Day #5 Charmant Hiuchi Snow Resort

It was a last minute decision. We got a text from the early car and they made the decision on the road...Charmant. It's known as a "Natural Terrain" hill. There are two or three groomed runs, but if there is enough snow, it's a free for all. But that's only fun if you're really good and you can get in and out of deep powder and between trees with ease. So, most of us stayed on course!

It wasn't a great day, I have been fighting a bad cold for a few days. And on the way to Charmant my funky toe kinda went dead. So I had to heat it back up in the lodge and make sure the blood was flowing before I got my boots on! Should I be worried??

Here are a few pics...nothing too unusual!

Snowboarding To Date

Day #1

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl on New Year's Day!

Anglea, Evie, and Katherine drove up for a day of fun at ski bowl. Okay, so in actuality, I think it was a painful day for A & E because they were learning. And it was raining. But we had a good time and enjoyed a few really good runs. A day on the hill is never complete without a few good stops for drinks/snacks. Ski Bowl has a great little "warmer hut" on one of the runs with a massive wood burning fireplace! It was fun to just sit and catch up with the girls.

Day # 2

Tsugaike in Hakuba, Nagano

Linea, JP & I jumped in Bertie (the VW Beetle) and got on the road by 7am to enjoy a day in Hakuba. Normally, we aren't big Hakuba fans, but there is NO snow at lower elevations this year and so we had to make the 2 hour drive up into the mountains! The snow was good, but not a lot of powder. It was a bit cold and windy, but we managed a full day for our first day out in the Japanese Alps. But like day #1, one of the best parts of boarding is making a full-day experience of it. We had a lovely lunch of gyudon (a beef rice bowl) in a quiet little restaurant on the side of the hill while catching up after our winter trips to the US, Canada and Vietnam!

(sorry, no pics)

Day # 3

Charmant Hiuchi Resort, Niigata

After a late night out catching up with friends after winter vacation, 7 of us gathered outside our apartments and packed the boards, gear and our sleepy selves into two cars and headed for Charmant. With a base of 190cm, it has more than Hakuba! It's known for it's powder runs, but because there has been no new snow and the temp is consistently above freezing, all those runs were closed. So we stayed on the groomed courses and practiced our "skills" or lack there of in my case. I'm still in warm-up mode. It's kinda sad and pathetic. But I have a rental board and crappy boots...and I just can't make a right turn. I absolutely can not go from my heel to my toe! I fall everytime!! It's so frustrating. I'll try adjusting my board bindings...but maybe I've just lost it. Maybe I'm just not inspired this year! And to top it off, the snow kinda sucks. It isn't like last year. I just want to go back to Seaside, where I know the runs like the back of my hand! Where is the snow???? I haven't had to dig out once!

On another note, we ran into a "friend" on the slopes. He saw us in the parking lot and literally bolted over to give us a big bear hug. After that we didn't really have anything to say to each other. ha ha ha

Amy-chan, guess who??