Was That You Guys?

Yes, that was us.

Today was our last day on the mountain. My last day riding until I don't know when. It's a little bit sad to tell you the truth. I've had a great time.

So yeah, today the sun was shining, the birds were singing and Tony and I were making the most of it. We ducked under a rope on our first run and it was on from there. It was really very beautiful up there today. Being able to see across the valley and over to the next mountain range was really quite impressive.

As well as the sun being out, the ski patrol were out in force today as well. This weekend they have an international competition on here, and they are starting to get ready for it at the moment. I think that this is the reason for them being so gung ho, when for the rest of their time they have been very understanding of our need to go for the pow. Today they were hot on our heels all day.

Second run of the day and I was about to duck under the ropes so I could traverse across to a nice tree run that would bring me down back to the single chair lift, when who should pull up behind me? A Japanese guy in a black suit with an orange cross on it. He made a cross sign with his arms and said, "Crosed." I looked up at him, said, "Gommenasai." I think that means sorry. I came back onto the piste and went down to the chair. At the top of the chair Tony and I headed out in the other direction. There was a powder field that we had seen from the gondola, and we were eager to see if we could get there. It looked untouched.

So we ducked the rope, traversed right as high as we could. Past the point where we had gone down before, past the nice tree run, onward and onward. Finally we came to what we were looking for. The untouched powder field. Tony saw it first and he was very excited. When I saw it I was very excited. It was beautiful. Steep, deep, long and virginal. It was going to be beautiful. Tony headed down first. It was amazing. I went down after Tony. I had a small fall, but it was so soft that it didn't matter. I was just upset because I'd ruined an otherwise perfect run.

Once we were at the bottom of the run we had to figure out a way out. It turned out that the way out involved a lot of hiking. About 30 minutes worth. It was hot work, but there was an old guy just behind me, and I think that he was having a bit harder time than I was. He was certainly swearing enough.

We finally made it back on piste when who should show up? A Japanese guy in a black ski suit with orange crosses on it. He took my pass. Then he went down and took Tony's pass. He didn't take the old guy's pass. The old guy said that he was lost and didn't no what was going on. Like fun.

There is a happy ending to this story. Ski patrol gave our passes back, and said that if he found us out of bounds again, then they would be gone for good. Seeing as it was our last day, Tony was all for ducking under the ropes again, but I had a strange moral thing going on. For some reason I started thinking about the future, and how if we disrespected this guy's second chance, then there was the possibility that he would no longer give anybody second chances. I thought that this would not really be fair on future generations. I'm not sure what this means, but it was okay as we just hooted down some of the groomed runs for the rest of the day. It was nice. There was still a bit of pow to be found.

So in all it was a nice day. We actually had some people comment on our lines on that powder field as it was plainly visible from the cable car. It felt good. It felt great.

So now the trip is just about over. I'm looking forward to getting back, but it's sad to say good bye to Japan.

This guy sitting next to me is fucking annoying. He is wearing a hearing aid though, so am I still allowed to be pissed off by him? He's a cocky little fucker.