Paying homage to the pow-pow gods

Hello. Allow me to regale you with tales of my weekend, or, the story of how I got really really sore.

The plan was to go to Hakkoda for two days and tear it up there. We got started a little late on Saturday, which was actually quite lucky, since the weather looked a lot like this:


Couldn't see five feet in front of us by the mountain. Winds were crazy at the summit, reportedly 30 or so meters per second. Not that we got up there. The gondola was closed due to the winds, but the road was closed too. Evidently a bus had tipped over, blocking the only access in or out of the mountain, trapping a handful of folks at the top. It sounds as though they made the best of it, since some of those who were trapped up there were pretty hung over the next day. They barricaded themselves against the weather with a space heater, beer, and all the instant ramen they could eat. Some were able to leave at 11 pm when the road finally opened, but at least one dude stayed the night and got the first lift in the morning.

Since we had to turn around, we went to the resort with groomed trails (as opposed to the veritable open country of Hakkoda) that was next door. It, however, also sucked. We couldn't see, the wind made the snow hurt, but we paid $15 for those tickets, darn it, and stayed most of the afternoon.

The next day was much better. Here's a pic of the road to Hakkoda, you can see some sort of structure covered with snow, a la the Shining:


To get a good idea of how much snow there actually is up there, here's a picture of Chris in the parking as we geared up for the day. That wall behind him is, indeed, snow.

I didn't take my camera up the mountain, so these are stolen from Chris. Here's me snowboarding (with difficultly) near the top:


We tried going off the trail into the really thick, untouched powder at times, cause it is better. That is, if you don't get stuck:


That's me (rear) and Chris' girlfriend, Satoko, trapped in luxorious powder, which you can't stand up in. It's too deep, you just sink, and sink, and sink, and sink... Concurrently, we (I) had a lot of trouble off the main courses.

Here's a nice pic of the top, for all you crunchy types.


I need new bindings (broke 'em), a new board, since I'm no longer riding on the lethal ice-cliffs of the Northeast U.S. Plus, I just realized my boots are like 10 years old... and leaking. Somebody gets paid soon!

peace.