Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (2)

Today, as a result of me finally getting my photos off of my small camera, I have an update of my skiing experiences this week. It still seems bizarre but I've now been skiing in Japan. And the experience had been outstanding. My first two days on the mountain were at Happo One which is steps away from my hotel. The views on a clear day are tremendous and when you can see for miles while skiing fresh powder it does make for a memorable day.










The other mountain that I have visited was Cortina. It's a little bit north of Hakuba and is renowned for it's powder conditions (as you can see by the photos of the dug out lift lines). Because of avalanche concerns the mountain rarely opens during or immediately after a large snowfall. The weather conditions this week meant that the mountain had been partially closed for 3 days while snow accumulated but opened up yesterday. We were there for first tracks on a perfect blue bird. It was truly one of the best ski days of my life. The mountain was beautiful and even had a view of the Sea of Japan. The mountain also had a giant hotel at the base that reminded me very much of some of the old rail hotels in Canada. Anyways, I did manage to run into a few trees while there and even captured a few of those moments on video. Hope you enjoy them.