Category: Skiing

Niseko Nihon ha daisuke desu!

January 23rd, 2009

This means I love Niseko Japan.

I’ve been living in a fantasy world for the past 11 days with fresh powder, amazing food, no cell phone and obligations besides skiing.

I have 5 more days left.  I love it here.  I was so anxious coming into this trip.  I hardly knew anyone here and I knew the sleeping situation was going to be difficult.  Now, I know I can handle almost anything.

Today it rained.  I have been so sore and exhausted from all the hiking.  Everyone slept in this morning.  Yuki, our translator, and I decided to go out for lunch and shopping in the rain.

I should be more excited in this photo because for the first time of the trip, I got to sit shotgun.

The culture here in Kutchan is all about skiing!  Here’s a big fence made out of old atomics.

Lunch was so good.  Delicious cod, salmon and scallop with fish eggs on top.

After lunch, I bought some sweets and souvenirs, including these new shoes for myself.

Here I am in my closet with my new shoes.

And the other pair…

Tonight we went out to eat at this amazing Yakitori place.  I ate raw whale meat and pork stomach.  Afterwards, we met some Kutchan locals for drinks and fun.  It was so nice to be out of the house all day on my day off experiencing Japanese culture and practicing the language as much as possible.

Tomorrow I may take another day off to kick it around town with some of the new friends I’ve made, especially if it’s still raining.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Photos from Niseko, Japan

January 22nd, 2009

We picked up another rental van yesterday so I finally have space to breath during our car rides to the mountain and back.

 

I finally made friends with a girl so I don’t have to hang out with 11 dudes all the time!  Yui is my new friend and tomorrow we will go Onsen tomorrow

We went for another hike today.

Here was my lunch, a delicious banana and chocolate sandwich.

So tasty after a long day of hiking in the backcountry.

We went out tonight in Kutchan for dinner and drinks. 

It’s 1 am and the roommates have turned the lights out (yes all 5 of my roommates), so I will update more tomorrow.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Another Snowy Day in Niseko

January 20th, 2009

I can count the number of times the sun has popped on one hand since my arrival to Japan.

It never seems to stop snowing here.  The clouds move so fast, the light is fickle.  We have been chasing it for days trying to nail the shots.

The elusive sunshine, popping through the clouds.

Two days ago, I took the entire day off from skiing.

I made some delicious tofu cakes, pepper and tomatoes.

Japanese food is so tasty (or oiishii in Japanese).  I am going to bring so much candy home.

This was another delicious snack I had–it was like a sweet sponge cake.

It was light and airy with a slight lemon flavor.

Here’s the Grand Hirafu gondola (I like the little penguin ski guy on the building).  There are so many cute little animal characters here–I find Japanese culture to be very inspiring.

Cool night shot going under a bridge.  I’m finally getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road.

Ben has been a good driver during this trip. 

Japanese snow removal

Cool Japanese bus.

I think this is hair dye for men, but I’m not sure.  Definitely photo worthy however.

Same with these–Love Love Sand.  Sounds like a new slogan for Roxy.

So after stopping by the Seico Mart where these photos were taken (and where we purchase most of our food), the crew headed to the backcountry for a tour.

Beautiful trees.

Still tired–lots of hiking here.

We had a small rain event the other day, so there was a weird layer in the snow, but the top had a fast zipper feel to it.  Not the super blower pow we’ve had, but still lots of fun.

There is another storm coming at the end of the week that’s supposed to drop a lot of snow here.

We finished our day by building two night jumps off a bridge and filming with lights and a generator.

I wore two jackets to stay warm.

Today, I might just go shred the resort to my head and take a day off of filming and practice my Japanese with the locals. 

More photos soon!

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Japanese Powder Daze

January 18th, 2009

I think I am still jet lagged–

The past 6 days since I got here have all run together.  I’m beyond exhausted.

This morning we woke up around 4 am to go for a hike/  We arrived at the trailhead about 30 minutes away only to find the clouds rolling back in so we came back to what I call home in Kutchan:

The rest of the crew went back to sleep but I was all hopped up on iced coffee and stayed awake all day.

Anyway I wish I could write a cohesive blog but I am so tired all I can think about is how nice my pillow will feel.  I’m just going to post some pictures and call it a night.

Morning exhaustion

Another full car in the morning darkness

Every morning we pile into the Toyota Wind Tourer (and we imitate Warren Miller’s narration)

5 fives

I <3 Trees

One of the most exciting things about this trip has been the grocery store.

Dinner–yummy octopus tentacles

And don’t forget your Crunky!  I love Japan.  There were so many interesting things at the grocery store that I wanted to eat.

We ended our long and exciting day by making a group sushi dinner, which I will post pictures of tomorrow.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Spring Snowbird Ad

January 17th, 2009

I just got a copy of this in my inbox the other day.  This is from the day I gave myself a black eye (not on this jump by the way).

I have been trying to get someone to do this shot with me for a long long time!  Next time we’re going to throw huge daffies.

Today, we got up at 4 am to go for a hike, and we got to the trailhead to find it snowing with very flat light.  We waiting around in the darkness for awhile to see if we could see any breaks in the cloud and then decided just to head back and rest during the day today.

We might do some nighttime filming tonight.  I am so tired from hiking and skiing hard the past few days and am personally relieved to have a bit of a down day to rest my calves and stretch.

It’s still snowing here.  I guess it might warm up over the next couple of days.  It would be nice to see around the area more, but I can’t complain about all the deep snow!

I’ll have some ski shots up soon from the photographer here.  Check back for another update from Kutchan, Japan!

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized