801-613: March 2011

So the pow kept coming in japan and my blogging software didnt work so well so I figured It would be best to throw down a mega post when i got home :)
Enjoy the shots, mega cat boarding post to come also, excuse the spelling

In this hotel you can get some food or new bindings !

Darren is pretty serious about his food, he is at Ab Bu Chu breakfast is probably my fave breakfast place ever

Here is Ab Bu Chu in all its glory

IT is really sad the are knocking it down to make way for something fancy I guess

Ab Bu Chu also has dinners, here is Eric trying to dig off the fish of the cheese as he is vego

Manly men drinking non manly drinks at the Barn

There is a bar that you enter via a fridge door, the owners are pretty connected and we wondered if this was a real banksy piece

Smorking I mean smoking is now becoming frowned upon in some places, its good to go home not smelling like smoke

Rin is a real traditional japanese place our friends took us to, i didnt try this but it was horse

After Rin dinner it really started snowing, here is our gracious host getting the car warm :)

The next day everyone travelled out to Rustchsu (spelling) which is 45 mins away and a true pow mecca, noone around, notice the guy in the back ground setting up his board on a pow day. Lars in front is stoked and ready

Darren is used to having people set his boards up for him It took him a while to get sorted

Good snow thats for sure, joel wore his bright jacket in case he got buried

I think we doubled the numbers in the car park this day here is all 18 of us stoked

Lars Eric and ME (SC)

Lachy was stoked, he ripped around on the fish with Troy this day

On way back to niseko we stopped at Sushi Train

And then got the custard fish, yep warm custard filled pastry that looks like a fish, Lars was nervous but happy we got him some

That night Ralph, LArs and I went night boarding, Thats two resorts in one day, sore legs MUCH

Some spots it is a little dark especially when it is dumping :) Here is Ralph and Lars looking for something to jump off

Troy and Steph eating at the barn without doubt nicest dinner i ate all trip

Somehow Joel organised us a deal on some cat boarding, which was out of town it was still snowing, hence the crazy roads , thanks joel

Lars and Ralph drank this warm coffee in a can all the time, if i drank coffee i think i would to

Ralph and Lars testing their pieps, looking quite the back country dudes

I rather lizzy's style :)

The cat trip was really cool and deserves its own post soon, but here is a couple of non riding shots till then
lunch in the backcountry

The photographer checking lines

The welcome cat coming to drive us back up

This area we rode after lunch was way better than the morning, heres the crew spotting where we had all been

Not only did the guides and drivers give me crap for riding my sisters board (i took a nug 146, a really small new board from burton) until they saw it go but of course i didnt take a backpack or anything as I arent the most prepared back country guy, the guide loved it and ended up being one really cool guy

This was out last day and the sun really came out for ralph and lars, thats Mt Yoti in the back ground a dormant volcano that you can ride.

This face was our daily hike, its hard to see how good it is but for the 15 min hike out it is really worth it

Abby and Dion from Buller where over there also which made things even better !

We where staying so close thanks to our friends Joel and Troy, heres the main street at night

Of course there was an art show that we went too

One of the nicest resorts towns I have ever been to, Niseko

Billy, Mummi, Lars, Darren and Ralph

The magnificent Mt Yoti

Lars and The ninja

I didnt eat this but I know the wife would have loved to

Our last night at the Barn, heres Roy with Brett and Tokio (spelling) from the barn the most gracious hosts ever

Our last breakfast at Ab Bu Chu from left, Joel, Steph, Darren, Ralph Me and LArs

We couldnt go home without visiting the Gen Tem shop which is a specialist japanese snowboard company slash shop. Crazy how cool their boards and old school collection is

They even has a og Winterstick in the store with the Milo logo at the bottom, history there folks.

Roy was so sad to drive us to the airport he had to put a snorkel on, thanks again mate you really looked after us

In the top trips Ive ever been on, thanks to Joel and Troy especially for making it awesome and our wives for letting us go and everyone else we got to hang out with.
Its so sad what the country is currently experiencing and if you haven't please make sure you donate what you can. Here's some links to the red cross

USA Red Cross: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to Give $10 OR go to https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052
Japan Red Cross: http://www.jrc.or.jp/
Austrian Red Cross: http://www.roteskreuz.at/home/
Australian Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp
For additional regions/countries not listed above, please refer to this Global List of Red Cross organizations around the world: http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/directory/web-pages/

See you next year Japan (hopefully)

Here is some iPhone shots from the last 24 hours here in japan
Firstly our hospitable hosts
Troy is one of the nicest people I know this shot makes him look angry which I have never really seen him really be

Joel wishes he was a tough guy but sorry mate it's not going to happen

Last night there was a cool fireworks show, the iPhone doesn't do it justice sorry

Fireworks are awesome

More yep I was stoked.

After dinner last day Roy took us to the barn which is a restaurant/bar owner by our friends that is really cool

Haitchi (my spelling could be way off here sorry) is the best bar person I know

Locals at the barn get a tab, they welcomed Ralph and I with open arms thanks everyone, and yep can u believe I spent more than Ralph our first night here :):):)