Japan part 2: Hakuba

Quick update: basically we have found the powder skiing we were looking for.

We hopped on a bus up to Hakuba and realized instantly we made the right choice. Snow was dumping and our hostel was 3 blocks away from the rental shop. We geared up and got everything sorted for the following few days. Then, as it always seems to happen, we drank with some Aussies.

The last two days have been some of the best powder skiing I have ever skied. It’s deep. And, because of some rules that we neglected to follow, every time we ducked a rope, we were met with entirely untouched powder. It’s hard to put into words how good the skiing has been, so I’ll stop trying. Highlights of skiing so far have been hitting avy fences, dropping off of dams, and skiing the fall line from the resort all the way back into town. Jarid got worked on a massive front flip off a dam and I landed practically upside down after failing at a side flip off an avy fence. But, the snow is too deep for it even to matter.

The next few days will be more of the same, just skiing deep powder and then spending our evenings with a solid crew. Hakuba has been everything we were looking for in Japan. Tomorrow we are riding at Cortina which is apparently the best of the best in this area. Good thing there’s supposed to be over 20 cm of fresh snow in the morning.