Dane left Japan the first week of May, and it’s really too bad. Sometimes it seems like the people you get to know and like, vanish too soon. That said, I got to spend a couple of days with him right before his plane took off. I also got to spend a day with the lovely and talented Minobu Iwasaki and her equally talented and charming friend Namie. Here the four of us are taking a much-needed break...
  

Earlier in the season, Minobu overshot a jump and landed on the flat, breaking her hip, so she wisely stayed away from the big kicker. But for the rest of us, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the camera was pointed at us, so we gave what we had, and met up with some consequences. 

Lesson Number #1 - If most people are falling from a jump, and the jump is greater than 10 meters long, go AROUND the jump.

There are many lessons to be learned from a big kicker. They are difficult to learn, as you really can’t work your way up to a big kicker. At Hakuba 47, you have to move from the 2 or 3-meter jump directly over to the 10-meter. The difference is scary, and I think the lack of medium sized jumps is a real problem in the parks of Japan. The most important thing about going off a jump is to watch what other people are doing. Most of the time, everyone starts from a set point that is marked by a flag. This point is calculated by the local pro, or park-designer and is supremely important. Dane learned the hard way, that if you start 5 meters above everyone else, you will probably clear the landing and crush yourself on the flat. Overshooting a jump, as shown by Dane (and as experienced by Minobu), is the leading cause of serious injury among proficient freestyle skiers and snowboarders. 

After you have your starting point figured out, it is very important to gauge speed. The only way to do this is again by watching other jumpers, and watching how many speed checks (small turns before the actual jump) they take. Ideally there should only be two small speed checks, necessary to position your body properly for take-off. If you speed-check too hard or too-often, you will not clear the flat and again, you can hurt yourself very badly. Believe it or not, although it is a much shorter jump, a crash on the flat will hurt much worse than falling on your face, a la yours-truly, on the proper landing. 

Once you muster up the guts to go off of a big kicker, the best advice I can give you is to relax your body and mind. Tell yourself you will be okay. Start your run-in, get your speed up, and focus on a spot 3 to 5 meters ahead of you. This should keep you balanced properly. Continue with as much speed as you can gain, make two small turns to position yourself properly, and lift yourself off the jump.......okay you are in the air now, enjoy yourself. 

You might feel a bit unbalanced, so it is a good idea to tuck your legs in. Your body will naturally try to achieve perfect balance in the air, so there is a tendency to wave your arms around. If you are way off balance, it can help you get righted, otherwise it won’t do you much good. Instead, try to grab your board or your skis. A proper grab will sort you out. Once you start to lose altitude, spot your landing and lean back so that you land tail or the backs of your skis first. If you land flat, you will bounce, and most likely fall, but the flex built into your tips or tail insures a soft landing. Once you have landed, don’t freak out and turn right away - rather, take a deep breath and ride it out with style. There you are - you have just stomped the big kicker.

After our respective crashes and a nice long sunny beer break, Dane, Minobu, Namie and I decided to stay away from the jumps for the rest of the day. Surely if we just cruised around for the rest of the day, there would be no problems....right? Raaaaaaiiigght. By this time in the season, snow had vanished from many points around the mountain, so we got into the habit of jumping over these “dirt gaps.” The problem was, you couldn't always see what lay beyond. In this next segment, Dane skillfully navigates his way over three dirt gaps, only to get crushed by the lip that the groomer made.

Even outside of the park, we had plenty more crashes in the soft snow - but we were having a lot of fun, so we kept it up. Perseverance is the cornerstone of the rebound - eventually you will be rewarded...

Not long after Dane's dirt inspired mashing, I slid a rail that was in a nice little section between the upper and lower part of 47. Made it on, but bounced on the rail and got kicked off right away. A little while later, I noticed that wheelies were way too easy so I looked down and, sure enough, I had broken my board. Much to the ladies’ delight, Dane finished it off in the parking lot when we said goodbye to the girls.

But before our day was over, he insisted on switching skis for broken board, and trying 360's and the like. I also tried 360's on the fat skis, but had no luck. I wish I had a picture of the lifties face when two dirty bloodied gaijin rocked up, one strapped to a snowboard whose back was hanging 90 degrees down. The shock and disgust were priceless. We rocked the park and marveled at the results of our earlier crashes - intense pain, and seemingly increased stupidity. After our drive home and visiting Minobu again to trade back videos, Dane had a nasty fever brought on by too much sun, so he chilled out while I grabbed some beers.

After a decent night’s sleep, we woke up feeling like we had collectively been hit by a truck, but we decided to give it another go. I grabbed my other board, and we thought it would be a good idea to build something on the mountain.

If you ride any one of three of the top lifts at 47 or Goryu you will notice that you are not really at the top of the peak, yet very close. If you unstrap and walk up about 100 meters, you will see what looks like a small shrine made out of rocks. I like to ring the bell, and I see a lot of Japanese folks give a short prayer. There are signs that detail the surrounding peaks, and the view is incredible - as there are only a few people around, maybe only the occasional mountaineer or small pack of snowboarders. This little area houses Hakuba 47's best spots for building terrain where you can build kickers, quarter-pipes, or other artificial features. Early and late season are the best times as the terrain is not completely buried in powder and the natural features of the mountain provide support for your constructions. Dane and I opted to build something a little different, and we got to work shoveling snow in order to make what was envisioned as a log slide, but soon became a plank slide, as that was all we could find without cutting down any trees (definitely bad backcountry etiquette).

Two beautiful days on the mountain, sunny weather and great fun were not to be followed by a third, as when we woke up early for a morning session the rain had just begun to fall. Although our friend Michelle whose house we were staying at was upset because she really wanted to go, Dane and I were secretly glad to get some extra rest. After lounging around for most of the morning, we packed up, grabbed some oyaki, and took the train to Nagoya.  Dane had a going away party to get to in Osaka, and I wanted to start the off-season with my friends in the big city. 

I am sad to have finished my season here in Japan, but what I am finding out is that the off-season provides a lot of time to do other fun things, and really is almost as good as the winter - ALMOST.