Yay! More Fun in the Snow!

Last week, I had Thursday and Friday off from school because junior high school students had to take their high school entrance exams. Judgement days for little kiddies = play in the snow days for JETs. I went up to the mountains for the weekend with my friend Mike.

On Friday, we met an ex-JET named Tim for a day of riding up at Hakuba 47 (the site of the 98' Winter Olympics). Tim has been riding in Japan for the past four winters and has scouted out most of 47's backcountry terrain. While riding the lifts up the mountain, he told us anecdotes about his run-ins with ski patrol and how his picture was posted in Hakuba 47's ski patrol office so the men and women of the ski patrol could keep his mug fresh in their minds. He has been dealt two 10 day season pass suspensions for riding out of bounds--basically, the man has spent vast amounts of time off-piste and knows his way through the trees and gullies that tempt all of 47's powder hounds into venturing beyond the boundary ropes. Tim seems like he's very knowledgeable about snow conditions and I felt comfortable riding in the backcountry with him as our guide. It seemed like we rode one or two runs on-piste and spent the rest of the day ducking under "No Tresspass" ropes and skiing outside of 47's boundaries. It's unsettling strapping in next to a sign that basically says you are about to leave the Hakuba 47 ski area and it's your problem if you get hurt or die.

After riding, we went back to a hotel that our friend Greg is managing called Hakuba Highland. The hotel is quaint and has a beautiful onsen that overlooks the Hakuba range. We soaked, stuffed ourselves at an all-you-can-eat buffet (one of the only ones I've been to in Japan) and played a few rounds of cards.

left: from left to right--Mike, Toshifumi, Puck, Greg, Tim

The next morning, we woke up early to do a backcountry hike with Greg, his friend Puck, and his landlord and close friend Toshifumi. We rode lifts to the top of Kashimiyari Mountain and hiked for about an hour and a half along a ridgeline trail before dropping into a beautiful, secluded gully. The scenery was breathtaking even though the sky was a bit overcast and snow flurries fell off and on. The snow was deep, but Greg hiked in snowshoes and both Mike and Toshifumi, skiers equipped with ski skins, helped pack down the snow for the rest of us. The gully was beautiful and the powder seemed to be waist deep. Needless to say, it was hard to force myself to stop riding to snap a few photos.

For the rest of the day we rode in the woods off the backside of Kashimiyari and enjoyed turning our legs into Jello. Because Mike and I wanted to ride on Sunday at Togakushi, a mountain for which we both have season passes, we decided to head into Nagano to stay with Mike's friend Toshi to save a little cash and avoid having to drive all the way back to Ueda (Nagano is about 45 min. from Togakushi). Toshi is a sound buff who runs the soundboard at various local shows and concerts in and around Nagano. He has been playing in a bluegrass band for 19 years and speaks very highly of his recently deceased band master. As his band master was on his deathbed, Toshi recorded a few of the man's banjo tracks and the rest of the band made a CD around those tracks that was played at the band master's funeral. Toshi is a very hospitable man and he immediately made us feel welcome when we arrived at his office/rehearsal space in Nagano. We lucked out and happened to stay with him the night that he was having an open mic/party at his rehearsal space. When we arrived, there were about 10-12 musicians milling about, chatting, and playing guitars. Oranges, sushi, chocolate, and beers littered the tabletops. One man proudly showed off his new guitar that he had shipped from Finland--it cost him $5,000 and was handmade over the course of two years by a guitar maker who makes 3-4 guitars a year. When I asked whether or not he was worried about shipping such a valuable instrument, he laughed and explained that the guitar was insured while in transit although he still felt extremely nervous about letting such a costly thing find its way through international shipping routes. The guitar looked like a work of art and was crafted from light maple.

People took turns playing and singing different songs in front of the group and the room was filled with a great energy. Everyone sat at small candle-lit tables and was very supportive of each act that stepped in front of the crowd. At the end of the night, I performed a long narrative poem that seemed to fly over the heads of the few Japanese people still in attendance.

left: Mike getting deep in the stuff

We woke up, met our respective ladies at Togakushi mountain the next day, decided it was too damn cold to enjoy snowboarding, and headed over to a good thrift store in Nagano. The thrift store clerks demanded that we pose for a Polaroid when we entered the store. We made ridiculous faces and brushed off yet another Ooo-look-at-the-big-white-people-creatures experience. Despite the physical toll the snowboarding took on my legs, the weekend was energizing (as weekends should be) and quite different from the type of weekends I had to endure as a teacher back in Jersey before I left. One gets used to grading-and-planning-free weekends quite quickly.




left: Toshifumi zigzagging his way through the trees

















left: as we were hiking, we came dangerously close to peering over the edge of what we thought was the top of the ridge. Only after we hiked further did we realize that we were standing on a large cornice.














left: I noticed this kamushka (I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that one!) as I was riding and I rode after it through the snow. Finally it got tired, stopped running, and resigned to a few moments of heavy panting. It is a type of mountain goat that looks like a cross between a goat, a bear, a dog, and the runt of a litter of Jersey Devils.






left: Toshifumi, 58 and seemingly strong as an ox, taking a breather after forging a trail for the rest of to follow through the deep snow