Monthly Archives: January 2009

I’m kind of sad to be leaving!  When I left Salt Lake City 18 days ago, I didn’t really know anyone on the trip or what to expect from it.  Now we’ve become a little family here at our apartment in Kutchan.

From left to right, starting with the sake bottle:

Charlie Cannon, Nick Waggoner, Forrest Coots, Anthony Bonello, Stephen Brawn, Me, Ben Sturgulewski, Matt Phillippi, and Ian Hock (not pictured Yuki, our translator and team manager, and Mike Brown, the photographer).

I’m surprised at how well we’ve got along given the close living conditions and the amount of time we spend together each day.  My Kutchan roommates have become like brothers (in a really large family)–always teasing and picking on me, but still watching out for me, and me for them.

Nick Waggoner cooking up a big curry dinner for Forrest and my last night here. 

Japan has been a giant daydream of powder pillows and magical light.  The Hokkaido way of life is ocean and mountain driven, laid back and intense at the same time.  We get up at 4:45 to rally out the door and chase bluebird powder, yet relax with leisurely meals, sake, and onsen (Japanese hot springs).

I’ve tried my hardest to make sense of the rhythm of the clouds here, spending countless hours studying them, waiting for the light to come through.  I’m still confused.  They seem to spin around at random, and you never know when the 10 minute window of yellow, blue or pink light will pop, and then disappear.

The elusive Mount Youtei, an inactive volcano, popping out to say goodbye to me today.

Anyway, I have a long flight tomorrow.  First, a 2.5 hour shuttle from Niseko to Sapporo, then a 2.5 hour flight to Osaka, then a 10 hour flight to SFO and finally, after customs and another layover, I’ll be home after one last 1.5 hour push.  All toll, I’ll spend about 19 hours flying.  The cool part is that I leave Japan at 3:40 in the afternoon and I get back the same day at 3:55.  That’s right, I’m traveling through time.

Wish me luck!  More photos from the trip soon!

Also, please keep reading about Sweetgrass’s filming in Hokkaido this season:

 http://sweetgrassproductions.wordpress.com/

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.

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.

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!