Hajimete

I am from what is one of the most famous places in the world for Skiiing and Snowboarding. So I am cautious to admit that the first time I went snowboarding was this past weekend in Nagano, Japan, on the same hills as were the '98 Olympics. The trip was arranged by Satomi. 7 in all made the trip. We left Saturday afternoon, staying in a nice resort and then hitting the hills on Sunday.

This is some of the local wildlife we saw as we were leaving the hotel. One of those orange faced monkeys. Never seen one before . Kinda cool.
Thats Me, Satomi and Take on the hill. They were my teachers on this day and I think I made them proud. Obviously there was a lot of falling down, but I quickly got comfortable linking J turns on some of the shallower gradients. Speed of course took time getting used to. Turning on steeper parts of the hill usually meant wipe out. But still, not a bad first day at all.
Take, on the left, is always hamming it up for the camera.

The crew.
We left at around 5pm. The trip home was long. We had to stop and try to find an open gas station in a quiet town along the highway. I got dropped off in Okitsu so I could make the last train home. Man was I tired. I hadnt slept much in 3 days. I got home at around midnight and was out like a light.