Farewell to a memorable season

I was back at Hakkoda again with old Hughston on Sunday for what was probably the last epic powder day of the season. For me, at least. A cracking day it was; the result of a freak low pressure system that blew in from the continent. But looking back over the season in full, there have been many the same. This last season has to have been the greatest of the three that I've spent here in Japan. We've had the highest recorded snowfalls in twenty years and Hakkoda mountain has been consistently reliable for powder snow. Though sometimes accompanying nasty weather, you've got to take the rough wind up top if you want the smooth powder down below.

The only day I can remember at Hakkoda when the snow wasn't in excellent quality was the weekend of the AJET ski trip, but even then everybody had a laugh building ramps below the gondola, doing jumps, trying to pull 180s, 360s etc. Even around Christmas time, when the snow started hitting really hard, there seemed to be a foot of fresh up there everyday.

Ah, them were the days. And now all we've got to do is wait for it to happen again next year.