Friday 23rd Happo TR

[Yuki's Passion 1]

Last Thursday was supposed to be easy, only 2 classes, finish up making some final exams, and dream of the following day to come. Instead I had to deal with some student issues and even take one of my kids to the hospital after being hit directly on the forehead by a metal bat during PE.

 

The drive up to Hakuba was nice. No traffic, full moon, and a few Hoegaardens for the trip made it quick. We get up to Hakuba and FT and I wax our skis…His new rock skis are the Spatulas and mine are now my Atomics. We catch up on some stuff while waxing and make plans for the next day.

 

4 hours later Dan and I are up, making coffee and breakfast and no FT. We knock on the door some, ring his phone a few times, but no answer. He freaking slept in!! For once I was up before him and because of FT, we only got 2nd Gondola…The nerve of him sleeping in like that

 

Get up to the bottom of Happo and park the car. Dan gets out and stands in line at the gondola while FT and I bring all gear up. The powder hounds were out in force. The 2 of them wait in line for the gondola while I wait in line for tixs. While waiting peeps in line started talking about what the conditions were gonna be like and everybody was in high spirits anticipating the upcoming turns. Met up with a few peeps from Shizuoka who left at 2am and another group from Niigata who came down for the day as well.

 

The only thing wrong with Friday, apart from FT sleeping in and making us get 2nd gondola, was FT’s arse! It freaking honked. I swear to god I almost gagged once we got in and he ripped one. It was the most horrendous stench my nose has had to endure…and he did it 3 different times. I was scuba diving for air hunched over in the gondola with my nose and mouth at the top vent trying to breathe…I thought Dan was going to pass out his face was so white.

 

The ride up offered us some nice views of Happo, 47, Iwatake, Tsugaike, and the Northern Alps.

 

The snowboarders ahead of us didn’t have a chance to get first tracks since they had to strap in…FT blew by everybody like a cheetah on the hunt getting to the goods that Usagidaira delivered. I don’t even think he turned going down it while Dan, on the other hand, was like a kid enjoying turn after turn to the bottom. After his 200th turn he finally got to the bottom by at which time he found FT and I to already be heading back up to the top. We took another run at Usagi before jetting over to the other side for some more bottomless turns before the masses headed there. We had 1st tracks on every course we hit and had, on the top half of the mountain, fresh, bottomless tracks all day.

 

Next we headed off to the right of the Virgin Café under the lift. FT was intent on getting the perfect fall line and suggested hiking but all I could think of was “F-That!!” and traversed as far over as possible before ripping it under the lift. I had the first track down and couldn’t stop heading over to the skyline that I just kept going not knowing whether Dan and FT where with me or not.

 

The first part of the Skyline was a bit windblown but after the hump it opened up to more bottomless turns. There’s nothing sexier than looking back at your lines when nobody else has been there…especially with the conditions we had Friday it was magic.

 

Only bad thing about getting down to the Skyline was that no lifts were running meaning we had to ski it all the way down. Some places were fine, some were epic, but the closer we got to the parking lot the more sasa grass and rocks we were hitting. We were giggle ling like a bunch of girls hitting rocks and getting knocked about at the bottom of Saka. We skied until we hit cement at the parking lot officially de-virginating our rock skis. We then walked back to the gondola and headed back up for some more lines.

 

<<Insert putrid smell here>> You know the worst smell you have ever smelt? Times that by about 10 and that’s how FT’s arse was that day in the gondola…That Japanese bloke is going to go back and tell his friends how much gaijin really do stink after that episode…

 

Back to the top of Usagi and we meet up with Oyuki Kigan and Kumapix plus some of their J-mates for a few runs down Usagi and Virgin. Virgin Café run under the lift again I just couldn’t wait. FT and Dan unclicked and were bootpacking it up to the top of the run “cuz they didn’t wanna traverse” so I just said screw it and traversed over. I guess they thought the same thing cuz they ended up clicking in and dropped in just after me. Once again, only a few tracks down the Virgin and from the top of the Virgin to the bottom of the Skyline, I just let it rip. Didn’t stop, didn’t look back, and ripped it as fast as I could. Got 2 nice airs of the cat tracks on the Skyline and the 2nd hit was big enough for a grab. FT saw me fly on a different part of the skyline bout 3 meters or so but this hit was the one that I remember…just one of those days where everything clicks. And for me, it wasn’t my deepest or steepest day ever, but my form was on and I, for once, know I ripped it up and there’s nothing more satisfying than that.

