Where are we? Ah yes, 3 months to the day that I got back from Japan and still some unfinished business. Last day's riding [:'(] and it was off to Sapporo Kokusai.
Stepping out of the hotel in the city, Arrun Dayris all over us, but oh, who's this? Mr Grande Schnitzel Dumpy has shat all over the city - a foot or so here, must be belting it down up the montagnes! Get in the back of the van! The replacement one, that is. A 1.5 hour drive up and we're greeted with pretty much bluebird!
Straight in, no kissing (ok, well via the compulsory hot can of turbo black coffee for the lift up). Had beaten most people up there, knee-deep pow on piste, but in the trees was where we were headed. Poor Toby got stuck with Princess Michael and the Egyptian Love Machine "Oh but Toby we want you to show us around the pistes" [ffs! What the hell are you doing in Japan on a powder tour if you just want to ride on piste?! 
].
[rant over]
Sorry where was I? Oh yes, having a feckin nightmare start to the day. Had put some of this spray wax on, but too much of it, not scraped it, so there I was riding down this perfect waist-deep gully and STOP. No motion, board stuck to snow. 300 metre walk out for Sloth, gutted of Kokusai. That though was the only downer of the whole day - seriously this was an epic one. Hit the same side of the mountain again and again, each time finding new (and deeper!) lines.
Dumpy came and went, snowing so hard it was covering everything we'd just ridden by the next time we came down. Loving it too much. Almost as much as Jarmarly was loving hitting tree after tree. So damn funny. I think we must have had 4 "last runs" - just couldn't get enough, even the last run after the last run.
See, now this is the problem with leaving it 3 months to write the thing - I can't remember much else about the day. There was beer, a lot of it on the way back. But this is the bit that always stands out (taken from the forthcoming Fancy That Production):
<![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CTmrkE8cM_0">http://www.youtube.com/v/CTmrkE8cM_0</a></p>]]>
View original media here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTmrkE8cM_0
Later That Evening
Back in Sapporo, the booze was flowing at a ridiculous rate. The hair was on, Mr Fancy and Mr That were back in business. Off out to a restaurant for a group meal - never got the hang of the computer machine for ordering everything at the table. All you can drink in 2 hours for not a lot - that'll do. Outside it was snowing heavily again - this was the big storm we'd been waiting for. No time for that though - off to karaoke!! 
. So, let me get this straight. There's 7 floors in this place, each with about 20 rooms, each room holding between 2 and 20 people. It's 11pm now, you're open until 6am and it costs just £15 each for as much drink and singing as we like? 
Holy crap.
We may never know exactly what happened in these dark hours, but here's a selection:
- Barbie Girl - now that was a classic.
- Having the bar staff come round at 4am offering the 3 remaining people 5 jugs of gin and tonic and 2 jugs of beer. Genius. They were'nt joking.
- Finding the toilet cubicle with 2 guys taking turns to throw up, while another was wrapped around a urinal.
- Businessmen stumbling around the corridors unable to see
- The Egyptian Love God's look when Princess Michael was singing. "Oh I do worry about you"
Needless to say, everyone had their wigs on, Mr Fancy and Mr That stumbled out of the place into the snow at 6am. Over the road, into Maccas for pre-bed breakfast, Mr That falling down the stairs with his coffee. The next thing I know it's 11am, he's on the phone to reception trying to find out where the airport is, having just realised he's not flying with the rest of us.
Oh, and there's more...to be continued...