3rd time is a bliss

Final day of snowboarding and I was determined to make it count despite the soreness of my entire body. Went to a different mountain resort, Hakuba 47 / Goryu. When our bus was approaching the ski area, I was really encouraged to see gentler slopes, more conducive for noobies like me. In my mind, I kept replaying what my boy kept saying, that it's the same as wakeboarding! It's so not the same. Gravity and speed differ so much.... Anyway, weather was quite bad as it started snowing pretty heavily, making the visibility quite bad. But it's really fun snowboarding with snowflakes hitting your face =)The mountain is huge and we only confined ourselves to the begineers slope at the bottom. Can only imagine how awesome the view is from the top on a good day.

Crazily steep ski slopes. I think only skiers can tackle such slopes. The level of difficult for snowboarders and skieers differ too much on steep slopes.
I fell at all different positions possible. There ain't any part of my body that isn't hurting. But that won't stop me from trying....
After umpteen attempts, things started falling in place. The feeling came and I was abled to ditch my fears. It was awesome. The adrenaline rush, the speed, the chilling wind, snowflakes, the sound of the board grinding against the snow......
Freaking happy. Felt that I've accomplished what I've set out to do here. I'm no pro at snowboarding, but at least I can proudly say that I can snowboard for real.Sadly, my snowboarding exploration ends here. Despite all the bruises on my knees, direct fall on my tailbone which resulted in a momentary head concussion, wrists that were almost fractures, these past 3 days of snowboarding was freaking awesome! Really can't bear to leave this beauty ski resort. My goal is to return to this place at least once every 2 years. Anyone interested? Nithe is still convinced that skiing is easier than snowboarding so he wants to learn it the next time round =)
Managed to catch some action on my camera =) Evidence.... hahahaha

snow battled wounds

Almost couldn't climb out of bed this morning as my whole body was aching so badly, overly abused by the snow. Dry room with all our equipment. Area for us to prepare for battle.

We decided to explore other areas of the mountain. Higher grounds =)
Look at how steep the ski lifts are. Mind you, this is the BEGINNER slope and we are not even half way up the mountain.

All geared up and ready for battle

I have no problems getting down the slope via heel side and toe side but somehow I'm juz not able to link them together. Trying to make the best after falling on my arse a million times, trying to turn from heel side to toe side. Others make it seem so easy but every time I try to turn, I get sucked back down onto the snow, so much so that attempting to turn = starting all over again. Not the best place to learn as the beginner slopes are still pretty steep. Thankfully the snow is soft and nice so falling doesn't hurt that much. It still depends on the position to break fall.We ended up chilling out (pun intended) at the bottom of the slope, watching and laughing at how people crash and roll down the slopes. My boy thinks that his epic fall qualifies for those sport disaster clips where people watching laugh at their stupidity, tumbling down the slope, board over head, sliding down at least 5m before crashing out.

Foods of the day. S$3.20 sushi plate........... beef bowl, stewed beef shank with miso, S$4 for a plain bowl of Japanese white rice, Chinese tasting yakidori with sesame oil and garlic, modern yaki - delicious noodles on pancake with pork and Japanese sauce

Nithe's favorite part of dinner

Final day of snowboarding tomorrow. Determined to make the best out of it despite the aching pains throughout my body. It's gonna be at least 1 year later before seeing snow again.

snowflakes keep falling on my head

What a nice sight to wake up to. Street filled with snow, skiers making their way to the slopes.
Before hitting the slopes, we had to get our gears.

√ Waterproof jacket and pants
√ Snowboard and boots
√ Goggles and gloves
√ Ski lift pass

Look at how beautiful Hakuba is, covered in thick layers of powder snow
Base station for Happo One Ski Resort
All geared up and ready to go =)

4 easy steps to get to the top of the mountain. 1) Put your leading leg into the binding on your board. 2) Make it pass the electronic ski lift gate. 3) Catch the ski lift. 4) Away on the ski lift.

Getting off the ski lift was tricky. We took 3 times to get it right without losing our balance by falling and blocking others. It was hilarious. We laughed so hard that we started perspiring even before we started snowboarding. And that's like -5 degrees.

Managed to capture us in action. We don't look too bad right.....

We attempted skiing but failed miserably. Gave up after 1 hr and decided to stick to snowboarding. It may look easy but somehow we juz can't get it.

This is how much my boy loves snow. Best thing of all, it snowed the whole day =)

Foods of the day. Yummy kyushu ramen at an open air cafe, with snowflakes as extra ingredients, sashimi bowl and grilled yakidori bowl. Everything juz taste better here.

Traditional Japanese Onsen to end this snow perfect day. Snowboarding is some extreme sport. My body is breaking apart. Hopefully my knees, shins, wrists, muscles, arse don't give up on me.