Star and I took Gavin to Nagano for some snowboarding this Valentine's Day. What a success!!! We stayed at Hotel Terry. Our rate included breakfast and dinner. The breakfast was a buffet and dinner was a very interesting French (Japanese interpenetrated) cuisine. The first night we were at the hotel in the town of Hakuba, it snowed about a foot. Star and I had decided to split the ski day and take shifts with Gavin. It worked out very good. Star was very happy to be on her board again. The views from the top were amazing. The next day I sent Star out for some more runs and I went and took some photos of the surrounding yamas (mountains). We wound up having such a great time that we booked another trip in a couple of weeks back. This time we are staying at a different hotel that seems VERY nice. We will see. On Tuesday Jack and I went ice climbing. It was the first time that I have ever been. Knowing my experience is key in the story. This waterfall that Jack picked was to be a first ascent and onsight. He had never been to the base before due to lack of trail and a super steep approach. Well after an hour of hiking/scrambling/climbing up 1000ft we made it to the base of the 60m waterfall. It was awesome. Everything went great!!! Jack onsighted it and I followed clean. The line went at WI3/4. Super fun day. We even made it back to Tokyo in time to make it to Caramba.

Also in the happs was the bolting of some routes at the Col. Towers area.

Here are the pictures!!!


Go Climb Something!!!!