 

We traversed around for some more untracked goods and were never disappointed. Dan was in the mood to take as many turns as possible, FT went over the handle bars several times while hitting pillows, flying up banks, and getting some sick airs. He also opted to join the Canadian Airforce by hitting the pillow just towards the bottom of skyline and launched over 6-7 meters I’m guessing. All in all, it was one of the best “First Day’s” I have ever had. Light, dry snow, powder whores out in force, some of my best mates to share it with, and a 3 day weekend made it magical. Not only that but also onsens, beers, food, Yanik’s Sayonara Party, etc… We did take some pics but many didn’t come out that well. And, besides, some days you just cant be bothered with it anyways.

 

My pics are at home so I’ll post them tomorrow.

 

Day 1 – epic

 

FT, OK, Kuma, add some pics etc if you got any!

[AK 77 0]

Nice TR MrCB! I'll add my version of that day after Kuma and Oyuki K. It should be in chronological order

[Oyuki kigan 0]

you don't deserve to post, you traitor to opening day powder! Unless it is a post detailing your shame, i want nothing of it!

[Kumapix 0]

let AK post the TR of Shame!

[Fattwins 0]

I want this to be an SJ TR so ill pop my pics up later. I will however pop 2 cb pics up. Please remember im the worst photo guy.

 

Upper Sakka

 

 

I Slept in and I feel bad. We would have got first gondie had Dan lined up at entrance and not for tickets. Cool to see all that we were one step ahead of most everyone else that day.

 

Hey cb watch this,,,, double ejection head plant sweet! Thank god for round rocks and Toques moto of ski untill there is no snow!

[AK 77 0]

Friday 23rd TR.

 

Got up at 6.30 leaving a warm bed and slightly hungover from a nice traditional Thanksgiving fajita dinner party the night before. Realised that due to making worlds best tzatziki before said party, I hadn't switched bindings onto rock board (Duotone quantum 154) so hastily did this, grabed my bags and board in hand, franticly cycled down to the station in the frigid morning air.

 

Watched with a sinking heart as train pulled out as I entered the station parking at 7.40am. Cursed myself.

Knew next train wasn't for an hour and 40, so cycled hard uphill home hoping that the upstairs neighbour's 4x4 which was warming up when I left was doing so because her boyfriend (an avid snowboarder with a massive Siver Cartel sticker over the whole of his Hilux Surf's back window) was driving to Hakuba, and was still there.

It was. But they weren't. They were going shopping to the outlet mall.

Decide killing yourself and/or never snowboarding again are both rational things to do.

 

Throw snowboard in genkan and return to nice warm bed, and seek solace(XXX xxxx XXX XXX) (fill in this bit with your own imagination) then sleep. Get woken up by Oyuki calling at about 11.45am

"Where are you?"

"uh.. I'm in bed"

"What the XXXX??? We are noboarding in knee deep powder and you are XxxxXXX in bed on a day like this? bye." click.

actually he was pretty accurate, but that it was good enough to noboard out there made me jealous enough to drag my sorry self out of bed, and got to Hakuba at 1pm.

Called Oyuki again, and was informed that the ticket machines were not working at the top so, I only needed to buy a gondola ticket rather than the full day pass they had bought (*the author and all of the fictional characters in this story do NOT advocate cheating or scamming lifts in any way*) and so as I was buying a happo season pass anyway (but it takes a few days to be issued) I used my jedi powers to ascend the gondola.

On the way up, the ghetto-ness of my day continued as I realised I had not put on my goggles, but as it wasn't snowing or blindingly sunny decided this was not a problem.

Finally strapped in for first run of the season about 1.20pm. Which Oyuki made me ride switch as punishment.

From then on had fun and tiring runs through chopped up powder, occasionally sinking the nose and instant front flipping, but mostly having fun spraying it around and popping shifties until about 3.45pm when Kuma and the others who had been at it since the start were tired. The views were wonderful as sun hit the mountains around.

Escaped the stormtroopers at the bottom of the gondola and went for an onsen!

 

Shame? What shame?

[tsondaboy 0]

Nice TR CB and AK, and thanks for the warning by the way.

Does breathing through the avalung help at all?

[Fattwins 0]

Come on you said nothing about the Jacket!

[AK 77 0]

Oh, yeah, sorry.

 

FT had a girly purple jacket on too.

[Mike Pow 52]

Sounds brilliant.

 

More pics please, and I know that's rich coming from me seeing as it took so long for me to post some.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Originally Posted By: tsondaboy

Nice TR CB and AK, and thanks for the warning by the way.
Does breathing through the avalung help at all?

if I had it from Dizzy I woulda used it...

