Got up early to a beautiful bluebird day after about 10 cm fell overnight. Got up on Happo One where they were filming a movie and they had just opened the Grat Quad.

I was the first one down. It was a little icy underneath but it was nice to get some fresh tracks in. I did two runs before moving down a bit lower to some great groomers on Skyline. An amazing cloud on the mountains north of Happo looked like a spider web covering the peaks.

Just a couple of hours on the mountain as I had to go into Nagano.

Well worth getting up on the early Gondola again.

I took a trip up to the coast on Sunday. The Japan Sea is just under an hour away from Hakuba with many long tunnels through the mountains. The day was quite grey and a small swell was hitting the concrete walls that protect the land from erosion along a lot of this coastline. We lunched at a sushi train and headed up towards Joetsu to the fish market.
Lots of different varieties of seafood and it seems that freshly cooked crab was what many were there for. Lots of people were sitting around chomping into tubs of crab they had bought from one of the many stalls. They also had bar-b-qued squid and corn on the cob for sale. I think we might be heading straight there next time with a bottle of wine and a french stick. Even possibly next weekend. Come and join us if your in town.

Larry and Craig from "SNOWBOARD" magazine in America stayed with us for a few days during the week to take a fashion shoot for their publication. They brought the stunning Eva from Tokyo with them and we lined up some of the local crew here for the shoot. They took photos in our bedrooms and our bar area and then we went up to Happo One for some mountain shots. It was their first time to Hakuba and they were blown away by the mountains here.

They are already talking of getting some of the big name pro riders here next year to take some action shots. I have some photos of the new range that some of the big name snow companies are bringing out but was asked not to show them until the ranges are released. I will say though, the clothes were vere colourful. Thanks to GARAGE902, Spicy's Rentals and Happo Resort Management for their support.