After a day of rest, we were all amped to get out on Thursday morning. We scoffed down breakfast (or the bits of it we felt like eating) and were strapping up at about 8.15am. We started off on Conrad's training run for a bit of warming up. Well, it would have been a warm up, if there wasn't eleventy billion ski-schoolers clogging up the run. They range in various degrees from, barely able to stand up, to criss-crossing the path and stacking. We made it down, although I think either Dean or Conrad might have caught one of them. We just wanted a bit of room, so we decided to head to Terakoya and wouldn't you know it, they seemed to be following us. We flew down the green run heading for Higashidate-yama, and there was still more of them!
We made it to the bottom, but we did have a few bails on the way trying to avoid wiping out half of the groups. It does make you get good at weaving and holding speed in a hurry though. We decided to go to Hoppo-Bundaira and grab a beer (carbs are good, when you are burning twice as many calories as normal). We did that before heading up towards the gondola at Higashidate for another crack at the green run back to Hoppo, without the school kids (I fell over getting on the left and caught my board see tomorrows pics for bruises). Things were going fine until Dean said he needed to shoot off and go to the loo. I would have thought he would have headed to Hoppo like we had planned, but alas, he didn't. So Conrad and I headed for Hoppo, and waited there for Dean. And waited, and waited. We waited so long, that we got hungry, so we grabbed an early lunch (surrounded by a ton of ski schoolers, were they multiplying?). We decided to head back to the gondola, and see if Dean was there, which he was. Now because he was waiting there for about an hour, he was hungry.
So the plan was to head towards Terakoya to the restaurant there. We hadn't been in it before, so we wanted to see what they were serving (as well as using their restroom). I get to the bottom near the restaurant first, with Dean following about 30secs later. I can't wait any longer for Conrad, so I hike it to the restaurant. About 5mins later I get out and go upstairs to the restaurant.... No Dean and Conrad. So I wander back outside to see if they're out there. Nope. Dean was still waiting were I left him. I get back down to Dean and Conrad still hasn't arrived. Where is he????
So we wait a bit longer, still no Conrad. We only left him up the top... It's not like he can't do it. He's done it twice before. Anyway, we head to the top of Higashi to swing back around to Ichinose to see if he's gone down his training run. Nope.... Where is he???? If he's gone back to the hotel, that's a pretty poor showing, not telling us. But what if he's injured... Worry, worry, worry.
We go back the hotel to see if he's there... nope. By now Dean is absolutely starving, so we stop for a second so he can fuel up. While we are sitting there we see a ski patrol snowmobile carrying a sled.... Oh I hope that's not him. So I head down to the patrol station, but it isn't Con. Just now the snow starts coming down and the temps dropping, so I see the lift area about him. They send virtually the whole snow patrol of Ichinose (2 snowmobiles, 5 guys on skis) then Dean comes down and says he'll go look for him on his snowboard. He goes over about 3 different mountain areas looking for him. 1.5hrs later and who do I see coming down the end of the green run but Mr Buffman himself. He's been galavanting all over the mountains "looking for us" and improving his skills. I felt like giving him a punch for making me and Dean worry about him, but at least he wasn't injured down the side of a mountain or anything. So I had waited over 3hrs missing out on some good action.
A couple more runs finished me off though and by the time we were heading back to the hotel, I could barely keep myself erect.
We went to a noodle bowl place just up from our hotel for dinner, and although the food was nice, I was just too hammered to notice. We got back to the hotel, with everyone piling into mine and Dean's room to watch some japanese tv and drink some whiskey and dry. I didn't need it though because not even 10mins later, I was out for the count.
Pics are here
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