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Published: January 5th 2010
Uncle's garage
look at all the tyres he has!!!We were quite excited about Toyama, especially as it snowed loads a couple of weeks ago. There was already 110cm of snow in Gokurakuzaka, according to Snow Japan. However, it hadn’t snowed for the last few days, so it wasn’t looking that great, although it did mean that the roads would be easier to navigate. We had another look at the weather forecast the night of our return from Seoul, because our plan was to drive to Otsu on Wednesday and stay the night before heading to Toyama on Thursday for new years. The forecast said there would be no snow on Wednesday but lots on Thursday. That concerned us a bit, and it was constantly in the back of our minds. On Wednesday morning, we set off towards Otsu, and we made such good headway that we would’ve had about 4 hours to kill before being able to check in. So we made the executive decision of driving all the way to Toyama, which the Garmin said would take 4 more hours, getting us there around 16:15. And what a f***ing fantastic decision that was! We reached Toyama on time and managed to check into our
double room with heater. The next morning, we looked out the window and lo and behold it was snowing. There is no way we would’ve made it to Toyama in such good spirits had we had to drive on the expressway with snow chains on.
On New Year’s Eve, we went to my uncle’s house for lunch around 13:00, stopping off at Yellow Hat on the way to try and pick up some Tyre Grip. They didn’t have any. So we slid all the way to my uncle’s house very slowly. We didn’t die though, so all good. We chilled in their house for the afternoon and dinner, and tried to plan our boarding trip for the next day with cousin Taka. He’s apparently quite good. Lucky we had a practice run at Tokushima really, would’ve been pretty frickin embarrassing falling all over the place. As it turned out, I did anyway, so heigh-ho. I suggested going bowling with my cousins, because we haven’t really hung out with them much. Taka then told us about his “golden arm”, which I took to mean he was good at bowling. What is it with the boys in my family - turn
Toyama streets
so much snow... out to be good at everything, no fair - where did my talent go?!?! So we all went to the bowling alley - cousins in cousin Aya’s car, and Alex and me in our car. We put our chains on, because it hadn’t stopped snowing all day. Unfortunately that meant we couldn’t drive very fast, so we trailed behind the cousin car by quite a distance. When we got there, we couldn’t get the machine to give us a ticket. I couldn’t see what we were doing wrong. Then Aya came over and tried to help, but she couldn’t figure it out either. Turned out it was closed. Dangit. So much for that idea =(
When we got back to the hotel, it was only 21:00, so we headed back out to try and find some food for Alex. We walked for ages without much luck, because he just couldn’t decide what he wanted to eat. He ended up getting a hot sarnie from Lawsons and a can of hot chocolate from the vending machine for JPY 120. When we got back to the hotel, I got myself a can of Cassis Orange, and we found out that the
happy happy joy joy
this was supposed to be a happy photo hotel vending machine does the same hot chocolate for JPY 100. And it wouldn’t have cooled down as much as the other one by the time we got to the room. Oh well. We welcomed the new year in with some Häagen Dazs and mini chocolates, and we watched the countdown on TV with some medley of J-Pop songs. My god, boy bands are all the same the world over…plain sh1te. Bring on Earthshaker!!!
Boarding in Gokurakuzawa, 1st January 2010 It was an “early” start for boarding, so I tried to sleep as early as I could after the new year came in. It didn’t quite work that well, but I still managed to get 6-7 hours sleep. On New Year’s Day, I got up at 07:40 in order to leave for 08:00. Needless to say, we didn’t quite leave on time. I was still eating brekkie at 08:00. We managed to make it out around 08:15 though. On our way to my uncle’s house, Alex said he thought it would be a good idea to see how far we could get without the chains first, because aside from one part with a load of snow in the middle
Lift Sign
i liked it of the road, we didn’t really need them last night. So we left the hotel parking lot and drove about 3 metres before reaching our first section of snowy road. We backed up and put the chains on. So much for that idea! On the way to pick up Taka, I called him to see if he wanted to go in his car instead, to which his first response was “have you gotten stuck?”. I said no, but because it was going so slowly, maybe we should go in his car instead. He said it’d be the same in his car anyway if it’s snowy, so we kept to the original plan and picked him up in our car. When we got to the house, his car was completely covered in snow, he wouldn’t have been able to drive it out anyway. We reckon that’s why he didn’t want to drive - he just couldn’t be arsed to shovel the snow!
