The Final Finale Day #7 Tsugaike

Saturday March 3rd, 2007

My snowboarding season and career in Japan has come to an end. I don't know the next time I'll strap in or strap on. It's a sad day. I said my farewells to Nagano, the mountains and the ski hill. It's been (mostly) good to me! And to top it all off, I had an unforgettable last day!

Today's group was some third+ years and a few Japanese friends. My final day on the hill was full of fun, friends, food, and a few falls...well, watch the video that's posted in the side bar, and make sure the volume is on! That exlains it all. Here are a few pics! And now, I really should start that paper! EEK!

Another beautiful sunny day! Although the temp was well above freezing!

What? How did that happen?

A random (and very friendly) bear on the hill!

Tasty kebabobs after boarding! Oh my!

An automatic highway flag waiver! I'm gonna miss these guys!

(not on the ski hill, but part of the randomness of the day)

Day # 4 Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原

Saturday morning 8 of us piled in cars with all our gear and headed for Nagano. With the weather conditions as warm as they have been, it's not even worth considering anything at a lower elevation. We didn't even see snow until we were about 20 minutes from Hakuba. It's sad, but at least we can still board. And luckily, it had been snowing all night and snowed most of the day! So there was a wonderful layer of powder to play in. It was my best day yet. After I got my board waxed and adjusted my left bindings, I was able to do right turns again! Hurray! It was such a good day, we only stopped once for lunch. Nobody needed any breaks, nobody complained of sore feet or needing to adjust anything. Everyone was genki and we all wanted to enjoy the powder as long as possible! Pray for snow at Seaside!!



Here are some pics:

さよなら 秋！ こにちわ 冬！

Good-bye fall! Hello winter!

Last weekened was a sunny, warm, beautiful 3-day holiday. And yesterday, Monday, it turned ugly. It started raining, the wind picked up, and it got dark and grey. There was thunder and lightning last night and today. And it's COLD!

Luckily, I got in a fall leaf "viewing" day before the official start of winter in Japan (today). Last Friday, some friends and I headed to the Tsugaike National Park in Nagano for a light hike in the mountains. Takae and I tried to do this hike in August, but we got stormed out half way up the mountain between the gondola and the ropeway. We were determined to try it again!

This time around, we were really lucky, Asuka was able to join us and we got a beautiful sunny day! It was a lovely day of walking, and admiring the view-mountain tops, leaves of every color, and the mountain wetlands that make up the national park.

And of course, we had a gourmet meal on the mountain. We all brought a little something to share and it was fabulous--onigiri (rice balls), dried fugu (blow fish), pasta salad, tamagoyaki (fried egg roll), vegetables, meatballs, chocolate, oranges, cookies, cakes, hot tea and hot milk tea! After lunch we headed back down the mountain (via the ropeway and gondola) and went to an onsen. We ended up traveling down a road that took us deep into the mountains and further into the beautiful fall colors. The onsen was a very small, very very hot bath coated in inches of rock mineral deposits! It felt fabulous, too bad it wasn't outside with a view of the leaves!

Thanks girls! It was a great day! Let's start planning our next adventure!


Seriously, now I HAVE to get back to work and finish this #%*@ paper!