Today I finally had a chance to test out my new gear. My school supervisor and I went to Gifu prefecture to go snowboarding at Takasu Snow Park and Dynaland. Two resorts that you can buy a combined pass for about $65. Not to mention the ski passes are IC chips, which is awesome because you just throw it in your coat and go. No need to fumble about trying to show it or loose it.
I left my apartment at about 4AM and we arrived at the ski resort at about 7AM. Overall, it took about 2 and a half hours of driving but we stopped at a Circle K convenience store for breakfast.
The sun rising over the parking lot.
The morning snow was amazing. There wasn't too many people and there were actually a lot of patches of powder. I was surprised how powdery it was too since Japan is relatively humid. Some of the best snow I have boarded in, which is saying a lot since Montana has some amazing powder also.
To make things better, my snowboard gear is AMAZING! I guess snowboarding technology has improved quite a bit since my board is much lighter than my old one allowing me to ride boxes and practice jumping kickers much better! Also its overall control is very precise and the light weight of the board allows for much faster correction. Also my boots are awesome. It makes me realize how bad my other boots were. They are about half the weight, twice as warm and much more comfortable, which I would expect for boots that were more than $250.
The mountain.
In the afternoon the amount of people turned the mountain into an obstacle course and the snow started to get packed and hard. It was fun, but the combination of only a few hours of sleep, getting back into shape for snowboarding and then a few crashes into the packed snow and a box rail made for a slightly early turn in. Which was good, since we wanted to also beat the traffic of everyone leaving when the resort closed.
Overall it was amazing! I was also surprised that only 2 hours away there was more than 5 feet of snow, whereas in my town there is virtually none. Now I know why so many Aussies fly to Japan to ski and snowboard! Getting a real pay check also allows me to go more than about four times in a season since that is all I could afford as a university student back in Montana.
I am looking forward to checking out the local ski resorts in Shiga such as Yogo Kogen in the next coming weeks, going snowboarding in some of the best snow in Hokkaido in Februrary and the huge JET trip in March in Nagano where I will also see my brother Damien and his girlfriend Michelle.
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