Snow Monsters

Snow Monsters
Originally uploaded by Mihai Florin Apostu Oota

Am fost norocosi sa ajungem in varful muntelui si sa avem parte de o zi asa cum rareori am intalnit pe Hakkoda. Cer senin, fara vant si zapada cum trebuie. Am urcat in telecabina pana ne- au spus ca s- a oprit pentru ziua respectiva.
Am urcat de 7 ori si am reusit sa megem pe cateva din cele mai bune rute de pe munte. Am adunat cateva poze si 2 filme pe care le- am pus in graba impreuna.

Hakkoda- Janaury 26th 2008 on Youtube

Din casa iarna pare atat de rece, insa aici simti ca te poti bucura de Ea.

Ski world record

Jamie Pierre is a professional free skier. Jamie Pierre set a world-record cliff jump of 255 feet at the Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming

I understand the ideea of loving ski, snow and life but this is too much. He loves ski too much.
He actually did a free fall for about... 78 metres in....SNOW

Have a great Day!
Mihai

Hakkoda- White Heaven on Earth

Around ONE METER of new powder snowed at Hakkoda this weekend. There were 50 cm of fresh powder on Sunday morning and 40 cm on Monday morning. The weather was good to us on Monday: -10 ℃, windspeed 11m/s and visibility 40%, but on Sunday it was pretty rough: -17 ℃, windspeed 22-25m/s and visility 5%. After the first gondola went uphill, one of Hakkoda` s staff rushed to the place where all the skiers and snowboarders were standing in line to announce that the conditions at the to are very bad and to be careful while coming downhill. And he was telling the truth. After we got up there, the gondola stoped for about 2 hours, until the windspeed lowered.
Anyway, this was the weather condition, but that didn` t stop us from heaving fun. 50 cm of powder is quite difficult to deal with when on flat ground, but when on steep slopes it`s "Heaven on Earth". It feels like you are floating on a big pillow, like you are driving a luxury car on a national road at 200 km/h. It feels so good.
On Monday I had to leave the mountain after the Gondola` s service had stoped.

On Sunday, new powder, another story. Don` t stop on fresh powder, avoid loosing speed on flat ground. If you stop you have to take your snowboard off, make steps with it so you can step on and actually swim until you reach some solid base so you can put your snowboard on again. It happened to me once while trying to take my camera out of the suit. I was trying to film the beautiful forest that was reaching to the ground, under the heavy snow that fell a night ago, and... it happened: Stopped and fell over :D . Got out of there soon, but I didn`t take the camera out again. Before that I managed to take some photos.

On the last part of course, the lowest part of it where the visibility is good I made these 3 clips.

Part 1- The Lowest part of the Direct Course

Part 2- In the forest before the steep slope

Part 3- Arriving at the Gondola Station

Nothing better than this!
Have a great week!

Mihai

Hit me with a shovel

d3o Lab is a UK-based chemical engineering company that specializes in creating unique polymers. d3o Lab invented d3o, a soft and flexible material that hardens on impact. d3o Lab was founded by Richard Palmer.

Currently, d3o labs is in negotiations with several companies over the use of d3o. As of October 2006, d3o is already incorporated into several products. The skiwear company Spyder has created racing suits using d3o for the U.S. and Canadian Olympic skiers. Ribcap, a hat company, has created hats with the product. Globe, a skate and surf company that also makes skateboarding shoes, has started making shoes that incorporate d3o. Sells, a goalkeeping brand, collaborated with d3o lab to create goalkeeping gloves and shin pads for soccer.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would really need a hat a chest protection that uses this material. It will sure take my pain away while marking the trees with my body.

What do you think about this product?

Mihai

Saturday` s Schedule

Friday night I met the other members of the Snowboarders Community in a Club here in Aomori to celebrate the 06/07 Snowboarding Season and to watch the DVD we made on Hakkoda. While snowboarding at Hakkoda one of the snowboarders taped us while sliding, flying, hitting the trees, eating snow falling and crashing. We had a lot of fun laughing about each other. One of us left for Tokyo on Sunday to study. He will be there for quit a long time but he promised that he will visit us often and of course be here next year for the 07/08 Season. We partied until 1 o` clock in the morning and we switched clubs until 3 a.m.

On Sunday I walked up at 7:30 and prepared for a new day. I had to work from 5 o` clock in the afternoon, but before that I had a lot to do. I know a few things about snowboarding, but about skiing- zero. One of my friends promised me that he will teach me how to ski so today we went to Hakkoda. It was my second time to step into skies at Hakkoda. We slided a few times by the chair lifts and then decided to climb the mountain and slide on the 5 km course. A little scared but I got on the Gondola.

On top the temperature was almost 2 degrees Celsius and the snow starting to melt- very wet. We headed for the Forest Course, put the skies on and started to go downhill. I realised that the same slopes that I was so fast on when snowboarding were so steep on skies. As I am not so good at skiing the wet snow made it so hard to curve. The feelings that I had when started snowboarding came back now while skiing. I got so familiar with the snowboard and the sensation of having my both legs tide up to it. While on ski my legs felt like going on different directions and sometimes spreding too much- it felt like making gymnastics. I am so bad at skiing. Once it took me about 10 minutes to put my skies back on after falling. Then I realised that I was trying to put my left foot into the right ski. I was sweating so bad trying to fix the skies and it felt so long before I had to restart to ski. I was on my way to swear out loud when I finally made it. When the steep part of the course ended I began to curve and even slide normally. It was such a relief. By the time we were downhill my muscles were hurting so bad. That was the last run for Saturday and decided to come back another to practice ski. Never realised that it might be so difficult to ski normally considering that I used to snowboard for a while. You have to try it too. If you had please tell me how it was and where should I pay attention.

Before heading down town we decided to take a walk up to Towada. On the way to Towada starting from April teh Gold Line Route is opened. This year` s amount of snow was smaller than last year but the Hakkoda Walls are still big. Last year the walls of snow on both sides of the road were 9( nine) metres tall. This year there were only 6 metres of snow that guided us to Tsuta Onsen.

After 4 hours of struggling with my legs to stand on the skies and visiting the Hakkoda walls, we ariived at Tsuta Onsen. The hot water, the smell of wet wood and the strong air relaxed my muscles. I almost fell asleep on the floor. On the right side of the bath there is a portion of the floor, where the hot water is going out of the bath, on which you can rest- even sleep. The floor is hot so if you fall asleep for a litlle longer no worries.

On out way back to town my friend fell asleep into the car but I couldn` t stand not to stop the car and take a few more picture of Hakkoda. In this photo you can see the back side of the mountain, the side that I get to see once a year.

After taking a few more pictures I didn` t stop until we arrived in town. It was three o` clock, so I had some time to have lunch and drive my friend back home before starting work. We went to eat at the same restaurant where I am working and I had a Spicy Miso Ramen with Gyoza.

After taking my friend back home I returned to the Restaurant. It was 4:15 and I said that it might be good to rest for a while so I made myself confortable into the car and closed my eyes... It was 4:45 when the alarm woke me up. It was after midnight when I arrived back home and after taking a bath I stumbled into bed.

Wishing you a nice week!