Japan-When The Snow God Eventually Blessed Us!

So after one of the wettest weeks i have ever had in a ski resort we left Hakuba and headed for Myoko hoping for colder temperatures and some of that Japan POW we had all been expecting!

Myoko is only and hour and a half from Hakuba and after a short bus ride we entered a completely differant town to Hakuba, Myoko is a tiny traditional little village up in the mountains and is very pretty indeed. We moved in to an awesome hotel, the rooms were all traditional Japanese rooms and it wasn’t long before myself and Nic were trying the naturally heated Onsen out! That evening we decided to go and do some night shooting and see what we could find in town to jib as there was still no fresh snow!

We found a cool set of fire escape stairs that we made an acid drop out of and British snowboarder Vicki Miller who had just joined the trip and myself had a couple of hits. The landing was fairly solid so we tried to get it right straight away, Camilla got some cool photos done using a remote flash set up and we headed off for a well deserved dinner and beer, still none of the expected snow had come!

 

About to drop on the sketchy stair drop we found!

The next day we headed up the hill for a scout about as it still hadn’t snowed yet, Myoko is one of the classic Japanese skiing resorts, lots of nice open trees with little steeper pillow line sections and cool avalanche barrier areas. The terrain looked amazing, but it needed a hell of a lot of fresh to fall to cover the icy rain affected snow! We headed back down the hill early, all hoping for a miracle from the snow god as we needed over a meter to be able to do anything with!

At around 3pm that afternoon it started to snow as we sat in the outside onsen and when i say snow it literally started to dump more than i had ever seen before! This was the Japan i had come to see and in the first two hours it had already snowed more than 30 cm’s! By the evening there was a huge covering so we decided to go and get some funky night shots done, the snow was amazing, so light and dusty! Camilla set up some amazing flash angles, one of them involved me giving her a leg up so she could shoot from halfway up a telegraph pole! She got some awesome shots, the snow was so light and deep that it was hard to shoot, as soon as you turned you disappeared into a ball of white!  Make sure you check Camilla’s blog out as she has put a couple of shots up. We shot untill about 9.30pm and headed off for a huge feast in preparation for the powder day we had been after since the start of the trip!

 

Stoked on my chocolate and the snow!

The next morning we headed up early and even though the snow was slightly heavier than it had been the previous evening the amount that had fallen shocked us all! All the lines and pillows we had been scouting where on and the sun had started to come out! We worked hard and took full advantage of our first real powder day, all the frustrations we had were gone and we had an epic day, we went out for a couple of beers that evening to celebrate and to check out Myoko’s night life….!

The snow had turned a little funny on the lower areas so we hooked up with local legend and guide Bill! Bill originally from America had been in Myoko for 29 years and had got to know the backcountry like the back of his hand, he took us for a day tour into the wilds around Myoko, it was a nice change skinning up the mountain with no one around.

 

Halfway through our tour!

As we started to ski down the clouds came in and Bill explained that these were some serious snow clouds, we just hoped it started snowing soon! That night Bill took us to his friends little traditional Japanese pub, the food was unbelievable, we all sat on the floor around an open fire where the food was cooked in an open pot and we helped ourselves, then the Sake came out which is Japanese wine with a differance, its like drinking straight vodka!

Amazing Japanese "pub" grub!

As we sat around the table an excited voice rang out that we should have a quick look outside….. in the time we had been eating it had puked down about 50 cm’s of snow and it was still coming down quicker than i had ever seen!

 

Vikki in the fresh snow on the walk home!

Over night it snowed another meter and a half, the whole mountain had changed and we were now experiencing the real Japan! We were up the hill on the first lift, unlike Europe there wasn’t a hoard of people trying to get up the mountain just a couple of local shredders! We shot solidly all day and found some cool little lines, the snow was so light and dry, every run we did was epic!

 

Loving the snow!!!

It was the best days skiing i have ever had, we finished as late as we could all completely knackered, but very happy with our days work, a long onsen and a beer topped topped it off, a very tough day at the office!

Over night unfortunately the temperature rose again and are last days skiing in Japan was a wash out, but it didn’t matter the skiing we had got had been unbelievable! Also we were all extremely excited about heading to Tokyo for a couple of nights… The tourist board took us out for a farewell dinner which again was super nice and we took part in some Japanese traditional drumming, which was hilarious….

