Back to the blog...

It's been a while since I've updated, I'll try to piece together the last week or so. Arnold came over to visit from Obihiro and we rode Furano for 2 days as well as a daytrip to Tomamu. They opened the Under 4 chair for the first time this season the day we were there so there was some great lines in the trees. The exposed stuff was a bit crusty but really only by Japan standards, at home it'd be "perfect conditions". Friday was Australia Day, so I put on my theeckest Aussie accent and went along to Bocco with Arnold. Later on that night we ran into the girls we met last time which was really cool. Caught up with them for dinner the next night and also rode with them on Sunday.



Arnold & I then headed off to Asahikawa to meet up with his friends from back home. We stayed in a traditional Ryokan with full tatami floors in the rooms. We had 2 days riding at Kamui which were both fantastic (despite the unplanned hiking on day 1. Hard work but worth it for the untracked stuff through the trees). Day 2 was just a brilliant day with all of us tooling around on the groomers and having fun. The groomers were in such good condition that I managed to lock in a toeside carve and ride uphill and back around, resulting in an ear-to-ear grin! Travelling to & from the mountain each day was different too, walking through the city in full snowboard gear and catching a public bus with all the schoolkids (quiet Wayno). Made for some good photos though:





Furano is a little more tourist oriented as far as english info on dining out, so 2 nights in Asahikawa we pretty much just winged it. The first night we didn't even have picture menus (something you begin to take for granted here) so just made random selections from the menu and everything that came out was pretty much what we would have ordered anyway. As expected, riding with 4 Aussies the sheep jokes were coming thick and fast:



I travelled back to Furano yesterday, and had planned to have a day off from snowboarding (11 in a row is a fairly good effort I reckon). Got back and it had been snowing a little bit, and Joel & Angus were keen to head out for a few hours so we played around on the groomers under the lights from 7-9. In hindsight a day off might have been a good idea, as I'm sitting here on what would be considered a powder day in NZ (5-10cm) and thinking I might leave it another 45 minutes before heading out!