Have you ever been at the top of the mountain and just thought, damn I wish I had packed my ……. or shit I should have thrown in my ……..
At some ungodly hour we are up and saying see ya later to Benny and Hamish. They are homeward bound and leaving behind a devastated Epic Snow crew. Del,Marty and I are hot on their heels but to Tokyo! We are meeting up with Epic Snow Japan’s ambassador Kimmy and his wife Miyu. After a day seeing the sights of downtown Tokyo we bid another farewell to Marty who is off to surf the North Island of NZ. Del and I are scanning the weather radar looking for the next storm. Kimmy gets word that there is a storm heading for an area 3 hours north of Tokyo, at 4.30 am the next morning the Van is packed and the 4 of us are heading north! The prediction was spot on….SNOW all the way down on the valley floor too. We are frothing! We meet Kimmy and Miyu’s friend Hayato who is a Pro Shredder who lives and owns business in the area. Hayato placed 7th in the Japan Big Air comp with his trademark “Tayo Grab.” Del and I are the only westerners on the mountain and loving a true Japanese ski hill. Iwakura has a gondola and we
Twas the morning of the night before, the hang over was real. Climbing out of my hostel built timber capsule at 1am with a very sore head, I released we are in the North of Japan! Ricky and Del who were very spritely from the minimal amounts of shochu they drank, dragged us that afternoon to the Sapporo Beer Brewery for and afternoon of beer tasting, which the sore brain did enjoy. Up early and on a bus to Niseko, where our crazy english friend Duncan picked us up and took us to the hostel in East Hirafu the Popcorn lodge!. Ramen for lunch then night riding at Grand Hirafu. Head phones in, Major Laser blaring, Hard and fast. The new snow on the groomers was a little tracked out although it was fun to bomb the hills. There was however still 20 centimetres of fresh in the trees. The next 3 days we changed to our short boards for a bit more of a freestyle throw down, as the snow forecast wasn’t predicting the 50-70 cm’s a day we were getting in Myoko. There was only around 10-15 cm’s of new snow each day, that on the groomers did
A car to a train to 2 more trains to a plane and then a bus…. We have arrived in Sapporo,Hokkaido. Back in the city and we are eager to explore! Our stomachs lead the way to a restaurant called mamas, conveniently its underneath our hotel and came highly recommended by our host Shun. We are greeted by “mama” who does not stop bringing out food that she thinks we should eat! We haven’t even seen a menu and the table is full of deliciousness and of course biru. Then she places the Karaoke machine on our table and smiles. We are all a little tentative to start with but It turns out we are all naturals and at the end of the night “mama” is prying the mic away from Benny. Haha! Mamas parting gift is a bottle of Shoju a rice liquor which has some burn to it. The boy’s head out to paint the town red and do a hell of a job of it and sing karaoke into the night with the friendly locals of Sapporo cheering them on or yelling at the to be quiet! Either way it was a hell of a time. Next
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
As we sat at the airport drinking 8:30 am beers watching Ricky, Del and Marty scramble to buy exiting tickets from japan the prospect of getting on the flight for 8 hours was getting exciting. Famous quote comes to mind, “adventure begins when things go wrong” After Tickets where purchased, next thing we know we are in the air sipping on beers en-route to the land of the rising sun. After arriving in Narita airport and picking up our bags, Our Japanese ambassador Kimi sent us a message saying “ its completely legal to drink on the trains, so grab some beers and ill see you soon” along with directions on how to navigate the rabbits warren of the Tokyo train system. Kimi and his wife Miyu welcomed us in true Japanese style beers and Ski movies! Kimi grew up skiing the Japanese alps from the age of 4 and knows the mountains of Myoko like the back of his hand. A true locals eye when it comes to powder spots! Ramen, Rain & Trains. Tokyo was a blur. An amazing city which we felt welcomed and safe. With Kimi’s wife Miyu as our tour guide we were covering some
