Hakuba rode quite the weather roller-coaster today. A sudden snowstorm plowed through what had once been a clear and warm spring day. The sudden 4 degree drop in temps and onslaught of snowflakes stopped as suddenly as it started. Winter’s dying hiccup, perhaps?
I hit the slopes at Hakuba 47 to enjoy the new dusting of snow and found that I had just missed a huge slalom snowboard race. The mountain was packed full of sleek racers, hippie ski bums, and wildly colorful park punks. A huge snowboard demo kept everyone kitted up with fun new toys to try. I was happy just to cruise a few groomers on what had turned out to be a glorious spring afternoon and let myself be entertained by what the circus had brought to town.
A wide variety of demo boards to take up and try out.
Geared up to shred.
Tailgaiting Hakuba style! BBQ and beer in the 47 parking lot.
Sweet snow planks.
A splash of color
Apres Ski smiles. Morino guests enjoy a beer at the bottom of 47 after a most amusing day!
I couldn’t make it out today but Eric, our trusty Wadano lodge manager and faceless being (he’s very shy on the internet) took the camera out and did some easy lines off the back of Happo.It looks like spring kicked in from this afternoon and it will be sunny t-shirt days of park riding and corn backcountry lines until the end of the season in May.
I know Jen just posted for today but I had to post some more pics and vids from my camera cause it was such a cracker!
an almost festive atmosphere on the mountain and perfect snow – as the title says, as good as it gets and a fitting finale to a great season of powder. Get your t-shirts and sunnys out cause it’s Spring skiing from here on in!
I have to rank today’s endless powder-smashing as one of my best days on the mountain ever! A beautiful sunny day, fresh pow as far as the eye could see, and great friends to enjoy it with. We rode from the first lift until our powder legs simply gave out beneath us. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! Now off to the onsen to bask in the glory of March’s last hoo-rah!
First lift... Release the powder hounds!
Eric is all smiles
Powder ain't just for people! Our second sighting of a Kamoshika today.
Today the morning started off almost bottomless and was dumping so hard it ended up bottomless by the end. Epic mid season-like conditions with deep dry powder and cold temps. Could have done with a face mask.
It was still nuking when we left at the end of the day and is forecast to snow until about 6am and then the sun’s supposed to come out so tomorrow is gonna be epic.
There hadn’t been much snowfall the last few nights here at the lodge, so I was caught off guard when Keigo and Junko called and reported bottomless powder and blue skies at Cortina. Craig and I didn’t hesitate. We were out the door in a flash, arms full of gear and still chomping down breakfast. Luckily I remembered my camera in the kerfuffle and snapped a few shots of what turned out a most pleasant and powdery surprise!
Just can't pin Craig to the ground on a powder day!
Cherry blossoms have come early this year? Nope. It looks like we'll be playing under a snowy canopy for a while yet! Sake anyone?
K-5 lets it rip!
They don't call her "Flash" for nothin! Go Junko, Go!
A strange blue gimp like being was spotted on the mountain today at Tsugaike. It turned out to be Morino guest Andrew from England. The blue suits are called morph suits and are all the rave in Britain it seems…
The first thing one wonders when confronted with the morph suit is can you see? The second thing is, Can you breathe? Apparantly both functions are possible and you can even drink through it.
The snow was pretty good on anything north facing first thing, although by lunchtime the rising temperatures were turning the snow to sludge. A turn would create a mountainside of cascading pinwheels. Here’s Eric.
A rollercoaster of weather in the last few days! 22 degrees C and sunbathing weather on Saturday, 90km/h Typhoon strength winds on Saturday night and dumping snow on Sunday!
Fortunately, regular perusal of the Yahoo Japan zoom radar on through Sunday confirmed that the stiff north westerly was coating the north end of the valley with generous amounts of white gold!
A Cortina stealth mission was called for and the elite squad of Morino staff and guests were deployed. 35cm of fresh lay in await.
Hit Cortina today after reports of 30cm of fresh started floating through the ether. Wasn’t 30, probably more like 20cm but on top of a soft buttery base so felt like 30!
Had a great day ripping the trees in perfect spring weather. Here are some shots.
At the end of the day a different view of familiar peaks. Happo on the right, looming over Iwatake.
I ventured out with my camera the other day to see what captured my imagination. The winner was this lovely pond at the base of Wadano, the dock still covered in new snow. It was so pristine and calm that it almost made me want to jump in… almost.
