Shiga kogen

Yes, another report of snowboarding. We spent the last weekend at Minamikan Prince Hotel in Shiga Kogen, Nagano-ken. It’s a bit of a favourite resort actually – not too challenging, but a variety of slopes which never get too busy and are good for a variety of abilities. (Needed more steep slopes though).

For the first time ever, I takkyubin’d my snowboard back to Tokyo (it’s like a parcel courier service here in Japan). Usually I get paranoid about my board and carry it back, but I thought for a change I’d try it for 1300yen, and lo and behold, it turned up at my apartment here at 8pm. Not bad!

What was good about this trip was that I got more time in riding ‘goofy’, that is, right leg forward – instead of left leg, which is my more natural stance. This is an important skill if I want to do half-pipe, jumps, or whatever so I can get out of a situation on either leg. I won’t deny though that I fell over a few times – like being a beginner again!

Also, there’s nothing wrong with sliding down the slope for 30 meters on your stomach like a penguin – it was on purpose.