a few pictures from the Japanese feast commented by Nikolai Schirmer.
The photos are mostly from Akakura Onsen, a resort close to the town of Myoko on the main island. Myself, Flo and Julien Lange escaped the parched lands of Chamonix for what turned out to be the storm of the season this January. I think they got around two meters the first few days. The two weeks we were there the sun popped out twice, so you could say Japan definitely lived up to its reputation.
Being on the other side of the earth we were in for a few culture shocks, like getting our passes pulled our first run for skiing under the lift and fish for breakfast. I’d only ever been to Hokkaido before, so despite being extremely flat compared to Europe the skiing was actually pretty enjoyable. Lots of steep gullies and little hits to jump off. And they’re actually really good at dealing with all the snow they get over there. In Chamonix they’d stay closed for a month with the amount of snowfall we saw, but the Japanese mostly kept the lifts running. And while they seem to close off anything that seems remotely fun, the visibility is usually so bad that there’s no way the patrol will see you ducking ropes unless they’re right on top of you.
Our hosts were an Australian company called Liquid Snow Tours, the connection being made by Black Crow’s in house Aussie Mr. Booth. So we got to enjoy a little bit of that culture too. Good times all around.
