Met up with a Hakuba friend Damian who runs a guiding operation. Check out his sevices-they know what they are doing! http://www.hakuba-alpine-guides.com/

from the gondola got a good view of the North side

some more goods imbetween

thats damian going straight for Norikuradake

you can even see the sea from the top

it was Damian's super duper ultralight setup(all dynafit gear) vs. my ultra heavy super inefficient setup.

got to the goods at kitanorikuradake

the snow was much better than we thought it would be. look at the grin-ear to ear

cool tree on the skin back up

on the skin up we got a good view of the line. mmmmm mmmmmm tasty

and then a good view of the moon

here was my run down the chute. best windbuff i have ever skied

skied around 1200m and hiked around the same, i am truly spent

Olympic Fever

Jeff from Tokyo bought some hockey sticks to spread the Olympic spirit and honor the Canadian nationalism. well it brought it out in me-

We even had some fans-Lochland, Kirsti, Kaisa

Faceoff-Team AustrAmerica vs. team team Scandanavia

The town even celebrated our games

They helped to light up the sky

Team Canada 1, Scandanavia 2, AustrAmerica 3-at least we got a medal!

good group of hockey aficionados-

the long walk along long paths

A buddy from the lodge, Patrick, was driving to Naeba ski area the other day. I decided to tag along for another ride to the sea.

I have never seen so many tunnels and cartoon characters in my life-Japan is one of a kind

Pat dropped me off at nagaoka. i quickly got to work on my hitchhiking skills. they were lacking to say the least

the long walks began with earnest-over the horizon

saw some cool things along the way

i finally made it to the beach- a real sand beach as well!

cool territory out here, beach to mountains.

a nice long walk down the beach

walked along the train tracks for a while



and made it back to the train i time to make it back to hakuba for dinner

Rainy days-Drinking days

It started to rain so we started to drink, the Finns led the charge with a Top Gun movie drinking competition. Ville-"Fuck the russians, lets drink"

Got the whole lodge in on the festival

We went to the sea the next morning, drinking along the way, along the sea shore, and alongside the temples.

Lockland enjoying the beautiful coastline, god those concrete blocks were great!

back to the Top Gun party, Ville and Shawn living it up.

and Ville passing out for the first time along our journey

But he knows how to get back on that horse

On the way to the sea, the chu-hi's were flowing like the rain outside

cool train depot at itoigawa

we got to the sea and we all needed some water.

Kaisa and Kalle bringing up the rear

leading the charge to the sea

lunch was way overdue after we missed our macdonalds lunch due to poor timing


Ville passing out right after dinner

some more passing out, and lots more drinking at the train station

Ville once again showing how the finns party, hard fast, and forever!!!!!

Some more powder pics

All credit for these pics are team Finland, Ville, Kalle, Kaisa. Great crew to be skiing, drinking, and living with.
http://gisahasbeenthinking.blogspot.com/
http://kaar-lo.blogspot.com/



first backflip of the year-ended in a powder faceplant

along the roads

Japan has so much snow

keeps on coming

finally i can see above the powder