Trip Report On The Road Japan 2013 Interactive Tour.

Not on the way till nixt Saturday, but hey it's just a shot away.

 

Just the usual stuff kaos. Quite amped. Somehow they let me get away with it on this erudite forum.

 

Struggling to do a relevent post. Mind you I started this thread once 2 weeks ago and I pulled it down after about 2 minutes. It had 7 hits; such is the lack of TR's. Here , is where we will descend the <span style="text-decoration: line-through">39</span>@9 steps


Well sometimes parody is a problem, and I guess other times it is not (see Rolling Stones). Most of us just want to have fun and anyone reading this will certainly be in a better postion than the average bloke in Somalia.

 

hey you don't have to interact at all.Tr...connected first

 

Very Rotorua

 

Not many pics today so I may as well write something I guess.
Moiwa was a little busier than last year (same time) yesterday.There were lots of people (males) with cameras on sticks.This was the norm and I was quite surprised.
Gaijin were hunting in packs, maybe 8 deep; very destructive indeed. Luckily, lots of the packs go out the gate and leave perfectly good powder for the less adventurous. There were big &quot;crack&quot; signs, even in bounds.
Kiroro had 3 gaijin that I saw today and 2 of them were us. There were no men with sticks. The ungroomed run on the left was decimated x 10 45 mins after it opened, vs still being ok at 1pm last year, ie blasted by Japanese; the myth of the locals shunning powder is just that now. The ropes are ridiculous, they even roped off some of their &quot;black&quot; courses. Folks duck the ropes all the time. Read the small print on the large signs and if you # something by hitting a tree it will be embarassing and quite expensive. Most of the resort is benign enough looking, they really should do a &quot;Niseko&quot; there. They plug the place as a powder haven in the Niseko press.
Still, as I was ruminating on all this as I took that first pic, I told myself I was a wingeing bastard, hardened up, and enjoyed the view, in the light, not too cold breeze, with the clouds not obscuring the local star.
Reading matter at base is &quot;Spitting Blood&quot; the story of TB, afterall.
Maybe the Duchess of Bedford had consumption.

 

Must do something more exciting Thursday than reading.

 

Mod Edit: Post deleted at the request of the poster

 

There are two Europeans who speak perfect English.
They walk into the uppermost Izakaya in Upper Hirafu.
One twirls his camera on a stick all around with an air of purpose and sits down next to me.
We are about to leave and I ponder on the capturing of photons at night in a foreign land with a camera of such device. We are on the dark side of the Earth after all.
Afterwards I discuss this with Mrs TW and she says I'm doing just the same and should not be so judgemental.

 

An EK track from 88. It sure was warm here today.





















damp to too boggy to ride really today by midday as above
really cool to see a Japanese gent Gentem glide by early on
doing the Ted Spencer thing
I may be extrapolating here too far

 

Planning out a route, gonna leave real soon.
Can't say today was all that good.
Blizzard in Hirafu early, few lifts going. I could see the gondala queue was lining up above the new Ski Center, must have been 100m long?
So went to old haunt Moiwa, where the car park was pretty well full.



They had a ski race thing on, very Japanese, all for one and one for all. They dismantled the course markers in minutes at the end in an impressive synchonised display. In the cafeteria it was all hail and family social hearty and a great vibe.
Meanwhile up on the hill it had been bitterly cold. I'd forgotten my neck protector and got a wind burnt face coming down in a snow squall. Another day with two runs.
That's ok, mountains only have snow on them for a reason.



Back in town I toy with going night skiing, but decide it's too cold and I've done it before and been less than impressed.




There have been 100's of people up there today, even now, sliding away and I'm watching figure skating on TV.
If there is a problem, I guess it's mine, not theirs, on the basis of numbers.

 

On unexpectedly arriving between stops on the Tokaido Road.

 

It's too late to stop.

 

Just like fire would too.

 

Waiting for
the sun
in the trees

 

I left it all behind..

 

Staying up all night in the Takahan Hotel doing this post for you