Snowboarding on Saturday!

Snowboarding today woo! Woke up at 4:30am to be ready for pickup at 5:00am. Another ALT friend picked me up and drove us to another ALT’s house where we were meeting at as the set off point. While we were waiting for the other two to get ready, we went to the convenience store to get some breakfast. Finally set off at around 6:00am, and we took the toll road since we were running a bit late. Arrived just after opening time at 8:00am and got ready! It was pretty cold so I decided to wear my puffer jacket under my boarding jacket. Got everything on, and bought our lift passes (I had coupons from when I bought my snowboard so yay we saved ¥800!) which also included meal vouchers. After helping one ALT friend rent his board and gear since he doesn't have his own yet, we headed up on the gondola to start snowboarding! Although the snow wasn’t super powdery just yet, it wasn’t icy hard like NZ’s ski fields either so it was still great. We rode up and down the one main, longest course for a few runs before having lunch, and then heading to the park area where I helped my friends film them doing the jumps and tricks. After that we split up and they stayed in the park area while I went back to the long course to practice.

There was a special event today that allowed us to ski all the way till 19:00! It was some special event they only do once a month and there’s also fireworks at the very end. The only lift/course open for the night ski session was the one at the very bottom, since that was where all the lights were. But it was still a lot of fun because the slope was still steep and there weren’t many people lining up for the lift so we were able to do a ton of runs in just an hour. It was my first time night skiing so it was really exciting! It was nice to not have to wear your goggles, and actually having the lights casting shadows on the snow made it easy to see where all the uneven parts and clumps of snow were. After the last lift closed we watched the fireworks, and then packed up and left. Drove back to Takasaki where I watched the others play basketball (they have basketball night every Saturday and I can’t believe they had the energy to go basketball after a whole day of snowboarding!), and then we all went onsen afterwards! We went to one in Isesaki that stays open till 1:00am, since it ended up being too late to go to the one I normally go to that’s open till midnight). After onsen we went for a super super late dinner before being dropped off home in turns.