan some riding tips, switch riding tips (he keeps lowering his head and looking at his feet!), and then how to do some simple ollies.  Did that for a couple runs, and since time was getting on a bit we headed on up top.

It was still extremely poor visibility at the top, but I showed Ivan my little favorite run and we did it a couple times.  We then headed down at full pelt (as fast as we could, what with no visibility, tired legs and choppy conditions, and grommits all over the place).

Another long (near 9 hours), but really good day!

Visibility: Good visibility in the morning, clouding over and near zero visibility at the top.
Snow: About 5cm.
Piste Condition: Groumed, light and fluffy and wind sweped at the top
Wind: None, increasing to strong.  Decreasing in the afternoon to light.
Temperature: -2 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

After yesterdays marathon days riding, I was a little surprised that I made it up early this morning to get the 08:00 bus on over to Hakuba 47.  I actually got a lift with one of the guests from Snowbeds over just before the bus arrived, so that was good.  We then decided to head on up and ride together.  We both headed on up to the top of Hakuba 47, which was a really good idea.

After the last few days snow and cloudy conditions this morning was relatively clear and bright.  As such the piste had been well groomed and was very light and soft.  So when we took the first lines down they were absolutely fantastic.  It took virtually no effort to ride all the way from the very top of Hakuba 47/Goryu all the way down "route 1" to the bottom and very high speed.  So we did that again!  Absolutely fantastic!

We also decided to give the park a bit of a go and also the pipe.  The pipe is your typical affair.  One side is sun hit the other ice frozen.  However the pipe was in really good condition.  I must admit that my pipe riding was up to it's usual 'wimpy' standards.  However, my park riding was getting more confident.  Managed to get in some really big airs and also some prober holding on grabs, not just snatches.

As you can see from the GPS tracking, we rode the park a few times and did a few runs from top to bottom.

For lunch we headed on down to the gondola station of Hakuba 47, where I had a vegetable Udon.  Me...vegetables!  Trust me however, it was fantastic.

For the rest of the afternoon I was left to my own devices.  I actually on put in a couple long rides down to the bottom, before reaching Goryu base and frankly I was really tired, especially after yesterday.  So, I called it an early-ish end to the day and headed on over back to Snowbeds.

Visibility: Good visibility, with hazy sunshine.
Snow: About 1cm.
Piste Condition: Soft corduroy early, getting sticky and a bit choppy later
Wind: None.
Temperature: -1 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

  Early start, late finish and only 20 minutes lunch break.  A total of about 9 hours riding!  As such, I am really tired and will keep this one short(ish).

Was up early today and headed on over to Hakuba 47 today.  Was out the door before 08:00 in the morning.  Went out with Mark and Hanna, a couple who are also staying at Snowbeds.  We spent most of the morning riding around looking for powder and also hitting the park.  The park isn't huge, but was good for me to get warmed up in.  We started off with a small jump, swung over to the left and hit the medium jump, swing over to the right and hit the box, then on to the second medium jump.  Was all going quite well today, just need to attack them with more speed.  Managed a few 'quick' grabs, and a rather poor switch 180.  But what the hell, it was a 180 and the first in about two years!

While Mark and Hanna headed off for lunch I decided to skip lunch and go for it.  I headed on up and had a run then decided to do the "Adventure Run" which is a double black diamond.  Big mistake as it was one massive mogul field, and a very long run to boot!  Will not be doing that again until it either gets groomed or a big dump of snow happens.

I then decided to have a drink, and bought from a vending machine a hot canned Latte! Blinking excelent!  I them met Thomas, another Snowbeds guest and skier.  We then proceeded to rip up Hakuba 47 and Goryu.  I didn't know until I arrived in the morning that Hakuba 47 and Goryu are fully joined together as one resort!  The conditions made it really hard riding in the afternoon.  The clouds rolled in and you really couldn't see very far in front of you.

We ended up riding right to the end of the day.  Man, am I tired...

I did however find that when I got home that I had accidentally switched off the GP tracker at some point in the day.  Will have to get some tape and stop if from being switched off!  Hence why the GPS tracking for today is limited.

