megandboys - in japan 2013: phew - what a day - windy, sunny, cold, hot, snowy, clear

So we got up early - goodness I am enjoying waking Tom and Paddy up - and out we went. Hit the Gondola early - and not much else was open - though we did do the double that links to the quad and to the top - to keep an eye on what might have opened. It is hilarious how conservative the snow forecast websites are - if they say 2 cm of snow - you know it is 20. Seriously our balcony and the whole complex was covered this am - so much that they had a dozer digging out the road - but acc to the website it was like 10 cm. Well it was heaps - but it was also windy ....but anyway off we went - a few runs. Then Swinging monkey opened - and there was a queue - but we hot footed it to hanazono.

The snow was awesome. We actually did this great tree run between Crystal Garden and Shinya - and no-one was in there but is - and everytime we found fresh tracks.

This was me coming off Swinging Monkey - and just so lovely doing fresh tracks through this

We skied most of the day - the weather got windier and colder and by 3 we were ready to come in. Tom has upgraded to fat skis and Tom and Paddy have a lesson with Katsu from NAC tomorrow. Should be a good day for them. I am doing a snow shoe photography course around some lake at the base of Mt Yotei - so i am looking forward to that.

We also saw cam tonight in the centre near the gondola - one of his little kids got hit by a snow boarder tonight - and he had to get her into the centre and then did a hospital trip with the Japanese guys from nac. Poor little thing broke her wrist.

We then had dinner at Raku - this great little bar/BBQ place that has great local Shochu and sake and wine and all local food. So Paddy again had Deer - that i have to say was completely delicious - and e also had hot lemonade - which he said made him thirsty

Paddy was the chef for this one - his new Christmas watch was used to time how long we had to cook the meat for etc.