In recent years at home, plagued by long drives, bad traffic, so-so snow, and laziness on my part, my participation in this sport has dwindled to only one or two trips a season. Compare this with my time at CU, when I had a season pass and went almost every weekend.
But here I live in the mountains, and though it's not really comparable to the peaks in Colorado, there is a ski slope in my village. There is one in Kuguno too. There's a bigger one about a 30 minute drive north of Takayama. And the even bigger resorts in Nagano are only about 2 hours away, what it normally took to get to the big places at home driving from Denver.
I actually started the season off not on a snowboard, but on skis. Something that I grew up doing (started age 6) but haven't done for oh, about 10 years since I switched to the snowboard. However, I've decided after the success of that day I'm actually a better skier than snowboarder. Yet in snowboarding I shall persevere; because, frankly, I think it looks cooler. Ha ha ha ha ha
Anyway, I posted about the ski trip with KJH back in January, though I believe my write-up on it was in the form of my favorite inspirational poem by Kalidasa. So here are a few more pictures from that day.
The view from atop Arukopia resort in Kuguno (that's Mount Ontake - one of the local volcanoes in the background)
With my girls for the day
First time on skis in a decade (I can't believe I'm old enough to count time in decades like that)
One of those great "on the lift" close-ups
What happens when you spend the day skiing with a group of 15 year-old girls: a lot of standing around chatting
After the day of skiing in Kuguno, my next trip was with some friends to the ski hill in Miya, Mont Deus. It was my friend Kyle's first time on a snowboard (after a lifetime of skiing - I could relate to his frustration at the difficulty in switching) and I got to play snowboard-sensei for the day. Actually, this has happened to me a lot this season. To be expected I suppose, when you're from a place with lots of mountains and most of the people you hang out with aren't. I was giving George tips on skiing that day too. But I digress. Mont Deus
Not bad for his first time, hu? must have had a good teacher...
Atop Mount Kuriyama. You can see Miya in the valley behind me
My next trip was Honoke, which is a slightly larger resort (more than 2 ways down?!? inconceivable!), located north of Takayama. Once again, I was called upon to advise my fellow boarders, 2 of whom were trying for the first time that day. This is also the day that I switched boards 4 times. I can't believe I left my snowboard at home - it's been really difficult renting this year. Next season I'll have my own equipment for sure.
The view from atop Honoki (it was cloudy that day, so not the best view)
Strapping in on the bunny slope
We spent part of the morning working on basic skills until I let my friend Gavin take over the instructing and went off with my friends Yoshi and Nari to hit the bigger hills. That's Mount Norikura in the background, the other local volcano.
For the last run of the day we met up with Gavin and Theresa. Coleen, unfortunately, wiped herself out early on in the day. That did result in me getting to use her board though, which I was grateful for.
Next up was a weekend trip to Nagano, in which I and some other ALT friends tagged along with Nari and a bunch of his friends on their annual trip. Fun doesn't even begin to describe how great it was :D It did have quite an ending though... but that story deserves it's own post so I'm gonna save it for now. But I'll give you a pic anyway just to be consistent -_^
And my last trip was the day after the Mashita Seifu graduation, when I was talked into going one last time to Mont Deus. I really didn't have an excuse, it is in Miya after all.
A really great shot of Miya from the top of the hill
I hung out with my friend Evan and the art teacher from one of his schools, Shunpei. Who is amazing on the snowboard. I also ended up changing boards 3 times this day, which resulted in me spending most of it on my ass, ha ha ha
Shunpei, catching air
At the end of the day we finally met up with Gavin again
And now, 2 weeks have passed and the days are getting warmer. Most of the snow on the ground in town is gone and I doubt it'll last on the hills much longer. It was a fun, if short, winter-sports season. I enjoyed it immensely, and am now looking forward to equipment sales so I can hook myself up for next season (^-^)v
No comments:
Post a Comment