I woke up at 7:35AM in panic upon first glance at my phone. “Joseph, we’ve got to get going! Our cab to the airport has a scheduled pick up time of 5 minutes ago!” Joseph paused, then calmly responded, “We leave tomorrow. Today is Wednesday. I thought you were messing with me.” Oh that sweet feeling of instant relief in knowing you’re not late for something critical, which was only more compounded by recognition of one more day of riding that sweet Japow (Japanese powder; is an official term).
After breakfast, Joseph and I split for the day. He wanted to catch up with work, hit the onsen, and relax after two days of skiing. My prerogative was to make the most of every moment of this final day in Niseko. Best of all, the snow had continued since Sunday (01/15/2023) night. If you’ve followed along with my posts this far, you know what this means… The best powder day of all! I stopped by the rental shop to swap my board for a powder board. A powder board is shorter, which bindings positioned towards the back of the board to allow for easier gliding on top of thick powder. Japanese power is different than powder in America. It’s lighter and more fluffy; less dense and thick. However, it was also the coldest day of all. Temperatures in Niseko ranged from 15 degree lows and 27 degree highs Fahrenheit (-10 lows to -3 highs celsius), and this was just the air temperature. As you rise in elevation up the mountain, the windchill increases drastically.
I had a life changing experience that day on the mountains that was exhilarating, terrifying, and inspirational. You can read the story of my ride from the peak of the mountain in complete whiteout blindness on my next post. I thought it best to organize it separately from recalling the days events as it has essential detail.
After the 2 hour adventure, I was soaking wet and ready to celebrate what felt like nothing short of triumph. My fourth return to King Bell Hut included a hot fried pork rice curry meal (not as good as the ramen, but wanted to mix it up), paired with a cold Sapporo beer, and the company of a Thai traveler named Pop. Pop lives in Bangkok, our next destination on the journey, and he was kind enough to provide recommendations. We talked about Niseko, Thailand, traveling, and meeting people traveling. I really enjoyed his company and we exchanged information to keep in touch.
Over the next few hours, I had more incredible powder runs and enjoyable engagements on shared chairs. I met two fellow SoCal boys, one of whom lives in Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA (1 mile from Mission Beach, where I live) and the other from Los Angeles. The guy from LA also quit his job and is doing an Asia backpacking tour as well. Small world! Minutes later at the same lift, a Japanese rider and I managed to time our separate runs perfectly in sync and share consecutive chairs. There was a little bit of language barrier here, but one thing we understood was how much we were enjoying the riding conditions.
The lifts were beginning to close as the transition to night riding commenced, and I made my way to the base. My legs were starting to tire, but was I really done? It’s bad luck to say, “last run for the day.” I’m not superstitious, just a little “stitious.” They say that’s bad luck because last run is when you intentionally ride the hardest, push it furthest, try the new trick, and are more likely at risk for injury. I rode to the door of the hotel locker room, looked back at Mount Niseko for maybe 10 minutes, and shed some tears (hidden in my goggles) grateful for all the amazing experiences I had riding Niseko Japow, and for the opportunity just to visit. I love snowboarding and riding “the best in the world” was truly a privilege and I will forever be grateful. (Note: One thing you can truly never have enough of is gratitude. Practicing gratitude can change your life. “Count your blessings, not your troubles” -Willie Nelson).
I hit the jacuzzi and onsen to recover from four straight days of hard riding. While in the locker room, a group of Japanese boys walked up and each said, “Konichiwa!” I replied with a friendly, “Konichiwa,” then laughed as I saw one of them had a small carrying bag with Thomas the Tank Engine and characters all over it. For those of you who have seen the movie “Bullet Train” you can understand the reference here. Afterwards, packing up took maybe 5 minutes, traveling lightly has many advantages!
After dropping off rental gear at Rhythm rental shop, Joseph and I went to dinner at an izakaya restaurant called Ebisutei. We enjoyed more massive raw oysters, crab friend rice, spicy kimchi, shrimp and mushroom tempura, cod, and steak, while sipping gin and tonics. While at dinner, I was informed from the guys at Freddie’s that they liked the mix I sent but the resident DJ returned to Niseko early, and so “Trav Is” (DJ name) will have to wait a little longer before finding another opportunity to mix.
After dinner, we met our friends Hawkins, Dom, Chris, and Rick over at a cocktail lounge called Bar Gyu. Best part apart Bar Gyu (aside from the delicious cocktails) is the door to enter being a small refrigerator door you duck through. Real speakeasy vibes that us Americans appreciate. At Bar Gyu, we had a few rounds before the guys called it a night and wished us well on our travels. Then, our Australian friends Fred and Lou, whom we met in Tokyo on the ramen tour on Joseph’s birthday (01/12/2023), had just arrived in Niseko and met us for another round. It was great seeing these two amazing people again.
We then headed back to the hotel, finished doing our packing, and set alarms early so we could grab a quick final buffet breakfast before taking the 2 hour taxi to the airport. This time, waking up to leave for the airport for real.