Year: 2003. Place: Mount Tignes. Having gone to Mount Hutt in New Zealand in 2002 for an ultra-short 'ski trip', 2003 held special meaning as I was on exchange program in Belfast, Northen Ireland. During the spring break, I went for a 5 day Snowboarding trip in Mount Tignes, spending 9 hours on a bus from London all the way to the Alps, on 'Tignes express' (if I remember correct but the website is no longer working). It was the cheapest way to the mountain and I shared an apartment with 3 other single dudes. The mountain was HUGE and I took lessons for 3 or 4 days on their afternoons. Thankfully on the very first day, I somehow manage to do my turns and I was bumped to the skill-level-intermediate sessions! The lessons were mostly in French but were great as I can still hear the guide's teachings now in 2013. Even though I had my Canon Powershot G2, I bought a 'disposable' camera up the mountain in case I smashed it. It's very clear now that memories doesn't matter if you have 2 megapixels using a crap camera or some 36.3 megapixel ultra-sharp CMOS sensor. Having just 36 exposures made every shot more important! By the end of the week, I was a wreck of body aches, my knee guards were smashed and face turned into a raccoon. Back to london for a couple of days, it was off to Europe again for a 2 week tour of central and western Europe!
Fast-forward 10 years and it's our chance at the mountains again. Almost a year in the planning, we're finally on a world class Ski resort of the world - Rusutsu! We signed up for beginner lessons as I was pretty afraid of falling and hurting myself, knowing know that sprains and aches take several times longer to heal than before! The resort was fabulous though, via our agent, we had our clothing rental / booths / snowboard equipment / beanie / goggles all ready in our locked once we checked in the day earlier. All gear were Salomon and the clothing was really of top notch quality. (you can be a hero and wear just a T-shirt inside, but I'd suggest basic thermals, as I hero-ed on the afternoon of day 1 and the weather came in and my body and soul were cold and bruised)
The start of the day! Some instructors were decked in Santa's costumes (it was Christmas Day!), after a quick warm up, we were brought right up to a slope for our first run!
Wifey pensive and getting ready.
I was glad to found my feet again very quickly. The feeling was a mix between deja vu and a realisation that a part of the brain and limbs were actually connected. The phrase "once you've learned to ride a bicycle, you'll never forget" comes to mind. Nevertheless, I did had a few falls and the knocks gave me enough and when lessons ended at 4pm, I was ready to retire to the bed which promptly I did KOed...hee
A new dimensions is having GoPro cameras and doing some tests/video of it! Watch out for it!
We went back to the hotel room and KO, and got ready for a nice dinner at some Jap restaurant. I came to the realisation that I'm not much of a fan of starchy / beany / stuff. (Unlike wifey). I can well appreciate supreme sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, white kidney beans, radish and all but I'll prefer that Wifey have them!
My alley of food is still the Don-buri, what can go wrong with Salmon roe, Crab flakes, Uni and the damn best fresh prawn?
And of cos, MEAT! Nice marbling for an unforgettable Shabu and an even mind blowing Sesame sauce + sesame oil = an orgasmic experience!
Also finding my preferences of noodles, I prefer Soba to Ramen to Somen to Udon. Good quality stuff never lie and this Udon is oh-so-god I finished every strand to a bursting waistline. Another observation is how I managed to transit from my 6 meal/day diet to a binge / eat whenever there's food diet / ~3 meal/day holiday diet, without faze! And in time of writing, I'm easing back to the 6 meal regime again!
Day 2 of skiing and I was up with just a little nagging strain on my left thigh due to the weight of the snowboard tied on the left leg especially on the chair lifts. Breakfast was a decent Japanese set. I was adamant of finishing the carbs as it should be a workout on the slopes.
Lanterns appearing at 8am outdoors ?
Trying to be a Hero on day 2.
The lifts started at 9am, and we hit the slopes before the lessons started and had good clear runs getting wifey to practise basic turns.
Particularly great feature of Rusutsu is the lack of people even during peak season!
Sunsets are great on the slopes too. The Rusutsu hotel tower glimmers in the background. I ventured off around 330pm and wanted to try other mountains (we were on West and there was East and Mt Isola on the 'other side'). Hence it up to the top of West Mountain and the RED slopes here I went!). The light fell very fast and by 420pm it was pitched-dark and 'night' skiing officially started'. There was no view to talk about and it's pretty just much technical and guts going down the steep slopes. It was a rush to 5pm (time thought the 'day pass' ended) and I left the mountain with a wide grin. We were off to the ultra small/boring wave-pool and an equally bare/tiny onsen and it was time for a decent French dinner.
The next morning, and it's time to say goodbye to the mountain...
Hokkaido 2013 Part 4
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