Just days before my first snow board trip next Monday, and it finally looks like the winter is here. The snow has been later than normal, but finally a lot of the areas can open. A good place for info is Snow Japan (formerly known as Ski Japan Guide). I suppose this saves me abandoning hope and resorting to Shinto chanting. If anyone knows which is the correct god, let me know!
On the subject of snowboards, I got the last of the things I need for the season – some new goggles , as my ‘old faithful’ ones I bought at a roadside stop three years ago have finally been retired as the foam over the cheek had disintegrated, meaning it would cut into my face if it got knocked (like in one of my famous high speed wipeouts!). I went to a great shop in Jimbocho called ‘Himaraya’ which has a small front onto the main street, but a much bigger shop behind the main one. On the fourth floor they have a pretty good selection of goggles – maybe over a hundred different types, and after trying on pretty much all of them, I settled on the Dragon DX pair – a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend, but like most snowboard stuff, it’s a case of finding something that fits well. I must have a wide head (smirk) because some of goggles seemed to limit my horizontal and peripheral view, especially the Oakley ones. I quite like the Axe range, but the Dragon pair seemed to give a better field of vision – always useful on a high speed run!