Snowboarding on April the 27th

This time on Iwaki Mountain, near Hirosaki. Before going to sleep I played with my phones alarm option so much that it didn` t go on at 5:45 in the morning. My friends woke me up by calling me at 6:30.
"Where are you Mihai? Still sleeping?"
"Oh, NO, what`s the time?
" It`s time to GO!" ( sorry about that)
I met them after 12 minutes and we were on our 45 minutes drive to Iwaki mountain.
This is how Iwaki was like at 16:00. I wish that this weather continued all day long.

I had the pleasure to sit in the back of the car and enjoy the road to Hirosaki and back.

Watching ザ・ドリフターズ all the way we arrived pretty soon on at Ajigasawa` s Ski resort parking, where we met one of our friends, and after going round the mountain taking 69 curves, near the top of Iwaki.

Some of us were jumping with joy

Some of us were thinking about the cherry blossom

But the reality was this, and we were on our way to the top.

The weather was rainy, -2 degrees, wind of speed of 18-20m/s. No way for the lifts to move. So we started preparing to climb.

We hiked for about an hour between bushes, trees and climbing rocks.

Finally on the top. With the strong wing blowing with power the snowflakes on our faces made it hard to set the camera and take this picture.

And we started climbing round the mountain.

Ready to go down the mountain. The clouds are still surrounding us, making the mountain hard to see. But not for long...

We were soon out of the clouds and enjoying the view.

In this video I took you can see how fast the clouds are moving.

This is where we came from- you can see in the far left the car in the parking lot.

An avalache is showing some signs. From what we`ve heard it was like that since the beginning of april. Hope it stays the same until it melts.

Yotin going first to prepare the camera.

Today`s snowboarders were:
Kayoppe

Sizu

Shibu

Ten

Mos

And Yotin in the middle

Before arriving in the parking lot it started to rain heavily, but it felt so warm and so nice. Just like a spring shower after a cold winter.

Some of us were still having fun until the very end of the slope covered with snow.

After going up the mountain to take Mos` s car we headed for Agigasawa again and Hirosaki. Couldn`t let the beautiful scenery pass without immortalizing a few sceneries. You can smell the spring without looking at the beautiful intense green that is appearing here and there.

Today has been better than I have been expecting it to be. All week I have been checkin the weather forecast and for for my disapponting Sunday was always near the rain mark. On top of the mountain it snowed almost all the time and while descending the sun was appearing now and then. Good timing!

Mos san was so kind to make a video selection of that day. He even caught on me on camera when I am having a big fall sliding. Too much speed

Mos and Yotin wrote on their japanese blog about that day. Click on name to visit.
モスさんとよちんさんはその日の日本語の日記を書きました。良かったら名前を押して下さい。

See you next year Iwaki!

Powder Snow in April

April in Japan

Spring has finally came in the North of Japan. Along wih it came the spring snowboard season and the Cherry Blossom Party. It has been an agitated but fun month. On the 9th I started a new job beside the job that I have at the Ramen Restaurant, and every morning starting from 9 am until 14 I have been spending my time with my new little friends that enjoy English. A new job and a new way of seeing life. Seeing life as they see it brings up my childhood memories.

On the 25th I have been invited to the local Tv Station called RAB as a guest for their Show. I was the Romanian traveller, wearing a backpack at first that is paying a visit to Japan. We talked about Romania, Nuclear Energy and the movie " An Unconvinient Truth" . Working in a Ramen Shop was a surprise for them too so they came to my shop as well. The show will be broadcasted on the 12 of May.

On the 29 th I joined my friends to the trip to the top of Hakkoda. I arrived at the bottom of the mountain at 8: 30 and for our surprise the gondola was not working because of the strong wind( over 25m/s). Fortunately the gondola started to work at 10: 30 and at about 11 o` clock we started our trip. The weather was good but the wind was so strong that we had to stop at least 10 times before we got to the top. I realised that I should stop smoking beause when we finally arrived on top I was out of air.

Once on top, after a regained my strenght I was amased by the beatiful view. Sitting on the other side of the mountain, the wind was almost absent and after I filled my mounth with some snacks and drinks I started taking pictures. Even if I was takeing pictures of the same spot it seemed that it wasn` t enough.

We restarted our walk to the other peak and all the way I kept the camera in my hand. My friends continued their walk but I stopped a few times to immortalize the view.

This was my first time to climb up to the top and even if I had a bad cold and coughing really bad, it couldn` t stoped me from going. I am still couching but I am so glad that I decided to go that day. An unforgatable breathtaking fight with the wind.

This is a picture taken from the part other side of Hakkoda, the side that I didn` t see before. We went downhill right from the top and all the trip took us about 3 hours. On top there were about 2 degrees and on our way down we had to open our jackets. Downhill there were about 10 degrees and that was quite a difference considering the wind from the top.

The water I drank downhill was so tasty and I didn` t stop before the botlle was empty.

On the 30th we had a walk in the nearby park to see the Cherry Blossom. ( Hanami)

On the 6th of May I will be on my way to Romania and I` ll miss these places so much.