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Japan Day One

January 14th, 2009

Today, I was awaken early by the many roommates I have in this small, Japanese apartment. I made my bed and have been sleeping in the closet.

It’s actually quite comfortable. I can completely spread out and shield myself from the noise and the light in the morning.

I made breakfast today with instant oatmeal from the US mixed with green tea, since the water pot had been used to make tea. After a leisurely morning, we headed to the mountain which is about 10 minutes away from our apartment and shredded Grand Hirafu at Niseko for the afternoon and evening.

Here are the guys loading up the car.

Karate kid. Check out the massive snowbank behind me.

There is a ton of snow here and it was snowing most of the day.

Here is Yuki, our translator and guide, and he is a rockstar.

The van was quite full as you can see.

The signs here are so funny (along with many other aspects of Japanese life like the toilets). This one says:

"Miharashi Course, Advanced ungroomed areas (Adbanced skiers only)"

Here’s Adam one of the skiers on our trip ripping though the Japanese Pow.

Here’s what the lodge serves at the resort. Fried Shrimp and vegetables atop Udon noodles. YUMMY!

Here’s our gang at dinner. So good.

Grilled squid. Delicious or Oishii.

Finally, here’s a package of food that I thought was so cute.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to film and go for a ski tour. I’m exhausted from the jet leg and feel yucky. More tomorrow…

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Japan

January 13th, 2009

So I’m here in Niseko after a really long day of time traveling. I left Salt Lake on the 12th at 8:30 in the morning and got to my final destination on the 14th.

My adventure started yesterday at 5:30 in the morning when I woke up to catch my flight to San Francisco.

Here are some pictures of me trying to organize 18 days worth of ski stuff:

From San Francisco, I flew in to the Narita airport in Tokyo. I had a nice and talkative young man from Mexico sitting next to me and it made the 10 hour flight go by fast.

I was very tired when I snapped this shot at the airport.

I finally got into Narita at 4pm Japanese time, cleared customs and had time to make it to the mall to buy a DC plug adapter. Then, I checked in for my domestic flight from Tokyo to Sapporo.

Japan is confusing! Here was one of my challenges: trying to figure out how to use the toilet. There is a button on the control that says "flushing sound" and it just makes the noise of a flush. Strange but after talking to some Japanese people, I figured out it was used when people are going number 2 and don’t want others to hear the "Kerplunk" noise.

Arrived in Sapporo at 8:30 pm and got the last shuttle to Niseko. After a 2.5 hr. shuttle ride through the mountains, I made it to the apartment.

Here’s me in Niseko. Very tired with a lot of ski gear.

The view from the apartment:

Here is our kitchen set up:

Here’s our computer corner.

We’re just getting ready to go skiing! It is dumping here. There is a ton of snow. I will update with more photos from skiing and from the unique living situation we have here later.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Happy New Year’s Eve

January 9th, 2009

So much craziness happening right now. Had my birthday on New Years Eve.

Mostly, I’ve been busy skiing ridiculously deep powder on my new Roxy skis, the Mumbo Jumbos.

Charging around with the polka dot crew

And eating delicious pizza at the Goldminer’s daughter.

Oh and I gave myself a black eye jumping, which is going to look great as I make my Japanese debut on Monday.

I fly into Tokyo and then to Sapporo where I will be for 18 days of deep powder skiing. Nisko is the resort I’m going to and they are supposed to get as much snow as Alta (600" a year).

I will be updating with photos so please check back and e-mail me while I’m gone!

Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized

Discrete Party

December 30th, 2008

Hope to see you all there for some great prizes, friends and fun.

Posted in Uncategorized

Happy Holidays!

December 27th, 2008

The past week and a half has been a whirlwind.

Finished finals last Wednesday, went to Jackson on Saturday, got back Sunday and then Christmas and tons of snow!

In the midst of lots of skiing and present wrapping, I managed to plan a ski trip to Japan for Jan. 12-29. I will be going to Niseko to work with Sweetgrass Productions for their next ski flick. Check out their website www.sweetgrass-productions.com .

I am ridiculously stoked. I went to Japan when I was 5 1/2 weeks old. My parents traveled to Japan extensively as I was growing up and would always bring me back treasures like small dolls, origami paper and kimonos. My best friend growing up was half-Japanese, and I would spent a few weeks of my summer at a Japanese language camp in northern Minnesota through Concordia Language Villages. I’ve always felt a deep connection to the language, people and culture.

When I get back from that, I will be hopping on the Elements tour and meeting up with some of my Kavu folks to shred pow and film for their upcoming flick. Right now, it looks like I will join on for a Yurt tour in the Sawtooths and a few days up in Jackson Hole! Can’t wait. www.naturepropelled.com

Stay tuned for pics and updates from the trips!

Here are some from the holidays:

Iris and I are those people wearing avalanche beacons in the bar. With the current avy danger, I’ve been wearing mine almost everyday in bounds (and even keeping it on in my car during the drive down the canyon). Please everyone be careful out there!