What a day we had! Blue bird Pow day, I have never had a day quite like it! Super lucky for us but not for some. That night we saw on the news that there was a rescue over at Akakura Kanko, but not just a rescue, a body was found on Sunday from the day before, the day that we were there!!!! A little bit scary. Nipple deep powder it would be easy to get lost and buried. Safety first kids! Thats why we here at Epic Snow hit the hill prepared. When the snows heavy, even when you are on piste you should have avalanche gear, Beacon, Probe, Shovel and resort map at the very least. Helmets are also a must.
Anyway back to the snow….. This place does not let up!. That night the clouds came back. Only a little of the fresh stuff in the morning but all day it was F*cking PUKING as the crazy canucks say.
Akakura Kanko was our destination, no rescue can scare us! Straight to the top where the snow flakes where as big as a strawberry and thats where we stayed all day. Sessioning two tree runs on either side of the lift. They were the runs that kept on giving! After every hour each run had 20-30 cms of fresh snow, Yep thats right thats how much fell each hour. Ride one for an hour while the other side filled up.. Words can not describe how amazing this day was.
When last chair was called I couldn’t let go, it was Epic! Back to the hotel, onsen, dinner and beers.. “Hey lets get sake” Marty says…. off to the love bar where we ended up drinking with Russians…. Drinking with Russians in Japan, Hilarious!. We don’t know Russian and they don’t know english, the language barrier was terrible but o so funny. Sergi the leader of the Russian crew (I swear he looked like their President Putin) was the drink master, when he drank- we drank, 3 warm sake bottles later we are on our way home.
Up early again to ride Akakura Kanko and the crazy pow. After the epic day before we knew this resort had more to offer. Dropped back a chair and what did we see on the lift rides PILLOWS! That was my goal to get there and ride them! Nipple deep powder, oh my god it was deep! The back leg got sore from leaning back and surfing the white fluffy stuff all day. The more adventures we got the closer the pillows became. “surf the earth” thats what I kept saying, carving in between the trees getting covered in snow, steep and fast so much fun. Finally we found the pillows with a catch…. white out. Got real sketchy real quick. Without vision the risk was to great. With the white out in full force we pulled the pin for the day and headed in.
What a good few days we have had here in Myoko words cant describe the amount of snow we have seen and ridden but the trip is not over yet tomorrow we are back on the shinkansen to narita airport and off north to Hokkaido. Niseko, Rusutsu and surrounding areas for Australia day long week end 😉 Its going to be Big…
~Benny V
