Finally, some snow!

One of the things I miss about not living in California is the weekend ski/snowboarding trips that my friends and I used to take out to Lake Tahoe in Nevada (a 3-hour drive away) every winter. Unfortunately, the last time that I ever went skiing or snowboarding was about 7 years ago. Since moving away from California, I simply haven't had the opportunity to go again... until now.

Last month I joined some friends for a week-long ski/snowboard trip to Niseko in Hokkaido, Japan. I was starting to feel the itch to go skiing and snowboarding again after all these years, so when Janelle and Dan invited us on this trip, I jumped at the chance. And I'm glad I did...

The snow was fantastic during the first half of the trip, freshly fallen soft powder snow... I skied the first 2 days and switched to snowboarding for the following 3 days. Since this was only my third time snowboarding since first taking lessons about 9 years ago, I was still beginner's level and haven't picked up on the toe-edge yet, so I've just been cruising down using the heel-edge to steer and slow down. This was a lot more tiring than carving so I had to stop and rest constantly. But I had some big improvements over the few days of snowboarding and got to be fairly comfortable going down even the steeper portions of the slopes.

I gotta say that between skiing and snowboarding, I love snowboarding more... I find it to be a lot more fun and exciting, and I feel like I can slow down and stop myself more easily than on skis so I'm able to go down the steeper parts of the slopes more comfortably. Not to mention it just looks cool (well, when you're not falling on your @ss, that is) and the boots are much lighter and less painful to walk in than ski boots.

P.S. Thanks to Patrick, Vicky and Janelle for loaning us some of your snow clothes!

Can't wait until the next snowboarding trip! I'm determined to learn toe-edge next time!

Here are some photos from the trip...

The view from the top of a long run, about two-thirds of the way up Mt. Niseko.



Posing with hubby and our friend Thomas.


Time for snowboarding! Yeahhhhhh~ =D (Although the sun had just set at this moment so I was freezing in this photo. Brrrr)


Janelle and Dan tearing down the slopes like pros.


The food in Niseko was absolutely delicious! We ate a different style of Japanese food for each meal. We had some delicious yakitori, tempura, sukiyaki, ramen, izakaya, and soba noodles (pic below). Plus, the crabs in Hokkaido are hands-down some of the sweetest crabmeat that I've ever tasted! =9