Picked up some sick north face summit gloves 50% off at Rappies and got skins and gettin rappie to cut em all for 12,000!! Rappies has some sick sales right now!

[tsondaboy 0]

Tsondagirl brought my new gear from the states when she went to visit a friend last week.

[Fattwins 0]

The new bindings from Sandy really made the spats feel better.

Way easier to carry through the deep snow.

 

 

Right to the parking area

 

Only few seconds before I had a great deep turn that I poped out of. Dan doesnt like sports mode so he missed it and I look gay.

 

Was going to fly oof the first pillow to kiss the second pillow but... A few riders rocked up behind us and we had to rush the shot so I couldnt hike the 20 feet I needed to get speed.

 

Very low down about 900 meters or so with no chance of anyone coming to rush the shot. a bit better but that arm is bloody high.

 

Lower skyline fills in nice as it is a semi bowl. cb making nice turns but the cameraman sucks poo.

 

Loud and proud

[Tubby Beaver 209]

shit, its not fair, I live too far away!!

 

nice pics and TR (honest FT!! )

[Oyuki kigan 0]

AK, that was beautiful. All is forgiven.

 

 

My day.

 

Set the alarm for 5:30 the evening before, but for whatever reason is found myself staing at may keitai saying 6:22 the next morning, and close to a 3-hour drive between me and my first day of the season.

 

Needless to say, i was pulling out of the driveway at 6:58 cursig that i woudn't make the 9:00 deadline to pick up AK at the station and meet Kuma at the gondi.

 

It was pedal to the kei-car metal as i got on the kosoku highway to make up for my lateness. It paid off (all 1270 yen in highway and toll fees) as i pulled into the parking lot as Kumapix was unloading his car. (I didn`t pick up AK, as he told me he had retreated to home after missing the train and would be on the next one and into Hakuba bu 11ish)

We got everthing together, and headed up the gondi and were a little giddy as the snow was covering EVERTHING! Way different from the previous season, when it was bare until halfway up the mountain.

 

We got off, and then went right over to get some lines in. There was still pwder under the lifts themselves, and we tracked it up (when i WASN'T falling on my face every 3rd turn! I didn't expect powder, and i brought my regular board which has a less-than-ideal nose for deep snow). I also forgot to zip in my powder skirt after nikwaxing my Jacket, and that led to some very soggy fundoshi for the rest of the day.

 

We met up with Fatty and the crew right after, and they were keen on doin Skyline. I however, wasn't. It was a ride to the bottom with pretty scetchy snow there, as well as a hike back. It was only my second run on my first day, and i just wanted to take it easy and cruise.

But Kuma talked me into doing just a little, and then cutting back to the lifts that were still running. well, before we knew it, we were past the point of getting back, and i had to commit to the whole way down.

 

Skyline, it has to be said, was AWESOME. Untracked pow all the way to the lift.

 

It was then that the run started to get interesting. From then on, it was a cattrack that had been ridden on by a truck. the wheel ruts left pure ice in their wake, and it made navigating it that much more interesting.

 

tried to ride one more slope, but the coverage was not enough, and in ebeded up eating it and luckily, as Fatty observed, didn't get butt-speared on any half-cut undergrowth.

 

From then on, the cattrack got even more interesting, with the tiretracks exposing bare asphalt. It was kinda fun hopping back and forth to the remaining bits of snow.

 

Eventually we made it to the (rocky) bottom, and hiked back to the lift. On the way, i stopped at the car and pulled out the noboard, wondering if it was possinle to bring it up.

 

And it was, we went back p, and i even managed to get it on the chairlift with it slung over my shoulder. It looked like they were too busy trying to get the ticket scanners ready to deal with my death toy.

 

And that it was. As it has no bindings, it is impossible to stand on an edge in packed snow. I went down more than that japanese girl in my favorite adult video. I finally managed to find some patches of powder around, and magaged to stand up and enjoy a couple of turns, but it was pretty tough going.

 

Until Kuma and i found a gentle slope perfect for taking a couple of turns, with a cat-packed trail leading back up. There, the magic egan as we surfed the powder, and the sun shone.

 

Somewhere in there, i called AK to see where he was at, and he sheepishly confessed that he was in bed. I let him know that we were surfing knee-deep pow, and left him alone with his concience.

 

Back for some more runs using bindings, we bombed some more stuff and enjoyed a very snow-filled first day.

 

later on, Andy called saying that he was in Hakuba, and ready to shred. Pleased at this news, we went to meet him and proceeded to shame him, as any good friend would if he found that their friend had ditched opening-day powder for the embrace of a girl (which can happen any damn time).