 

Showing the Japanese my amazing beats!

 

 

However on the way to Tokyo we stopped off to see the snow monkeys, they were incredible, they live in the mountains and bath themselves in the natural hot springs. They are really friendly, but if you look them in the eyes they get a wee bit aggressive as myself and Nic found out! Will get some photos up as soon as i nab them off Beanie as they are amazing little creatures!

We had two nights in Tokyo, so we went and explored the red light district obviously! I was amazed at how busy it was, at 11pm it was still busier than London at rush hour, it was hectic! We also did some extreme sightseeing during the day, running around so we could fit as much in as possible! Again i will get some photos up as soon as i get them.

So i am now back out in Verbier, where the snow is awesome, and heading off to Italy next week for the SIGB Ski Test with STORM Skis to show off next years skis to the media and retailers! Will get some more Japan photos up as soon as i get them!

Cheers and good riding!

Arrival In Japan…!

So Nic Watkins and myself at last got into Japan on Wednesday after a hectic couple of days driving back to London, organizing gear and trying to see as many people as possible before jetting off again!

The flight over was awesome and had more fun than i had ever had on an airplane, the cabin crew were so much fun and looked after us really well! We must thank British Airways who supplied us with complimentary booze all the way to Tokyo which made the 11 and a half hour trip fly by…! The crews banter was also brilliant and we spent most of our time stood in the crews compartment sipping on brandy and finding out all the cabin crews weird and wonderful stories about what happens behind the scenes on a flight…! We got into Tokyo at 9am local time and headed to one of the most hectic train stations in the world at peak rush hour time with our ski bags…. we were not the most popular tourists in the world!

We had to catch a couple of trains and a bus, but after 7 hours of traveling and a brief stop in Nagano, the site of the 1998 winter Olympics, we arrived into Hakuba our first stop on our tour! We met up with Camilla Stoddart, Beanie Milne Home and French skier Nicola Cruz, the crew was complete and best of all it was absolutely chucking it down SNOW!!! An early night was had by all as we had decided to not sleep on the plane and a very early start on Thursday was needed!

 

Waking up to Japan!

Waking up on our first day to sunny skies and fresh snow was a dream come true, it had snowed about 30 cm’s over night and the clouds had vanished! We headed straight up the hill after picking up our free passes off Andy Kelly, who has been a legend sorting stuff out for us!

As a warm up we decided to hike a ridge were we could see some pretty cool terrain off the side, after a 40 minutes of very warm hiking we stopped and checked out the snow and conditions, rather frustratingly the snow was pretty unstable and as there had been a few slides in the last couple of days we decided that we shouldn’t drop into the steeper stuff yet and turned round, it was annoying but better safe than sorry!

 

Nicola, myself and Nic at the top of the ridge, very hot indeed!

 

We headed for the trees and some smaller lines for the rest of the day, the snow was pretty good, not amazing but it was awesome fun to be skiing in Japan at last! We met up with some of Camilla’s friends at lunch time who had done winters in Hakuba and they showed us some secret spots, Camilla got some cool photo’s done of everyone and Nic managed to get a couple of cool lines filmed in the trees. We finished late in the afternoon very tired but very happy with what we had all got done!

 

Nic and myself checking a line out before filming

After an epic traditional dinner, it was another early night as we were all knackered!

Friday brought us the bad turn of weather we had been expecting, warm weather came in and so did the grey clouds, the snow very quickly started to turn to wet cement and on the lower parts of the mountain wet slush! We headed over to a resort close by which was renowned for its steep tree skiing called Cortina. It was also renowned for the huge Victorian styled house that makes up the hotel resort, it was massive!

 

Massive....!

The snow was done so we tried to head down the back of the resort and jib a dam the girls had found earlier in the week, we couldn’t do much with it as the snow was screwed but Camilla used her brilliance and got a couple of photos!

We entertained ourselves for the rest of the day in the kids play area as we found some of the best toys i have ever seen!

