u got it all!

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What an amazing country!? You can have it all … Just a couple weeks before I was surrounded by waves and now I got stack in 3m finest powder. I was swimming up to my chest in crystals.

Yamamoto, Takemasa, Yasui, Matsuno san & me went for a little powder session to Akakura Onsen – a ski & snowboard resort in Myoko-shi, Niigata prefecture.

I’ve seen lots of snow in my life, but this snow here in Japan is different. The amount was incredible; the consistent is so light and dry, fine and fluffy … very nice.

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We left Nagoya at 2.45 sharp. I seeped a bit in the car. When I woke up I couldn’t believe it golf ball sized snowflakes where twirling around us. I continually had that feeling in your stomach. The one you get when the surf starts picking up, your trying to sleep in your tent, all your hear are waves crashing and you know its going to be cranking in the morning.

We stayed in the little town Akakura Onsen in a real old school Japanese hotel. Tatami mat rooms, no beds just futons (jap. 布団, wörtlich: „Stoffkreis“), natural Onsen (温泉 ♨) and an amazing traditional dinner & breakfast. I got to say, the breakfast was a bit too traditional for me in the early morning hours just before heading up the mountain.

The skiing area is not so big and not very high, but it’s lots of fun especially when you dawning in the powder, surfing through the forest and listen to German Yodel-Hüttenmusik at the apres restaurant.

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I couldn’t help it …

I had to dive into the deep. Yamamoto told me afterwards that he just heard a crow then before I vanished in the woods. It was an amazing ride until I got stuck in a flat valley section. There was no other way then to unstrap the board and hike through the deep deep snow. It felt like an eternity … it started to snow.

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When I finally got back on track I realized that I just had 10 min. to catch up with the others in the hotel. The others where waiting for me. Yamamoto asked me if I heard the announcement he did from the rescue center!? To be honest I didn’t!!!

What a nice day … and it wasn’t over jet!

We went back to the hotel, took an Onsen, had dinner & headed down to the Dondon Yaki Festival to grill some Motchis (rice cake). You had to clamp the Motchi on the peak of an ultra long bamboo stick on a massive bonfire! Most of the rice cakes where black as a chunk of coal!

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We didn’t stay too long, because it snowed like crazy.

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The next day we had to del with the result!

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