I had to opportunity to travel to Japan as an athlete with the Rossignol snowboard team... How could I say no? Even though Utah has been having an EPIC season!
Before we arrived the conditions in Japan were very sub par. With a "great" forecast of 5-10cm each night my expectations were extremely low. We arrived at the hotel in Nozawa-Onsen, about 4 hours west of Tokyo with not a flake of snow on the road and It was raining... Expectations even lower. After getting settled into my very traditional Japanese style room we had a very traditional Japanese dinner. Fish, salt, seaweed and egg and went to bed ready to ride groomers in the AM
The next morning I was wide awake at by 4 AM due to Jetlag so I decided to get a little work done before everyone wakes up. To my surprise, it has snowed almost 2 feet from the time we arrived to the morning. OK, Maybe this whole Japan thing will be alight! It did not stop snowing the entire time I there. Japan delivered the deepest day of my life. Literally overhead in places!
Nozawa-Onsen is such a cool little town built on hot springs. They actually use the hot water for snow removal. Their are all of these "Onsens" which are traditional Japanese public bath houses all over the place which are typically free. Very interesting culture shock to be naked bathing with a group of people I just met. Apparently its an American thing to be so uncomfortable with this concept but I bit the bullet, got naked and chilled with the crew. After a long day of riding to have 4 different Onsen options less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel is a really nice luxury! All in all Japan was one of the best trips of my life. Hilarious crew of shit talkers and outstanding riders, great food, interesting culture and of course some amazing snow!
