Two years back when Happo announced that the  “High Cascade Snowboard Camp” crew was coming to happo to build and manage a new ski & snowboard park we were obviously very pleased. These guys are some of the best in the business and we knew they`d do it right! The layout, the shape of the jumps (no nasty kicks or knuckle ball landings), the way they maintenance it (the park closes from noon till 1:00pm each day so the shapers can work their magic), and the location (with the Northern Alps towering to skier`s left this must be one of the prettiest parks in the world), all make for maximal fun and minimal aching of the joints. Not to mention the close proximity to Morino Lodge means you can be board-sliding your first rail or popping your first method 15 minutes after finishing your cappuccino in the Morino Lounge. The Park is open for the 2010 season until April 11th (its in use for filming exclusively for Japan`s top pro riders until the 18th – that`ll be fun to watch!).  Fortunately there`s a lot more sun in the forecast this coming week, so some tough decisions lie ahead – go for a hike in the backcountry or session the park?

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.

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!  

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. Heres a vid from this afternoon.  

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!  

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.