Skiing in Nagano

About a month ago, over a three-day weekend, I tried skiing for the first time. Four of us, Karen, Maggie, Rachel and myself piled into Puck (Karen's mint green car) and headed to Hakuba in Nagano prefecture. Hakuba is the site of the 1998 winter Olympic ski events. Go big or go home, right? Convinced I might fall to my death and after nearly wetting myself on the ski-lift, I promptly fell over upon reaching the mountain peak. I skidded and fell ALL the way down the mountain. I thought I had lost my courage. Unwilling to admit this to my friends, I kept going. Despite having full-on clobbered a very attractive Jamaican on his snowboard, by the end of the day, I felt surprisingly confident in myself.

We spent Saturday skiing, Sunday at the onsen (hot springs), and Monday skiing before heading home and back to work on Tuesday. It has been a while since I had that much trouble sitting down. It was completely worth the pain and I am now waiting until the ski-lifts open again next winter!

Karen, Rachel and Maggie in our Cabin's parking lot.




Rachel, Hideki, Maggie and Karen on the slopes.