Hard to believe the day has finally come. Sloth and Jarmarl are ready, primed and going to farm out the deep white stuff! 
Be ready for some stories of the chaos in Tokyo (Sushi, Sumo Stables, Karaoke and Sake. All with some Fancy That thrown in of course!). Then on Tuesday night we're off to Hokkaido in search of the neige. We've got 4 nights in Niseko, riding there as well as Rusutsu. 2 nights in Furano - riding one day there and one at Kamui. Then finishing up with 2 nights in Sapporo, riding 1 day at Kokusai and 1 at Teine. Also taking in the Sapporo Big Air (which has a 10 million Yen prize pool). Unfortunately we're just going to miss the Furano "Pulling of The Horse" race (teams race each other pulling a horse on a sled around a course).
Here's what's waiting for us:
Furano, Saturday 2nd February 2008, 8:25AM
Weather conditions: sunny brisk morning. Upper mountain is covered in cloud.
New snowfall: 5cm
Snow depth: Summit: 190
Yesterday was the million-dollar day here at Furano. If you had paid a your life's fortune to ski snowboard here yesterday, you would have been well pleased. It was just run after run especially off Kuma Otoshi where you thought, "if I had a film crew, I would look just like the powder video stars do!".
Today is another blue-sky morning. With a few centimenters overnight there has been 5cm on the mountain. There is still plenty of deep fresh out there. Try Panorama, Challenge, Link and Kuma for your fixes.
Niseko, Saturday 2nd February 2008, 12:25PM
Weather conditions: Sunny early, cloud developing later.
New snowfall: 10cm (Official) 15cm (Observed)
Snow depth: 270cm (top); 160cm (base)
Yesterday was another fantastic day, even better than the day before. The whole mountain was deeply covered in super light powder and the skies were blue for most of the morning. Annupuri was the pick of the bunch but even the lower forrest areas had an incredible amount of cover. Today is not much different although there isn't quite as much fresh cover as yesterday. The higher areas will definitely be the best place to ride today. The avalanche report is noting 15cm of fresh cover and moderate winds at the peak.
For anyone else heading out to Europe, hope you get plenty!
farm on, ride safe and don't forget the donuts
Sloth
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