Japan Part 7 - Ant's First Day (...of Snowboarding...)

I'm totally lazy and semi-drunk (from drinking 500ml cans of Sapporo beer at the moment) - so I'm going to post one of Ant's emails to a friend about his first day of snowboarding.... Totally uncensored and uncut! Woooh!

Hey Richard,

I thought you might be interested to hear how I have been getting on at Niseko. We arrived here last afternoon after a VERY early start at 5am from the outer burbs of Tokyo, and then the flight up to Sapporo. On landing - I've never seen so much snow in my life. Ever.

Even though I didnt have any decent cold weather gear, the polar fleece from Kathmandu and some thick jeans were enough. The lodge we are staying in - Mirahishi Tracks, is very very nice; its two stories, and there's three double bedrooms for Chrisk & Julie (Nick's parents), Sacha and Taeko and Nick and myself. We bagged the second nicest room in the complex, with a really big panoramic window.

After we got set up I went down to SAS and got fitted out for my gear. Luckily I had reserved all the stuff, because I only just fitted into the biggest gear that they had - pants, jacket, gloves, snowboard and boots.

We went to a 100 yen noodle place, for dinner on the main street - called Senchou 2. Nick thinks that you said not to go there, but it was not too bad, and was full of Australians. The Aussie contingent here is bigger than ever, and according to Nick's parents the resort has a lot more stuff in it in terms of places to eat.

This morning I met up with my instructor who was Japanese. We set up the board for me (goofy setup) and I then practiced with one foot in the binding and another foot just sliding on the board. We practiced on a small slope near the bottom of the Family run (I avoided crashing into the carpark.) I wasnt too bad at this, although I can't corner very easily. I'm slowly getting the hang of it though.

We then walked a bit up the Family run and I practiced going down once and moving from left to right. This was still with only one foot in the binding.... but it wasnt too bad.

I then purchased a points pass to go up the Family chairlift - which was an interesting experience. I was OK getting on to the chair; but pretty shit at getting off the chair - but I didnt fall over right in the top lift station.

We then went down the Family run. It's pretty hard for me to do the first part as its
quite steep and curved around to the right, but I only fell over a few times. I'm still pretty crap at cornering; but some more practice will help.
The rush you get when you pick up speed is very cool. Though as I can't corner properly yet, I tend to crash rather than turn especially when people are
in the way (lots of learners on the family run!). But towards the end when the run flattened out I started to be able to go from one side of the run to the other. Slowly and gradually, but not too bad.

After my lesson finished, I went back up the run again and worked my way down. Nick and Julie (Nick's mum) were there and followed me down the run. This was probably my best run - though I felt like id forgotten everything I'd been told.

We then went up for lunch at the Scot Hotel; which was good value (mongolian lamb). I then worked my way back down the Family run, and then went and got my board setup changed over to 'normal' rather than goofy as I wasnt sure which way I should be. I had a couple of practice runs in the carpark area at the bottom of the run, and didnt feel that confident! But I got on the chair and off at the top, it was really hard work though as I dont think this setup is right for me. In some ways it was better, I could corner slightly better but getting started and staying in control was a lot harder. I'll talk to my instructor tomorrow morning and see what he thinks.

So I'm not too sore, I've done the Family run four times and enjoyed it! Another two hour lesson tomorrow - and I'll tell you how I'm going. I can see how snowboarding can be quite addictive, and also see what you mean about how the cute guys are snowboarders! So I'll keep practising and see how I go. Three days isnt much of a judge, but so far I'm enjoying it and showing signs of improvement...

Hope that all is going well back home!

Ant

By the way - Blogger has been "chewing up my posts and spitting them out like a piece of gutter trash" for the past few days - so excuse me if this is all out of order like a Quentin Tarrintino movie.