 

but AK took it like a true rider, and we were all riding together again. After another small rest, Kuma and i introduced AK and some japanese guys to the pleasures of noboarding, and enjoyed watching them eat it. But to be fair, they had never seen anyone ride one before, and were going stricly on intuition.

My legs were dying from hiking back up with the noboard, but the cattrack looked good enough for one jump, so i hiked up and miraculously DIDN'T fall on my first noboard jump.

 

We tried to ride some more, but mos of us had legs that were screaming for mercy, so at 3:30 we downloaded and rendevouzed at Fatty's place. We went for a group soak at one of the local hot springs, had a bite to eat at the local eatery Oshima, and made my way back to Eastern Nagano at 8, mission accomplished.

[bushpig 0]

Great write-ups fellas I am insanely jealous, and CB didn't help by sendinh me pics of he Kuma and FT in the Gondola while I was stuck at home slogging through a bitch of a translation job! Can't wait to get up there over shogatsu!

[abelere 0]

Wish I went there too! I ended up not going anywhere. Tateyama was looking to be the most expensive onsen ever so the plan was ditched at the last minute and no plan B

Next time...

[Kumapix 0]

ha ha I feel i should write my version of the day since it's funny to see (read) the different perspectives.

 

I got up at 6am and met a jfriend and his buddy at the interchange at 7am and we took off heading for Hakuba. An hour later, as we stopped for brekkie at Lawson's I emailed CB to see if he was going riding. I didn't think he was so I was going to gloat However, 2 seconds later FT calls me to tell me that they're 2nd in line for the gondola and where the $$$$ am I? Damn! so much for gloating. I told the jfriends to get their asses in the car cuz 'we had a gondy to catch'. With a screech of the tires I pull out onto the road just to get behind 2 cars behind a big dump truck going real slow. OMG!!!! we got to the last traffic light for a long time so I knew it was now or never. Amazingly enough the truck turned off and so did the car behind it. In front of me were 2 oldies in a tiny k car so I took them on the light and passed them. 5 minutes later I was surprised to find them tailgating me looking real angry. THis was pretty funny. Getting tailgated by a kcar

Anyways, you don't care about my driving story so I'll move on. Just as we're 5 minutes from Happo Oyuki calls me 'Hey, I'm 10km from Happo, do u want to meet at the gondola'

'umm, NO' (we're missing on pow runs- no way am I waiting for Oyuki

Luckily for him he pulled in as we were getting kitted up so we all rode the gondy together. we did the first run under the lift. Nice pow but super weird to be going at it hard with no warmup on the first day of the season!

then we saw a sight which made our eyes bleed: FT in his new outerwear!

I forget all the names of the runs but anyways we went down the one that leads to skyline. Oyuki didn't want to hike and he didn't want to go all the way to the bottom so I told him we could cut back (we actually did that last year me & AK). However, the pow was deep and golden and soooo goooood that I didn't bother stopping and Oyuki followed me down to the top of Skyline. Ha ha sorry Oyuki, we're going down to the bottom. Actually the only guy who wasn't laughing was my jfriends' jbuddy who was actually rocking a brand new board. d'oh!

Skyline was sick. I was the first under the top part of the lift and 2nd after FT on the lower portion. Word. the run out however was crap but kind of fun. I did not feel like doing it again though. Never tempt fate twice I say and I didn't want to ding my old board more.

 

anyways, now I'm tired and you guys have prob heard enough about how awesome noboarding is and how much fun we had that you wish you could noboard too

 

THE END

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Great pic's.

Thanks for the voyeuristic voyage through Hakuba's snow.

Building the anticipation!!

[Stuntcok 0]

FT, you question my form and then show up in that purple outfit?!

[SerreChe 2]

Had a good laugh reading about FT's olfactive prowess & the different perspectives.

I prefer FT's purple Jacket to his old "kaki" one.

The pants on the other hand.... FT, you've been in Japan too long.

[AK 77 0]

Yes, it was that late

 

but it was worth it

 

met the boys

 

and did some snowboarding

[Fattwins 0]

LOUD AND PROUD im 18 and Idont care!!!!

 

PS im all DNA or all Arctrex for you stunts the man with a plan!

 

Ps vibes as always

[mattlucas 0]

Excellent!!

A nice early season start and you guys deserve it a load

 

Nice write up CB. Wish I could have been there with you guys for that opening and its great that you guys are living up to my teachings of skiing till the snow runs out.

 

I'm not missing the smell of ass though. Dude what were you eating the night before to give you a stink like that?

[Yuki's Passion 1]

he had 5 cloves of garlic!!