Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan
Tuesday, January 17, 2017

*CAL*

We woke up this morning to a little more snow on the ground and more cold temps, with wind chill down to around -21 Celsius at the top of the mountain. I didn't have the best of days, starting by leaving my lift pass at the hotel when I walked up to the lift. After going back to the hotel to pick it up I went up the nearby Hirafu gondola, with the aim of snowboarding across to the Annupurri resort, as did Dylan, to meet the rest of the guys who would be there later in the morning. Unfortunately I never made it. On the way down a tree got in my way, doing some decent damage to my hip. I was able to get down via the gondola with the help of a couple mountain patrol guys.
I headed back to the hotel to rest up and Ash came to join me. By this stage I already had a pretty decent bruise developing. Before long the others were back and we all had a lazy afternoon before everyone else headed out for a night ride up Grand Hirafu while I stayed laid up in bed watching sumo. The guys loved their night and the views of Niseko from the mountain and the girls worked their legs heel breaking the whole way down their first red runs. For dinner Ash and I grabbed some prepacked meals and the others went to the pub next door where the boys got 50cm hot dogs.