Snowboarding Nekoyama ...

I have always wanted to learn how to snowboard but for whatever reason never did. Maybe it was because I always dreaded the first lesson. The first day of hitting the slopes and spending a good portion of the time on the ground. And, of course, the inevitable pain that would come the following morning. What a better time to learn than winter in the mountainous country of Japan.

Amanda and I signed up for yet another bus tour, this time going to Nekoyama Snow Resort. We really had no idea what we were doing. We knew that once we got there we would be able to rent our board & boots but that was about it. We brought the rest of our gear & kept our fingers crossed that we would be able to take a beginner lesson with someone who spoke the slightest hint of English.

Our Nekoyama bus. Notice that it's still dark out ... that's how early we leave for these tours.

After 2 1/2 hours on the bus, we arrived at the resort. Our first line of business was to find our board and boots. Of course all the writing was in Japanese but Amanda & I are finally beginning to read Japanese so we were able to find our gear.

Once we were suited up and ready to go we found the ski school and luckily there was an instructor that knew pretty good English. Her name was Yoko and it just so happened that she recognized us because her boyfriend is foreign and something of something to something. I don't know exactly but I remember thinking, "Wow, we must be making names for ourselves if people are recognizing us 3 hours away from home." She gave us the basics, we put our boards on, & headed up the mountain. The Sphinx trail to be exact. (That would be the beginner trail)

Look how serious I am about this. My goggles were amazing. :)

The weather was kind of rainy and really cold, but the mountain was still scattered with people.

The view from the lift was really beautiful.

We got up the mountain and, after falling while attempting to exit the lift, we started our first venture down the hill. It was just a rough as I thought it was going to be. I ate a lot of snow, involuntarily of course, and I can't remember the last time I fell down so much, but we got to the bottom & headed up for round 2 with Yoko.

We had to wear these Olympic-like vests to let everyone know we were beginners.
Although I'm pretty sure they could have figured it out just by watching us.

A little action shot of me practicing my jumps.
It was sooo cold, but I was still smiling.

We went up a total of four times. We consistently made progress and even managed to take some video the last time around. The first one is just commentary while we watched for 'professionals' on our trail.

And then Amanda took over the taping while I made my attempt at dominating the Sphinx. The tape is in two parts though ... The first part is the beginning of my descend. I started out backwards and just as I was ready to make my sweet turn (that I had been working on all day) the camera got cold & stopped. Amanda managed to hit record again, but the turn was over. The second video is me making it all the way down the mountain without falling though. :) My accomplishment for the day.



And finally Amanda made her trek down the mountain as well.


The next time we head to Nekoyama we might be able to move up one trail. Then again this trail has jumps and rails and is kind of terrifying. Maybe we'll stick to the Sphinx one more time before pressing our luck.

We finished the day still standing and still smiling. (The pain hadn't set in yet)

The next day was brutal. My whole body hurt. Everywhere. It felt like I had been ran over by the Shinkansen. We were lucky the next day was a holiday and we didn't have school. We spent a good full day in recovery.

I survived the first lesson and I am extremely happy knowing that I will never have to have another first day of snowboarding again. We have more trips planned and I'm going to look into buying my own board. We will be professionals in no time.

much love,
-tara-
xoxo