Deep snow, and donating

Wow. Today was deep. Just ridiculously, absurdly deep.

Though as good a day as we had on the mountain, it’s crazy to know that so many people close to us are dealing with so much loss. So before I get into our day, here’s a link about donating to the relief efforts in Japan. If you can contribute, the Japanese can use the help.

www.interaction.org/crisis-list/interaction-members-support-japan-earthquake-response

As for our wellbeing, there’s a lot of conflicting news reports about the severity of the nuclear threats and whether those threats will increase or decrease. The one consensus seems to be that we remain in a fairly safe spot in Japan. Tom and I have talked about our options, and barring some major development, we plan to stay here until Monday, as scheduled.

If today was any indication, we’ll have plenty of snow to enjoy in the next couple of days. We woke this morning to heavy snow falling, but only a dusting had accumulated on the ground. Happo One, on the other hand, had picked up a massive amount of snow. More than a foot at the higher elevations, and coming down hard throughout the day. A big group of us — Tom, Jon, Dan, Katja, Lachlan, Kirsti and myself — spent the morning up high in the deep snow. After yet another bakery lunch (becoming a daily stop), we moved down to the trees on the lower mountain. Here are some photographic highlights from the day: 

 Tom

 Jon

 Katja

 Lachlan

 Kirsti

 Tom again

 Jon again

 More Jon

 Jon kept finding the really deep snow today

Dan looks for a soft landing. He found one. 

Put on hold

The big storm never materialized, although enough snow did fall overnight to make for some sweet, powdery turns through our sidecountry stash in the woods at Happo One. Tom, Jon and I put in two runs, finding plenty of fresh snow between the trees. But after our second lap, the wind kicked up and the mountain closed its upper lifts, thus preventing us from accessing the woods. We took a long lunch to see if the wind would die down, but had no such luck. Back to the lodge we went for an afternoon of reading and napping.

To make matters worse, I forgot to reset the white balance on my camera after taking pictures inside last night. So despite blue skies today, we’re going with black and white photos, as the color of the shots was completely off. And even the black and white doesn’t have much pop to it in these pictures. I’m kicking myself. 

Surviving Tokyo

To appease the masses (or at least Uncle Steve), the blog returns. (Note to Uncle Steve: no computer for three days means no blog updates for at least three days.)

Back in Hakuba today after a long weekend between Tokyo and Kyoto, Tom and Brian and I hiked high above Happo One for our longest tour yet. Although we had beautiful, blue skies, we did not have good snow. I made a few nice powder turns, but they were unexpected in a run largely marred by wind buff, sun crust, old avalanche debris and other crud. But at least we closed the day with a soak in an onsen near the lodge.

So, with little to report from the slopes, the recap of a Tokyo all-nighter begins here. After taking a bus to Nagano on Thursday, we rode the Shinkansen (high speed rail) to Tokyo Station and then set off into a city intent on overwhelming our senses with an endless array of lights. We arrived in daylight, and once we found out how to actually leave Tokyo Station, we wandered the nearby streets for a bit before ducking into a mall, where we found an indoor market with meats, teas, pastries and more. 

First glimpse of Tokyo.

Then it was into the Tokyo Metro for more confusion and a ride to the area of Shibuya, where we emerged from the underground. Night had arrived at this point, and Tokyo was lit up: neon signs, flashing signs, big lights, little lights, tall narrow lights. Just an insane amount of lights.

It's so bright!

More confused wandering for us, until we retreated back into the metro to check out Shinjuku and eat dinner at a place called Lois, which Brian wanted to try. Yet we never found Lois — again, too many lights — and instead settled on a random restaurant. Post-dinner we returned to Shibuya and went to a bar for some sake, and quickly moved on to another bar; before we even entered, a Scandinavian named Eric met us at the door to make fun of my beard. Back inside, he befriended us and launched into a tirade about anti-Semitism spreading through Europe, and took a strong liking to Brian upon learning of his Jewish heritage. Yet Eric’s key contribution to the evening was introducing us to Yuki and her friend (Huki??).

 Brian makes a new friend in Eric, the agnostic wannabe Jew. 

Yuki became our tour guide for the rest of the evening and early morning. She led us to a third bar nearby, which was critical because at that point rain had begun to pour down on Tokyo (still lots of lights, however) and we had no interest in more confused wandering. 

Tom with Huki (?) and Yuki. 

