skiing, skiing, and more skiing

Well, my first winter in Japan has been filled mainly with one thing:skiing. I have skied over 20 days this season so far (and it is only the end of January!!). On Saturday, when I went to the lift station at Happo O-ne, I used my last two day tickets in the ticket book (every time you go skiing with a season pass, they take a ticket out for each day). I was wondering how I was going to get my second ticket book for next weekend. At first, I thought I would have to go through quite a hassle that weekend. Stamping and writing my name numerous times. But to my surprise, the I was just handed a new book. And then there was skiing.

Well I have only been skiing for 4 years, but this is my breakout season. I have skied so many days, that I have improved dramatically. And on Saturday, I started to get a little bit more adventurous. At first I started skiing a few easy tree runs off the cat track next to the women's downhill run. Not too bad, and I felt pretty good. However, sometimes I just can't make the turns quick enough, so I have to stop and reposition myself. So the day was off to a good start. I did some more runs, and was pleased to find a little powder here and there.

And then I saw it. The open face of Happo. Of course it is out of bounds, but I saw a few people go down it. So I said to myself, I can do that!!. I took the lift up, skied under the rope, and I was there. It was just beautiful. I meant a couple of Australian snowboarders who were also going to ski the open face. I went down. I skied through amazing powder. I felt like a pro. Once you got down the bottom you had to maintain your speed as you traversed along a hill until you hit a cat track to take you back to the lift. As I was getting back to the cat track, I took a high line to keep my speed. I saw the cat track, and then I saw that I was going over a drop of about 5 feet. I couldn't stop, and as I went over the drop I did a half flip into a huge pile of powder. I flipped my skis over my head and kept on skiing. It was great, and to boot other people saw my performance and were impressed. I did the same run two more times; sweet.

Well I think that Sat. was my best day of skiing so far in my season (I think I say that every weekend, which is a good thing). Next weekend will be more of the same.

slater