 

Nic and myself on the kids skidoo's

It was also the schools day out, there were thousands of school children there skiing, all wearing the same clothes, skis, boots, goggles everything! It was an amazing site! They were very interested to see us and were so funny and enthusiastic it was brilliant…!

 

School kids everywhere!!!

As the skiing was pretty poor we headed for the resort Onsens which were amazing, they are hot water spa type things and very relaxing indeed! The rules are you have to be naked so all the clothes come off and in you jump! Unfortunately they were not mixed and you cant see the girls…..

We headed home not having got much work done but had a really fun day! We had a huge traditional dinner, which was again awesome! The bad weather though had turned worse and the rain poured down all night and the next morning, so today we took a day off skis and headed out into town for a look around!

Tonight we are out for a few drinks and then tomorrow we are heading for Myoko where the snow is falling heavily and the terrain is amazing apparently! Its going to be a busy week shooting but then we get time to chill in Tokyo, but cant wait to ski some deep deep pow! A quick thanks to Beanie as i have pissed her off no end using her computer to write my blog as she has been waiting for me to finish!

Hope your all good xx

Back On The Shred Mission – Heading For The Far East!

Things have picked up since i last wrote…..

I am back pretty much to full fitness and have had a week or so skiing properly and testing the knee out, which has been a hell of alot better than sitting at home in the flat looking at all the snow, generally being hungover!!!

Lee who has been looking after my knee for me, giving me treatment on it for the last month has done an awesome job and has got it back to full strength, so thanks loads mate! The aim was to be fully fit for Japan and we managed it, as i write this i am sat in a very wet London getting myself organised as i head off to Jappers tomorrow with Nic Watkins of Run Jump Fly Productions to meet up with Camilla Stoddart and Beanie Miln Home, who have already been out there for a week. We are heading to a place called Hakuba first, so its going to be a mental bit of tube and train action from Tokyo to get there, and as mine and Nic’s Japanese is non existent it could be pretty interesting!

So i got back on the planks about ten days ago and spent the first few days doing some gentle training, testing the knee to see if it was hurting or weak in certain positions but it all seemed to be working fine and the physio was happy with it so i started to build it up and after 5 days was back in the backcountry skiing fast and hitting some airs on fairly hard landings, all was good and i got full confidence back in the knee!

Last week i was invited to coach the Peak Leaders Gap course students in Verbier for a couple of days with Andy David and Oli Coorkhill in Freestyle and how to teach freestyle once they have passed there BASI exams. Coaching is something i really enjoy, but due to my other commitments don’t get much time to do anymore, the couple of days were great fun and the students were a good bunch and all comitted to everything we got them to do! We taught them the basics, like how to ski switch, 180’s and how to hit a kicker. We then took them to a backcountry booter and threw them off it! The guys and girls did really well, everyone hit the booter and some of the guys were landing backflips, 3’s and frontflips by the end of the day with no injuries, which was awesome, well done guys! You can check out there blog at http://www.peakleaders.com/course_blogs/Verbier.

Coaching the Peak Leaders on hitting a backcountry booter!

The coaching was also a good chance for me to get back into jumping as i hadn’t done any since before the new year and before my injury, and a backcountry booter onto a soft landing is the best thing to practice those tricks you haven’t brought out for a while! So there was the “odd” crash in front of the students with me trying to demonstrate differant tricks, but the knee held up so was all good!

Trying to remember how to do a backflip!

We had a brilliant leaving party, which was obviously fancy dress! It was “Chav” night at the pub and we all dressed up for the occasion, myself and Chris going in matching outfits, awesome night out!

Chris and Me "chaving" it up at the bar!

So off tomorrow to Japan, cant wait to get there as much for the culture as for the skiing, looking forward to trying some weird foods! Camilla said she had raw horse yesterday, so i will keep you updated with what we eat… Nic wants us to try Blow Fish, which if not cooked correctly can kill you, so dont think its the knee i need to be worrying about!

I would just like to wish Chris Southwell, Nick Southwell and Sam Smoothy good luck for the Austria and Chamonix Freeride Qualifier comps that are happening over the next couple of weeks, bring it home boys! I will try and keep this blog updated as much as possible whilst i am away, not sure when i will have internet though.

Cheers and speak soon. xx