By the time we left at 5 a.m., the rain had yet to let up, so Brian, Tom, Yuki and I hopped in a cab to Tsukiji Market, a fish market. With Yuki’s help translating, we eventually found our way to the tuna auction (becoming soaked in the process of dashing from warehouse to warehouse in the rain), followed by a 1.5-hour wait for breakfast of the best sushi any of us had ever had (despite being frigid in our drenched clothes.

 Tuna auction at Tsukiji Market.

 Sushi breakfast (along with miso soup and green tea).

After breakfast, we hailed a cab back to Tokyo Station, where our exhausting Tokyo experience ended as we boarded a Shinkansen for Kyoto. Kyoto brought a welcome slowing of the pace. Once again, however, it is past my Japanese bedtime, so this is all the blogging for today. Hopefully the update will keep Uncle Steve entertained until tomorrow. 

Happo opens up (bluebird and backcountry bowls)

Apparently Hakuba is the hot place to ski this winter: besides the ski celebrities that are Tommy, Brian and I, we’re sharing a hostel with a crew from Unofficial Squaw, have heard that Jeremy Jones is in the area filming a sequel to “Deeper,” and heard that another TGR group is in town. All for good reason. Bluebird skies today enticed us to hike above the top lift at Happo One, where we saw the full extent of the Japanese Alps. Massive mountains, huge lines, big bowls — who says Japan only has tree skiing?

  

 No idea who this guy is, but he picked a picturesque line to ski. 

Yep, those are mountains. Big ones. (Tommy's pose no doubt inspired by one Mr. Christopher Small.)

We skipped the longer tour, but still managed to ski a super long run through wide bowls.

 Yeah, that was fun. 

 An Aussie checks out the view from below. 

 These mountains are absolutely full of dams. 

Unfortunately, we missed the “easy” way back to the resort and ended up poling our way back along a street for what seemed like an hour (since none of us have a watch, we’re a little sketchy on actual times). 

Taking the long way home. 

After a long, leisurely lunch and more canned coffee, we went back to the same spot. A Finnish guy met us at the top and tagged along for the run. With his wife on a business trip in Tokyo, he had escaped to Happo for one ski day. This time we found the “easy” way back — which turned out to be a steep boot pack. Not easy, by any means, but at least shorter than our first attempt.

The moon came out for the bottom of the second run. 

Tomorrow we’ll put in a half day or so and then take off for a long weekend in Tokyo and Kyoto for some Japanese (non-ski) culture. 

Visions of Japow

The idea came about, as so many wonderful ideas do, from an offhand comment. My brother Tom and I, hanging out on the beach last summer, were chatting about skiing (yes, we talk skiing during 80-degree weather in July) when he mentioned a video of skiing in Japan.

“I’ve thought it would be cool to spend a month skiing in Japan,” I said (and I have to give some credit to snowchasers.blogspot.com for some inspirational photos and travelogues).

And with that, both of us realized that our schedules in the coming winter could actually allow us to spend a month skiing in Japan: Tom would finish his undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia in December; I planned to leave my job in the spring to spend a few months freelance writing before heading to grad school in the fall.

Of course, neither of us really expected to pursue the dream to fruition. It was just a whim that, theoretically, could work. Except that the idea had taken hold, and visions of bottomless Japanese powder had settled into our imaginations. We began researching ski spots in Japan, checking out photos and posts on TGR forums. Momentum built, and by the fall we had decided to make the trip a reality.

We decided on the resort of Happo One, located in the Japanese Alps in the town of Hakuba. The site of the ’98 Olympics apparently receives almost as much snow as Hokkaido, where it seems most Westerners go for their Japow, but offers bigger lines.

When we mentioned the idea to my friend Brian, he instantly committed to two weeks. Tom and I settled on dates (Feb. 12 – March 21) booked flights, then a place to stay (Hakuba Powder Lodging). Emails bounced between Tom and Brian and I, the chain growing each time one of us found a new video or photo of Hakuba or the Happo backcountry.

But in the ensuing months, Japan planning intertwined with real life. The initial excitement succumbed to the tedious tasks of sending out grad school applications and wrapping up my job. The once fantastical idea of a ski trip to Japan, now a reality, grew distant.

And then, a few days ago, I flipped my calendar to February and saw the note I’d scrawled onto Feb. 12: “Leave for Japan” The reality of the trip reappeared, surprising me by being so imminent.

And now, in less than five days, I fly to Japan.