Thursday, February 03, 2005

i broke my pants

i am back, photos have been uploaded for your voyeruistic pleasure, story will follow, but really, don't hold your breath, nothing that exciting happened.

oh heck, since i am here anyway...

i joined a ski/snowboard club just to go on this trip, which was a well organized club trip. so, in effect, i crashed someone else's party. the club is mostly americans, i didn't know any of the other people on the trip, so i spent most of the time alone doing my own thing. as i recount my adventure, assume i am alone unless stated otherwise.

it was a five day organized tour, each day you could go sightseeing, skiiing, or do your own thing.

first day i was so damn tired, i don't know why, so i didn't go snowboarding. i am glad, i heard the conditions were crappy, it was wet, it sucked. instead i stayed on the bus and we went to the hokkaido natural history museum, to look at preserved acorns and small animal poop and tools and other stuff, all the way up to post war colonializatoin etc etc. i didnt' much care about any of this. sorry jason, despite best efforts, no ainu were harmed during this trip. after the museum we went to a huge mall, which was ok, and i ate some tasty ass indian food. then we went to a winter sports museum, and i stayed on the bus and slept. once at the hotel, i got my room and slept. day one over.

DAY TWO. went to Rusutsu Ski Resort, which is three mountains and so damn huge it's silly. it was blizzarding, visibility was about nil, it was mostly whiteout. like a retard, i snowboarded all day, not really seeing where i was going. i would stop to take pictures, my hands would go numb, my glasses, which had fogged up, would ice up, i had to board down the mountain without goggles and my face froze and i had icecicles in my eyelashes. good time. back at the hotel i went out to dinner and ate crab and drank the greatest sake ever, brewed in the norhtern most tip of japan. it was awesome.

DAY THREE. back to Rusutsu. they said it would still be crappy, most people didnt' go, the faithful were rewarded. it was sunny and clear and awesome. i boarded my ass off till i couldn't board no more, hitting fresh powdered black diamond runs and at one point, i swear my soul was about to burst out. i hit "that spot" when i flowed down the mountain like water, perfectly in line with nature, smooth, no effort, riding the mountain. it was truly sublime. that night i went to ramen alley for awesome sapporo ramen. it wasn't that great. the shops were all kind of empty, so i picked one that looked ok, it was a bit of a let down. i am sure there are much better bowls of ramen, but that was my once chance and i blew it. oh well.

DAY FOUR. we went toKiroro, which was small but nice. conditions were good, beautiful weather, great runs, hit a bunch of soft untouched poweder off the trails and had a great time all around. i hooked up with two others and we boarded together and had fun. the only thing i didnt' like about this place was lots of flat parts and one long gondola to the top. one run me and this chick ducked a rope and went off trail, making our own way, that was pretty good. for dinner we went to the Sapporo Beer Garden and had all you can eat vegetables and mutton that you cook yourself at the table and all you can drink beer. i don't much care for beer, but i ended up at a table with the people i boarded with, and we had a good time.

DAY FIVE. we went to Teine Ski Resort, i think they had olyimpics there or something. the weather was perfect, conditions were a bit icy but not bad. the great thing about this place was although there were wide groomed trails, once you got to the top, you could do whatever you wanted. i was with a chick and we spent most of the time off the trails in the woods just figuring out how to get the hell down and out of the woods. great time. we did some of the groomed runs, but mostly just blazed our own trails, going under the lifts, ducking ropes, etc. i was sore and tired, only went about four hours and then, back on the bus and slept. from the ski resort we went to the airport and flew "home" back to honshu.

i had a blast. my legs are tired and sore. hokkaido is beautiful, what little i saw of it. riding hard for four days in a row takes it out of you, i think. unless i am just a weak pussy, which is probably more the case. it is nice to be home though.

i might write some more about it, might not.

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