Tuesday, January 10. After a few centimeters of snow yesterday in Hakuba, the clouds lifted and the sun came out to partially reveal the Japanese Alps.
Our group worked hard, but could only find marginal snow here and there.
At the bottom of one of our laps, we came across the Salomon crew. They must have found the same bad conditions and flat light we did, as they were leaving the mountain and it wasn’t even noon yet.
Oh, and did I mention how crowded it was? The four of us couldn’t find fresh tracks anywhere!
This won’t end good.
With more snow in the forecast, hopefully we will be forced to ski the trees so we won’t have to go up high and throw ourselves down rocky faces again for a few more days.
Parting artsy shot. Ok, so maybe the snow was decent and the terrain is acceptable, but its too crowded here.
Words and photos by Zach Paley.