Snowboarding!

Two weeks ago I experienced snowboarding for the first time. It took me about a week to recover fully but it was worth it! We set off at 5.30am and drove for about 5 hours into the mountains to get to Nagano to get to a place called kurumayama (wheel mountain). It was very easy and cheap to rent the gear I needed, and the ski pass wasn't expensive either. As we drove up the mountain, the roads became a little icy, and we saw one minor accident where a small truck had skidded into a retaining wall. It was below zero in the shade, but on the slopes it was actually fairly warm. The lines for the main lift were pretty crowded, but it was fast so we got more than 10 runs in before it was time to head home. I hadn't been skiing for 20 years so I was pretty unstable at first, but once I got the hang of turning and stopping I had a lot of fun zig-zagging down the beginners slopes. I still fell down every now and then, and had to try to land on a different part of my body each time because the snow wasn't at all soft, and the bruises were starting to add up! The map showed a nice long beginner's slope from the top of the mountain which we went up to try, but the first part of it was a very steep drop with a drop-off on one side and not much room for turning! After sliding down most of that on my bum, it widened out into something a lot more enjoyable. On looking at a bigger version of the map I saw that the first part isn't actually beginners level at all! The views were just spectacular, and I really didn't take enough photos, but I was having too much fun. The feeling of gliding down the mountain, and the pristine scenery made it an amazing experience.