Visibility: Poor, cloudy and patchy.  Better in the morning.
Snow: About 9cm, and snowing all day.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: -1 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Again took my time this morning in getting out.  I met up with a group of the guys who have just arrived at Snowbeds and ended up riding today with a guy called Christian.  We headed on straight to the top of the mountain and proceeded to ride all the way down to the bottom.  We then proceeded to just ride around the place, and I gave Christian some guidance on his riding.  I basically covered nearly the same ground as I did yesterday, but today I started to put in some jibbing.  I haven't quite plucked up the courage to try out the 180's quite yet, but hope to give them a go soon.

After lunch, myself and Chrisian headed back up "Skyline" and took a run down.  It was becoming clear that Christian was struggling, and was extremely tired and that his legs were in that burning trouble.  So thankfully when we were on the way up, the weather closed in and gave us a good excuse to head on over and take a last run down.  However by now Christian was really struggling and only managing 20-30m before having to stop.  We have all been there, and will probably all go there again!

I stayed with him, to make sure that in this tired state that he didn't hurt him self.  To push myself I decided to put some switch riding in, and proceeded to ride the rest of the way down in switch.  It didn't really start out that good, but the switch riding soon started to pick up.  Still a long way to go.

Visibility: Bright Sunshine until after lunch, then snow filled clouds rolled in and reduced visibility to near zero.
Snow: About 3cm, and snowing in the afternoon.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: 2 to -4
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Woke up this morning with a might headache.  Probably through dehydration.  I had drunk about 4 liters of water yesterday but probably still not enough, given the altitude and all the exersise.  Unfortunately it stayed with me all day.

Got up this morning and discovered that there was loads of fresh snow on the ground.  So obviously made an effort to try and get out there earlier.  Didn't quite succeed, and again got the 09:30 bus.

The new snow fall was really nice light powder.  The bad news was that it had fallen onto yesterdays choppy runs, and as such it was very, very quickly quite hard going.  It was also snowing all through the day, and currently at 21:00 here is still snowing, if some what rather pitifully now.  Let's hope it's snowing better up the mountain.

Like on any powder day, you can't stop for anyone and you have to try and find those lines quickly.  As there is very little off piste allowed here in Happo One, nearly all the fresh tracks were taken really quite early.  However as the snow was falling all day, things soon filled back up again, only to be ridden again.

I spent most of my day looking for areas where there wasn't the multitude of the weekend warriors.  And also on the look out for more terrain.  I also made a considerable effort to make sure that my technique was good today.  Earlier in the day it' didn't start off great, but those snow legs soon came into their own.  I was soon riding the chop better than I have ever done.  My angulation and inclanation was nearly always spot on.  This made for some really successful riding, as I charged through the chop and powder with less effort and more style than previous.

I must admit that I spent most of the day riding to be what I have found to be the best run in Happo.  I took a couple runs over one side above the ridge and in the trees, but it was hugely tracked out and really quite icy in places.  The other side was quite moguled.  It is something I do have to say about happo, is that there are a lot of moguls around the place.

I ended up going down this really nice cat track and ended up at the far right (looking at the piste map) of the resort where I had lunch.  With my iPod video, I find that whilst eating lunch, I can also watch part of a movie.  Todays movie was the start of Pirates of the Carribean. 

After lunch I just headed back up to my favorite run (need to remember the name of the thing and update this blog entry!).  Did that for a while, headed to the top of the resort, did a few runs there and was heading down the left most run when I decided that my legs had had enough for the day.  So I continued down to wait for the bus.  Unfortunately I had missed the bus by a couple minutes and had to wait a while for the next one.  Thankfully there are heated cabins that you can wait in.

Visibility: Poor.  Low snow filled cloud.
Snow: 15-20cm, and snowing all day.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to moderate.
Temperature: -4 to -6
Crowding: Moderate decreasing to light.
Lift Lines: Moderate to light.

Visibility: Bright but hazy, deteriorating to bright but very flat light.
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Choppy
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: -4 to -6
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

My first day of riding in Japan didn't get off to a quick start.  I was rushing around trying to get ready, and just wasn't quite switched on to snowboarding mode and didn't quite get everything together as quickly as a should have.  As such I missed the 08:45 bus and the next one was at 09:30.  No worries, as I do have a lot of time here in the area to go for it.

The bus ride was a short hop over to the resort, where I got some advice from Phil, one of the guest as Snowbeds, on where to ride on Happo One.  I bought a three day pass, and you get this little device with an LCD screen on it, that is your electronic pass.  Cool.

