After a couple of mediocre ski days (dust on crust and ridiculously thick fog on Monday; high avy danger on Tuesday), we awoke Wednesday to more sun and low expectations. Took our time getting to Happo, and then once we were on the lift it started snowing. And then it started snowing harder. And harder. And even harder, to the point where a few runs and lift rides were in total whiteout. Tom, Jon, and Kate and I skied through the end of the day (with a bakery stop for lunch), lapping up the fresh snow in the trees.
Tom making the most of Wednesday's new snow (which, lower down, was not as deep as it looks here)
On Thursday, with high winds forecast for Happo, Tom and Jon and I took a chance on Cortina. Alas, with Patrick leaving the lodge on Wednesday morning to continue his ski season in British Columbia, we were left without a ride to the north end of the Hakuba Valley. So we took a train and a shuttle, and when we arrived at Cortina we found a reported 50 centimeters of fresh snow. It was at least that deep.
Jon, not finding any crust at Cortina
Great skiing in the morning, until the sun turned certain aspects into heavy mush. And then, just before lunch, my binding ripped out of my ski and bent in half. So I have no binding, and no ski. Fantastic. At least I had pizza and an onsen.
I'm none too happy about this
Fortunately, Nick of Hakuba Powder Lodging has a couple pairs of tele skis he never uses, so I can borrow those for the remainder of the trip. One is a pair of old fat skis, which could come in handy tomorrow, as snow is falling once again.
What a bummer. Did the binding break because of the heavy mush or for some other reason? How far did you have to go on one ski? I take it the other ski is buried somewhere never to be seen again. So many questions. At least you have some loaners for your final days. No injuries, right?
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