Once Taka had put all his gear in the boot (his snowboard fit in the boot - how cute!!!), we made our way to Gokurakuzaka - woohoo, powder here we come!! We stopped off at a Circle K
snowed in
the wipers and top of the car are just about visible. i thought this was hilarious. convenience store on the way, where Taka suggested we buy our lift pass and lunch deal there, because it’s cheaper than buying it at the slopes. So we paid our JPY 4,200 each and I put my contacts in, because I’d forgotten to do that earlier. Luckily I had a set in my jacket pocket, otherwise I would’ve been pretty screwed. When we got there, we parked up, Taka got his gear together, and Alex and I went to rent some snowboard equipment. JPY 4,000 each.
It was snowing all day, and at times we couldn’t see sh** because of the blizzard conditions at the top. But that also meant there was a fresh layer of snow each time we went down. Alex hadn’t seen so much powder since the time he got stuck on a drag lift and got shouted at, bless his teenage soul. Taka even fell over a few times because he’s not used to so much powder. I fell over purely because I was tired so many times, but I didn’t really care because it didn’t hurt AT ALL! We stopped for lunch around 13:00 and I got a beef don, Alex went for the
up the slopes
it didn't stop snowing all day fried rice, and Taka opted for some other meat don, I’m not sure exactly what it was. After we ate, Alex was really tired, and I think Taka was too. We went up to the half-black-half-red run for the fourth and final time, because some d***head went into Alex’s arm at full pelt while Alex was stationary on the ground. If he’d hit Alex’s head area, it could’ve been more fatal, but luckily he just bruised the arm. It swelled. It turned blue. It was unnecessary. He couldn’t board after that, so we returned our gear and headed back to Namerikawa. Taka then referred to Alex’s arm as the “chicken arm”. What is it with naming arms??
We were supposed to go to my granddaddy’s house after, so I could say hey and give him the fleece jacket, but as we went along the slippery roads, we decided to drop Taka off straight away and maybe go in someone else’s car. I did some snow driving for the first time ever. F*** me, I never want to do that again!! Not with summer tyres anyway. Even with the chains, I had no grip at times, and with a load
Lil' cousin
his trousers and jacket cost 60,000 yen!!!! of cars on one side, and a ditch on the other, it wasn’t fun in the slightest. It was actually scary at times, especially when we started sliding sideways, but I managed to get it under control, and most importantly, NOBODY DIED. I’ll be damned if that happens on my watch, sonny jim bob. Still, I made the decision that there is no way in hell we’re doing the same thing tomorrow! Unless we rent a 4x4. With winter tyres.
When we got to his house, he went in to get my uncle, but he was asleep. Alex reckons he hibernates.
We went back to the hotel, which was a much nicer drive, and I got myself another cocktail. I deserve it after such a long hard day…
We wanted to go to Marier for dinner, but the whole complex was closed because it’s New Year’s Day. So we ended up going to Lotteria - a burger joint, as the yanks would call it. It was still snowing when we left, and hadn’t let up on our way back to the hotel. We went via Mister Donut and got a donut each. We had to cross about
Woohoo!!
let's go again! =D 3 roads to get to the hotel, and the bits where the road meets the pavement were filled with icy water from the melted snow. There was no avoiding it. We tried the first one, which I kind of managed to do, although I sank really deep into the snow, but Alex then stepped into a big puddle anyway. Hehe. The next one Alex slipped and nearly fell into the puddle. Haha. The important thing is - the donuts were safe.
Leaving Toyama We were supposed to leave on the 3rd for Kyoto, but that didn't happen. It was raining when I went downstairs for breakfast, and it turned to snow while I was eating. Alex wasn't happy about driving in the snow, so I called around a few places to ask about second hand winter tyres. They don't seem to be overly popular here, much like any other second hand goods. But I managed to find a place that had a few, so we drove down in our summer tyres and paid JPY 21,000 for a set of winter ones. Compared to the JPY 15,000 I got quoted per tyre for new ones at Yellow Hat, I was extremely pleased! Autobacs is now my favourite car shop. So we spent another night in Toyama, ready and raring to go the next day with our newly purchased winter tyres - woohoo!
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