I headed straight on up to the highest point I could get to on the mountain.  The first thing that struck me is how old the ski lift system is here, and how slow it all is.  The second thing that got me is that very few of the chair lifts actually have safety bars, and the ones that do the Japanese don't appear to like to have it down!  It's no wonder that when it's windy they stop the lifts.  Let's hope they get some better and newer lifts in soon.

This is the first real time I've snowboarded since my accident last year in Davos (see earlier blog entries).  So I must admit that I was quite apprehensive.  It told in my riding, as I just wasn't very confident, stable, or fluid.  However this can also be attributed to this also being my first days riding, so the snow legs were not there.  This did however change through the day, and my riding got more and more confident.  Still not back to what it was but definitely getting there.

The conditions on the slopes were quite good, and there were only a few spots of ice that I found near the top of the mountain, but nothing too much.  I do however have to say that you can ride all of the piste rides in Happo One in about half a day if you put your mind to it.  I am sure that more riding will open up when more snow comes, and my confidence levels increase.

I woke up early this morning as I didn't sleep that well.  So, got up and checked out todays travel itinerary.  Get to Tokyo station, buy tickets to the Shinkansen (Tokyo - Nagano Bullet train), get on the train arrive Nagano, get bus tickets, get on Bus, arrive Hakuba (Happo station stop) and get taxi to Snowbeds.  Hmm.  Sounds complicated but it wasn't really.

I checked out of the hotel at about 09:30 and walked to the Tokyo station.  It isn't that easy with a big board bag and another holdall bag, but it wasn't too bad as I am used to it.  As I had checked out the way to the station and what entry to the station to take it was quite easy.  It's best to enter from the South East entrance, as this is exactly where platform 22 is, for trains to Nagano.  The ticket office is there too.  It cost about 7,500 Yen to buy the ticket and have a reserved seat.  Once on the platform there are signs to tell you where each carriage is going to stop, and outlined on the platform where you are to stand to board at a specific entrance.

The train arrived and the passengers got off.  A little bemusing to myself was that no passengers attempted to get on.  Instead a cleaner for each and every carriage got on and proceeded to clean and dust every single part of the carriage.  Try getting service like that in the UK?  We were eventually allowed to get on.  Thankfully at my end of the carriage there was somewhere to safely stack my board bag and put my holdall, which was nicely out of the way.  I then went and took my seat.  Man, these bullet trains are wide and spacious.  The seats are in rows of two and three, each seat having ample elbow and massive leg room.  So much so, that my feet were barely able to touch the seat in front.  Only trouble was that my seat was an aisle seat and I didn't have much opportunity to look out of the window.  Booo!  I do think however, that on the left I got to see Mt Fuji, but couldn't be sure.

A measly 1½ hours later, and about 170Km, I arrived at Nagano.  This is where the first bit of confusion occurred.  There are two exits from the station, each of which are signed as having bus stops.  The exit you want is the east exit.  The other exit goes down some stairs into an open area, and this is not the way.  Once you are on street level, there is a souvenir shop and this is where you buy the ticket for the bus.  Once you have the ticket make your way all the way to the end of the bus stop lane, stop number 6, and this is where the Hakuba bus can be found.  It wasn't long before my bus arrived and I climbed on board.

If you have ever taken a bus to a ski resort before, you'll know that there isn't really that much to look at.  Lots of mountain passes, little villages and usually a river or two.  Unfortunately this was mostly the same, interspersed with massive concreting of the mountain sides to stop the hillside coming down onto the road.  After a couple stops I arrived at the Happo buss terminal.  I took my bags to the information center and got them to call me a taxi which duly arrived.  I loaded my bags and was shortly outside Snowbeds.

When I entered Snowbeds I must admit that I was a little shocked at just how many people were there.  Apparently the place can handle up to about 30 at a time!  Mind you, I'm not exactly sure what I actually thought the place was going to be like!

I've had a very brief show around the place and paid my 28 days accommodation fees.  I've also had a chance to meet some of the people whom are residing here at the moment.  Every one of them seam like good people, and are from all over the place.  New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Wales, America, to name but five.  A real cosmo crowd.  The place is nice too.  Lot's of space and it's very tidy.  Probably one of the benefits of the owners residing here too

All I need to do now, is work out where the bus arrives tomorrow and what bus to take.  Then get a lift pass organised.  Shouldn't take me long to get settled though.