THE POW IS HERE

07/01/2011
Well well well 21 days since my last blog, and things are crazy over here in Japan now. I was on a good vibe in my last blog and besides a few minor things everything here is pretty epic. Things in the house are still great, getting on well with everyone and making solid friendships.
Living with 27 people can get a bit much from time to time and issues arise around cleanliness and lazyiness, this tends to cause a bit of tension and drama, but other than that things are pretty good on the whole. The convenience of living right next to the beginner hill and close to work makes it amazing. There is no real excuse to go out riding, and we have been riding loads.
The way the school runs is we get a phone call when we are on in the morning or when we have a shift and it can run that way well because the full time staff live so close to the hill. Work has been going really well, I have been getting a mix of kids, adults and private lessons and have even got a few request privates. If you get requested for a private lesson you get a commission on the sale price of that lesson as you have effectively sold yourself for a lesson. The thing is sometimes at the end of a lesson I feel a little douchy selling myself but it pays off for sure. My best sale has been a private for 4 hrs, real good coin. I get like 15% of the sale price.
I have been getting a range of abilities on lessons too which has been awesome. I feel super confident taking any kind of level lesson out now and thats what I wanted to get to with my instructing. I find the training I got for my level 3 in new Zealand has really helped and I am applying the theory to practise. To be working full time is also good as in New Zealand the work was sporadic and I didnt teach a whole lot of higher end lessons like I am now. It is really great.
Thats the work, the onto the riding. Initially the snow has been pretty much like northern hemisphere for the most of December few light falls a couple of cheeky small pow days but on the whole it wasn’t the epic pow we thought it was going to be. We were still riding loads, but it was strange how often the sun popped out , but at the same time it lit up the mountain and you could see some amazing views, notably of Mount Yotei! The active volcano mountain opposite hirafu – so enchanting – so amazing. Since the turn of the year the powder has been epic and its been absolutely dumping with fresh snow – this is what we came to Japan for, this is the famous champagne powder – it was incredible. Since the start of Jan (about a week) there has been about 2-3metres of snow and it is absolutely epic. Last night I rode some of the deepest powder I have ever ridden in my life. At the same time, its so deep its easy to mess up. One wrong move and when you go down getting back up and riding again is the hardest thing. Especially when you fall on a flat section. Without momentum its hard to get going and in 80cm of fresh snow you can bury yourself quite easily. I had a scary experience last night where I fell during a flat section at night and all my friends were at the bottom, I had to basically hussle and roll out getting buried further and further. I was panicking and it was soo scary! A run that takes me 2-3 minutes took me 30 mins to get out of. It was emotional.
Socially its been good Christmas Day was so much fun, we had a pot luck where everyone made some food and we shared it around. It was a great evening. New years eve was pretty special too we all drank way too much and went to a bar next to the hill. The fireworks were incredible and it was just a great night.
My knee is doing ok, its just so physically demanding working and riding all the time, I feel my body is getting more and more atuned to it and its a good feeling.
Rode again today and it was insane riding! The powder is incredible

Much love people