First Ski of the Season

So... I have three more days of New Zealand to go but as you can tell... I have gotten bored of that and quite posting stuff all together for a second. Things have been a little crazy here. But they have come back around to what we call normal and this is our latest adventure. After a fantastic Christmas full of much merry making and fun with friends... I needed adventure... Derick would be happy if he could hang out with his friends and chill all the time... not so much for me... I need epicness... and wind... and speed... and outside. So Derick knowing this made it a point to take me skiing over Christmas. Northern Japan has been a little behind the curve on the snow... Two days before Christmas Hakkoda (my favorite ski spot) only had 45 cm... BUT then three days later they had 120 cm!!! Sweet Nectar of Powder I just had to get out there! We drove the two hours late on a Sunday morning and skied a glorious afternoon! 

You can see the snow wall on the side of the road is already starting to form!

 On the gondola on our first run! LOOK AT MY NEW COAT!!! Its from New Zealand!

 "Snow Monsters" at the top of the  mountain... one of the few places in the world that they form!

 Low visibility... HIGH POWDER!!!

 It looked like Narnia in the reign of the White Witch

 I love Japan... 

Hakkoda Snowshoe Hike

So we wanted to take out new friends Chris & Kendall to Hakkoda because... well... that place just rocks, but the weather didn't look great for skiing so we decided to snowshoe. We had a great time and snowshoeing ROCKS! and I am glad we did snowshoe because the snow was so bad for skiing, it was crusty up top and slushy down bottom.

The sky was looking kinda intense at the top but it did not phase us!
Chris & Kendall
Derick & I... and his nasty stach... click on the picture... I dare you... its SO gross!
the guys waiting for us... they kept running down the mountain, which is fine, and actually really fun, but whenever Kendall and I tried to run we would get going pretty good and then just fall on our faces...

Of course... right when I put away my camera I found this awesome tree and had to whip it back out!

More Hakkoda-san

This trip to Hakkoda the ropeway was up and running but the winds were still pretty intense! But the POWDER WAS SO WORTH IT! I have never skied snow like this! We both have backpacks on becuase we have to bring extra warm cloths ... extra food... and snowshoes in case we get stuck in the backcountry!Here Derick accidentally skied down into a hole around a tree and then got stuck in the waist deep powder!All smiles after the first 7.5 km run! The trees were so covered in snow ... they are called snow monsters and are apperently only a few places in the world where you can ski with them. Later in the season the tops of the trees only come up a little past your head because Hakkoda gets so much snow!
This is the top of the Ropeway... the whole thing was encrusted in snowThe pink are the marked trails (and by marked I mean by a pole every 8 meters) the yellow are back country trails marked by a sign every like half km (I think) and the gray are completly unmarked trails and the red x's are danger zones... and the black line around the outside in a circle is a road the encircles the mountain and so no matter where you come out you can get back to the lift!

Hakkoda

This is the road up to Hakkoda, there was snow everywhere! I love snow and I love mountians and I love Japan!The ropeway was closed due to high winds but there is a little chair lift next to the ropeway that we did some runs on (you can pay per run or by hour) you can see how much snow there was, every run was like going down for the first time cause it was snowing so hard it covered up all the tracks
Derick and I riding up on the chair lift
After skiing Derick and I went snowshoeing with Kona, the snowshoes Tony and Tammy got us worked better then we could have ever imagined, they were great and I am so glad we have them!
Kona had to jump to take a step the snow was so deep
On the road back home by the Sukayu Onsen
Derick and Kona on the drive home, Kona loves her daddy and her daddy thinks she is SOOO cute!