Winter Fun 2010: Skiing and Snowshoeing
On to February!
Kumi and Akiko (teacher friends from my first year in Japan) sporting the nabe/Wii look. By the way, if you've heard me talk about the heated coffee table and were wondering what it looks like, this would be it! A blanket in-between the table top and table frame, and a blanket on the floor underneath, trapping in the heat emitted from the electric heater built into the center of the table frame. You sit with your legs, and if you like hands/lower arms, underneath to stay warm.
LOVELY little invention!
February's third main event, Tokigawa Town's Family Ski trip #2, Nagano. The snowfall this year was fabulous. Last year, same location, the snow barely piled up to our ankles!
Some of the kids sledding...from a hill that started right outside our 2nd floor room!
February group. This time around, my friend Denise took the bait as joining me as the trip's token foreigners. :-)
Base lift area.
View up towards the ski park slopes.
Ah, the memories....The Lamp, our annual lunch such at the Togari ski park.
View from the top.
Up at the top. Denise and I, and our ski instructors (from Tokigawa),
Mr. Iwata and Mr. Toguchi.
A group of our kids, sped racing down one of the hills.
Back to our accommodation. The highlight for me every year of this particular trip is getting to hang out with the hotel's owner. She was a member of the Japanese national womens volleyball team back in the day, and played on the team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She lived the life I'd dreamed of as a burgeoning volleyball player back in Fort Dodge, so I love having such direct access to her medals, trophies, photos and other memoribilia, which are all on display in a case in the front lobby!
February's fourth event, snowshoeing in Gunma! This is the event you can see in the video posted on youtube, circa my blog from a few weeks ago.
All snowshoe-d up and ready to stomp: Denise, Sadaf, Ivy, Asami, yours truly, Karo and Bryan. Countries represented: U.S., Canada, Singapore, Japan and Germany. :-)
Following our trusty guide.
Our guide was also a pretty good naturalist!
Little-known fact about snowshoeing...there can be quite a lot of
And some people just can't get enough. ;-)
Lunchtime pause.
We had some time to kill while our guide re-dug our snowtable...
Snowtable done, in what I'm calling "Avalanche Row."
Yay, here comes the food!
Curry and noodles at our snow-table.
During our lunch break, we witnessed at least 3-4 avalanches high in the mountains behind us.
Our attempt at a group jumping photo....not quite, but makes for a funny photo nonetheless!
Yes, we can!
Heading back, the weather started to turn and eventually the snow started to fall, and didn't finish until the next morning. It was actually a lovely way to end the tour!
Meandering through the forest.
Avalanche remnants.
We got in a few more slides on the way back. This is what the top of a slide looks like while lying on your back at the bottom. :-)
Here comes the snow.
Earlier in the day, our guide had told us how nice rabbit pee smelled. On our way back, we were lucky enough to encounter some, and because some of our group were quite disbelieving at his statement, he dug it up and let us judge for ourselves. :-)
He was right by the way! Almost citrus-y smelling. :-)
Future business card photo, what do you think?!
Post rabbit-pee-smelling banter.
Near the end.
All day we'd been asking if it was possible to go down the chutes on our stomachs, but none of the chutes seemed appropriate, until right at the very end....and since no one else would try it....
The End: Day 1
Day 2: Sadaf, Karo, Denise and I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and pile-up of fresh snow to take another stab at snowshoeing, only this time making our own tracks.
Just a little bit of snow build-up on the bridge, ay?
We ended up trekking along the hilly side of the river, and got ourselves into situations quite often where going up or along the hillside was no longer an option, so...to get to walkable areas, we "had" to make our own slides. Boy was that a riot!
Whew, safe!
Impromptu snowman building!
I love the backdrop on these snowman 101 photos.
Karo's forming the head.
Sadaf's reinforcing the foundation.
Denise is mastering the center piece.
Naturally, the trip would not have been complete without attempts to make snow-angels, which is quite a bit more difficult to do with snowshoes on your feet!
Sadaf decided to join Denise in making a snow-angel, and Karo decided to help Sadaf hit the snow a little more quickly. ;-)
Valiant attempts by both.
Gorgeous tundra-esque blanket of white around the riverbed.
A memory that won't soon fade.
A fun-filled February, and it's not over yet! Next up, Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys!
First, we had our bi-annual town soft volleyball tournament, and team RTS was out enforce again. Goofy group shots, anyone?
Onto our 2nd annual teacher Nabe party at yours truly's.
(Nabe is basically "things boiled in a pot.") Mmm, yum-yum!
(Nabe is basically "things boiled in a pot.") Mmm, yum-yum!
