Today was one of those days that reminds me of why I came to Niseko in the first place. My legs are burning, my outerwear is drenched, and I am grinning like an idiot.
My friends and I dragged ourselves out of bed early this morning after a big night at the Wild Bill’s Opening Party, which hurt, but turned out to be totally worth it. There was a fresh 25cm on the upper slopes, and while it was a little wetter than usual, it still carved like butter and showered us with face shots! The King Hooded Triple was open and we zipped straight up there to take some fresh lines down Jumbo, where the ungroomed sides offered a whipped-cream wonderland of waves to play in.
The snow was coming down heavily as we made our way over to Swinging Monkey
Swinging Monkey was also open, so we ducked over to Hanazono to coast down Yotei Sunset a few times, before heading back across to hit up the Ace Pair Lift #3 where they have set up a jump on Shirakaba.
There was one stage this morning when I thought my yellow lens had been a bad choice. The sun came out, and for about ten minutes it was a bluebird powder day… but then the clouds remembered they were in Niseko and closed in to dump on us. This weirdly awesome pattern continued throughout the day, and looking outside now I can see it is coming down heavily once again. Hooray for weekend dumps!
Blue skies in Hirafu? Surely not!
I will need to do some serious stretching to make sure my back leg will make it up the hill tomorrow, but you better believe I’ll be there!