So I DID go Skiing

So I did, in the end, go skiing with dad.  There are a fair number of good photographs, but these ones are the ones which remind me of travelling around and jumping headfirst into the snow.



I have a feeling that those fresh tracks in the background might have been me or dad.


That green jacket is absolutely fantastic.  Before I tried it, I assumed that all jackets had small flaws in their design.  My current jacket is pretty damned waterproof for a ten year old skiing jacket, but the pockets are a pain in the jacksie, and the place where you put the ski passes is inconvenient.  This jacket has it all - it's waterproof to the Nth degree, it breathes really well, and it's damn near luminescent.  What more could you ask for?

I stole dads bright green jacket, so he had this much more modest number.

It's really difficult to appreciate just how mountainous Japan is, until you see it first hand.  Even looking at the interior (which is about 75% of the land in reality) on a map doesn't prepare you for the Alps style perilous drives through the mountains.  There were a few moments where I thought we might void the insurance on our little rental car, but it turned out okay.

Top tip, if you ever need to rent a car in Japan, don't use Nippon Rentacar!  They are terrible.  You aren't allowed to leave the parking area in their cars if you are a foreigner, let alone drive in rain or SHOCKED GASPS, snow.

You're much better off renting from a company vendor like Honda, which is where we got our car from.  The guys were really nice despite my incompetent Japanese, and everything went off without a hitch.  We brought the car back a day early because we forgot which day we were supposed to go back, but that gave us a chance to pick up some souvenirs.  All part of the plan!  Kind of.

The mountains aren't as dramatic as Europe (or I imagine Canada) in terms of their sheer size, but they go on forever in all directions.

Unfortunately I couldn't work out the settings on my camera to capture it, but the snow was melting/freezing constantly which led to a crystalline effect in the snow, reflecting the light in tiny diamond like spots.  It was really fascinating (for me, anyway) because I've been skiing any number of times, but this was the first time I've seen this effect so vividly displayed.  You'll have to take my word for it...