Friday night and Saturday were spent with the HAJET folks, taking in the winter meeting at Freedom Inn in Hanazono (near Niseko). It was at this meeting last year that Heather and I had quit all our dicking about and had finally gotten together, so the meeting held a certain salience for us. Personally, it was also salient as it was at the winter meeting in Furano last year that I'd taken on the role of HAJET Social Coordinator, and next to all of the madness that I get up to with my friends and the sun-eclipsing light of my elementary school kids, being a part of the HAJET Prefectural Council has been one of the most fulfilling parts of this JET experience. So it was with a bit heavy heart that I accepted that my time with the council was at an end as our council handed off responsibility to the newly-elected council, and I handed my Social Coordinator role off to Andy Suvoltos.
Sentimental bullshit or not, we still managed to have ourselves a good 'ol weekend between the parting with all the other Hokkaido ALTs and the snowboarding.
The off-piste bug that had bit me in Tomamu left me dissatisfied with the same old Hirafu runs I'd boarded a thousand times, and it lead me to follow Max and other folks like Alec, Kelvin, Lindsay, Nick, Samantha, Keri, and Theresa down the back of Hanazono, down through an amazing gully filled with powder. Next to my first-ever off-piste experience in the An'nupuri Bowl, this was easily the most fun I'd ever had on that mountain.
The off-piste bug that had bit me in Tomamu left me dissatisfied with the same old Hirafu runs I'd boarded a thousand times, and it lead me to follow Max and other folks like Alec, Kelvin, Lindsay, Nick, Samantha, Keri, and Theresa down the back of Hanazono, down through an amazing gully filled with powder. Next to my first-ever off-piste experience in the An'nupuri Bowl, this was easily the most fun I'd ever had on that mountain.
Sunday was another story. A couple of kids from my elementary and junior high had been clamouring for a while to get a chance to snowboard with me. I had figured that the Sunday of this weekend would likely be the best bet for making it happen, so I had agreed to meet them at the tiny little ski-jo in Niki on the Sunday. The day was absolutely perfect for it, and the students and their friends wasted no time demonstrating how much better they were than me when it came to randomly messing around on a board.
Most ridiculous of their number was this random dude who was mine and Perry's age who they knew through a friend of a friend. He quickly made me feel a little better about my uselessness when it came to popping tricks by making me useful as the photographer for his pro-looking aerial acrobatics.
In the end, it wound up being one of those weekends that feels weeks longer than it actually is, and I consider that a pretty decent accomplishment.
2010-2011 Mountain Days 16 & 17
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