Kumi and Akiko (teacher friends from my first year in Japan) sporting the nabe/Wii look. By the way, if you've heard me talk about the heated coffee table and were wondering what it looks like, this would be it! A blanket in-between the table top and table frame, and a blanket on the floor underneath, trapping in the heat emitted from the electric heater built into the center of the table frame. You sit with your legs, and if you like hands/lower arms, underneath to stay warm.LOVELY little invention!
February's third main event, Tokigawa Town's Family Ski trip #2, Nagano. The snowfall this year was fabulous. Last year, same location, the snow barely piled up to our ankles!
Some of the kids sledding...from a hill that started right outside our 2nd floor room!
February group. This time around, my friend Denise took the bait as joining me as the trip's token foreigners. :-)
Base lift area.
View up towards the ski park slopes.
Ah, the memories....The Lamp, our annual lunch such at the Togari ski park.
View from the top.
Up at the top. Denise and I, and our ski instructors (from Tokigawa),Mr. Iwata and Mr. Toguchi.
A group of our kids, sped racing down one of the hills.
Back to our accommodation. The highlight for me every year of this particular trip is getting to hang out with the hotel's owner. She was a member of the Japanese national womens volleyball team back in the day, and played on the team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She lived the life I'd dreamed of as a burgeoning volleyball player back in Fort Dodge, so I love having such direct access to her medals, trophies, photos and other memoribilia, which are all on display in a case in the front lobby!
We tried to make the best of the long train-ride out to the small, mountain town of Minakami (incidentally, where Sadaf, Zach and I went bungee-jumping).
Next morning, heading out with our guide. Those pictured, besides myself, Denise, Ivy and Asami in the back.
All snowshoe-d up and ready to stomp: Denise, Sadaf, Ivy, Asami, yours truly, Karo and Bryan. Countries represented: U.S., Canada, Singapore, Japan and Germany. :-)
Following our trusty guide.
Our guide was also a pretty good naturalist!
Little-known fact about snowshoeing...there can be quite a lot ofsliding down hills on your butt involved!
Caught some air that time! The chutes weren't exactly always smooth...
Caught some air that time! The chutes weren't exactly always smooth...
Lots of funny landings...
And some people just can't get enough. ;-)
Lunchtime pause.
We had some time to kill while our guide re-dug our snowtable...
Snowtable done, in what I'm calling "Avalanche Row."
Yay, here comes the food!
Curry and noodles at our snow-table.
During our lunch break, we witnessed at least 3-4 avalanches high in the mountains behind us.
Our attempt at a group jumping photo....not quite, but makes for a funny photo nonetheless!
Yes, we can!
Heading back, the weather started to turn and eventually the snow started to fall, and didn't finish until the next morning. It was actually a lovely way to end the tour!
Meandering through the forest.
Avalanche remnants.
We got in a few more slides on the way back. This is what the top of a slide looks like while lying on your back at the bottom. :-)
Here comes the snow.
Earlier in the day, our guide had told us how nice rabbit pee smelled. On our way back, we were lucky enough to encounter some, and because some of our group were quite disbelieving at his statement, he dug it up and let us judge for ourselves. :-)
He was right by the way! Almost citrus-y smelling. :-)Future business card photo, what do you think?!
Post rabbit-pee-smelling banter.
Near the end.
All day we'd been asking if it was possible to go down the chutes on our stomachs, but none of the chutes seemed appropriate, until right at the very end....and since no one else would try it....
The End: Day 1
Day 2: Sadaf, Karo, Denise and I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and pile-up of fresh snow to take another stab at snowshoeing, only this time making our own tracks.
Just a little bit of snow build-up on the bridge, ay?
We ended up trekking along the hilly side of the river, and got ourselves into situations quite often where going up or along the hillside was no longer an option, so...to get to walkable areas, we "had" to make our own slides. Boy was that a riot!
Whew, safe!
Impromptu snowman building!
I love the backdrop on these snowman 101 photos.Karo's forming the head.
Sadaf's reinforcing the foundation.
Denise is mastering the center piece.
I can't tell if we're excited about how the snowman is coming along, or if we're freaking out cuz it's starting to fall apart... :-)
Lookin' good!
For some reason it turned into an old man with a comb-over...
Lookin' good!
For some reason it turned into an old man with a comb-over...
Naturally, the trip would not have been complete without attempts to make snow-angels, which is quite a bit more difficult to do with snowshoes on your feet!
Sadaf decided to join Denise in making a snow-angel, and Karo decided to help Sadaf hit the snow a little more quickly. ;-)
Valiant attempts by both.
Gorgeous tundra-esque blanket of white around the riverbed.
A memory that won't soon fade.
A fun-filled February, and it's not over yet! Next up, Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys!
posted by Mandy | 10:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home