I awoke early with stomach pains, so I let the others sleep and headed downstairs, writing my blog draft in the process. It was still dark, no one else was up so I had a bit of silence, before the manager awoke and turned on the kerosene heater. Just as well, because without heating, this place gets a little chilly.
I went back up stairs, as I only had a yukata and boardies on, so I need to put a shirt on. The others were mostly awake now, so we headed downstairs where we did some more blogging/uploading until 7.30 when the breakfast room opened. With only a couple of us staying, they hadn't put on a buffet, just a small japanese style breakfast. We placed bets (not literally) on what time this energy would run out, as it wasn't high on carbs or protein, so Conrad said 9, while Dean and I said 10. We wanted to get to Terakoya early, as with the busloads of school kids that arrived the night before, Conrad's training run would be packed. We did a couple of runs at Terakoya running along the left hand side (when looking from the lift). We hadn't mucked around here before, but with what looked like untracked snow along the two runs, we blasted down and up again. On the third time, we decided to do our favourite Terakoya - Higashi run, although this time, rather than going to to the gondola, we headed down ot Hoppo-Bundaira instead. The snow in the main groomed section of our tree run was a little crusty but we still found snow on the sides to play around with. As we got to Hoppo-Bundaira, we found the main run area inhabited by ski-schoolers, so some quick turns later, and Dean and I were down an untracked bit of groom, with some powder under the lifts. We took the lift back up to do the Bundaira run again, and continued flying down, before stopping at the Mont Rose cafe at the bottom of Giant, a steep black run. We had a bite to eat, as it was now 10am and we were already running low on energy (Dean and I called it :P) I grabbed some rum and raisan ice cream, and some biscuit things with chocolate inside. After fuelling up a bit, I wanted to do the Giant. Dean was hesitant, as the last time we tried doing it, it was mogulled to death and was dangerous for snowboarders. This time though, it was a lot earlier, and the snow looked a lot better, so we went down it. The lift takes you to the very top of the fun, and before you are over the edge, you can see the angle of it. I sped away, and played in some ungroomed sections on the side, but still was hooking it. I kept going, past the cafe, down the gully and had enough speed to make it up to the Nishidate lift.
I now waited for Dean and Conrad. I found out later that Conrad had a big bail coming down Giant, so that's why he was taking his time. We caught the lift up towards Nishidate, but spotted the slalom run. The last 2 times we were here, it was closed off and being used for time trials, but now, it was free. So after getting off the first lift, we went down about 200m to the hoody lift that takes you to the top of Nishidate. We absolutely belted down this run. As it is black/red, it's not used by that many people, so we had a fresh groomed run to ourselves. Dean sped away, while I bailed avoiding Conrad who had stopped about 5m in front of me. I quickly got up and dusted myself off, before hooking down to meet Dean, waiting at the bottom of the Nishi lift. We were super-psyched and decided to do it again. Another fast run down, with some powder bank floating (and stacking) we were at the bottom again. We decided to head back towards Ichinose, so we caught both the lifts again, before pounding down the slope toward Takamagahara. This requires you to cross the bridge across the road, which is ok if you are on skis, but if you are on a snowboard and don't feel like pushing, then you have to have enough speed to make it up the bridge and across the flat section. Once you're there, you're home free. I'm quite good at carrying speed, so when it came to this, I blasted down through some powder at the side of the run, and still had enough speed to get across the bridge, and most of the way to the Takamagahara quad lift gate. We took it to the top, and were about to head straight toward Ichinose, when we decided to cut through from Takamagahara to Tanne no mori into the back of our hotel. Unfortunately this meant cutting across the moguls, but after picking a line through the trees that would allow us to go through without having to go down the moguls, we made it to Tanne no mori. Conrad and I went one way, before I peeled off towards the hotel through a couple of powder traps. I made it through but not with great speed, then all of a sudden Dean comes bounding through the powder trap, and meets me on the same path. Conrad had kept going, toward the road that Khuls is at the end of, but Dean and I played around and went through the back of the hotel down the little path from the carpark inbetween the two buildings. We were supposed to meet Whitney at the ramen place downstairs, but the ramen shop was closed, so Mum and Whit were in Rockies at the Ichinose Hotel. Conrad found them first, then Dean (who left me waiting in the foyer of our hotel) before he sent me a message. We had a bowl of rice with stuff, and a beer, before Whitney and I eventually headed back to the hotel to get her board and boots. She was feeling low on energy, so rather than buy a lift ticket we just went to the path behind the hotel. We then had a couple of runs through going heelside, but Whitney landed on her bindings with her knee, and had run out of energy by that stage, so we called it quits.
I then went to find Dean and Conrad. I had sent Dean a message, but no response. Just as I'm waiting near Khuls, I see Dean flying out from the end of the green run toward the lift, I set off after him, seeing him on the lift. I called out, but with face warmers covering ears, both him and Conrad are deaf. I then jump on the lift and would only be about 6 chairs behind them, but by the time I get to the top, they've disappeared. I thought I saw Conrad's beanie heading towards Terakoya, but I thought I could be mistaken and it could just be snow. I set off down the green run, and set a cracking pace, but no Dean or Conrad. Damn it. They did go to Terakoya. So after getting the lift back up, I head to Terakoya, then down through Higashidate towards the Gondola. Usually, I'd be playing around in the trees, but I don't like snowboarding alone, as if I get stuck, or hurt myself, then there is no one around. I make it to the bottom of the gondola, and there Dean and Conrad are sitting and having a drink. I quickly down a Minute Maid, before we all head up the gondola again. By this time we have to start thinking about heading back, as it's getting closer to 4pm. So we head down the small run towards Ichinose before doing a switchback to Takamagahara. We (stupidly) head through the moguls, but at least they are soft from constantly getting cut up. We eventually make it to the path to Tanne no mori, but I took a wrong turn and had to wade through powder to get back to the path. We head up Ichinose again, having fun down the green run now that it's not full of ski schoolers, then get the last chair of the day up and down the red run. By this time I'm falling over more and my feet aren't responding, so it's time to head in.
We sit around blogging for a while before deciding to go get food. Unfortunately the ramen place downstairs wasn't open, so we set out looking for somewhere to eat. We start walking along the road towards Takamagahara, but none of the hotels look like they have a restaurant open to hte public. So we head back toward Victoria's to see if we can get into the buffet. The maitre-d tells us that tonight its hotel guests only, so we haven't really got any other choice but to go to the Nepalese place again. Not that I mind, but curry 2 nights in a row is now what I had in mind. So we sit around eating but as we're leaving the owner asks mum whether she's been here last year. So he remembers us... Well, not 1 year ago, it was 2 but it's always nice to be remembered.
We head back to the hotel where we sit in our room having some brandy, but by the time it's 9 I'm already asleep.
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