A Typical Day in "Japanuary"

*** CAUTION hardcore snowboarders may be mildly offended by partial graphic footage of two plankers ***

After breakfast, most mornings began with looking at this:

and soaking in the fact that it’s going to be “just” another day of ridiculously D-E-E-P turns :bananas:

… then 20 mins of this… 😯

It was always a task that was happily done, knowing what was in store and motivating the troops was never hard.

The drive to the trailhead was always a little slippery and sometimes there was no room to park the car off the road so you just kinda parked as close to the side of the road as you could and surveyed the trailhead telling the newcomers where you were headed.

boots on, skins on it was time to move

Sometimes you got a glimpse of the epicness that awaited

… but more often than not the objective was shrouded in cloud and unrelenting snow

Fresh legs made light work of a flat approach, where sometimes there was a freshly broken trail.

But progress was often slow where breaking trail resembled post-holing

Route finding in virtual white-out and thick trees relied on using “the force”

Glimpses of the vast tracts of untracked goodness injected some vigour back into the legs for the final push

Not that there weren’t other difficult moments

Through the trees we often got some nice views

Forays into the Alpine were quite rare, but special when they did happen

When there was a view (er, once) it was savoured

Transitions were always a little challenging in the wind and snow

The two plankers sometimes had issues clipping into their bindings 😳 , much to the amusement (possibly with a touch of schadenfreude 8) ) of the split boarders amongst us 😆

When snow clogged bindings were cleared, layers were added and the real fun :thatrocks: began…

Dropping

Each impending turn was greeted with joy…

… as Whiterooms were available for short term rental at the completion of each and every turn

The “surf” was most definitely up!

Friendly skier-snowboarder rivalry was put on hold as everyone’s a brother in the white shack!

Nipple massages were common

Camera hands were frozen raw waiting for the right light in the biting cold and wind

Occasionally, there was a pause for a photo or to enjoy the view

The avalanche dragon reared it’s ugly head resulting in a partial burial and some big lessons 😯 😥

Speed was of the essence at the bottom…

I went completely MIA at one stage

The flat run outs were often energy sapping for the split boarders

Back at the car, the occasional chilled beverage was enjoyed at the trailhead

Sometimes there was digging to be done at the end of the day too!!!! 😮

At the onsen a few more bevvies didn’t touch the sides on the way down :guinness: , with the soothing relief of hot volcanic water on tired muscles :doobie:

Evening activities meant some warm Sake from a charcoal grill

As well as trying those more adventurous local foods, such as horse sashimi 😯

I think we’ll do the same again tomorrow thanks! :disco: