The weather lived up to expectations today. It started out with a bit of doubt about it, but as it went on it continued to improve and we found plenty of sunshine to ski in.
With the promise of a great day ahead of us, we mobilised all 6 out onto the mountain and set off in pursuit of fun with the only cloud being the state of Caroline’s knee and what she would be able to manage. Thomas and I had scouted out the right place, but weren’t entirely sure about getting there without demanding too much from the knee.
We got to the top of the first lift and were faced with the choice of going up another one or skiing back down so that Caroline would be able to make a decision about the knee’s status. She opted to go higher. By the time that we’d worked our way back down to the bottom of the mountain she had decided that continuing to ski on it would not be wise. Emily announced that her legs were also hurting and so said that she'd keep her mother happy in the hotel while the boys and I went skiing.
With the weather being as nice as it was we decided to go as high as we could immediately before making our way across to the other side of the mountain. Turns out that the weather at the top wasn’t quite as friendly as it was lower down, with a vicious wind blowing. It was enough to warrant a short stop in at the café for a hot chocolate while we watched the nutters head down the men’s downhill run that looked bad enough through the window that there was no chance that I was about to give it a go. Michael was of course keen, but I executed the old man’s right to veto. We went down the intermediate run instead. I mean black and groomed I’m okay with but you can stick your moguls up your jumper.
One of the things about skiing with teenage boys is that they push you and prod you and want you doing things that sometimes you just have to say no to. When you add that to a wearable device that measures how fast you go, you seem to find yourself pointing your skis straight down the mountain in a tuck just to see if you can pip the previous fastest speed. There was a bit of that over the course of the afternoon, but I never topped the 88km/hr that I achieved late in our stay at Shiga Kogen. And I have to say when I hit that speed it was getting pretty close to some poo-packing with how bouncy things were down the run and the thought of what might happen to my old brittle bones if I became unstuck!
With flat out speed taken back out of the equation, we headed to where Sam could do some jumps. It wasn’t as much fun as we had at Ichinose and once again they boys were egging me on. It was flat enough that Michael and Thomas created their own challenge, planting one ski each at the bottom of the run and then skiing back down on just the other. I mean they even went over the small jump like it.
I even gave the jump a go. And I have to say that there is nothing more demoralising than feeling like you’re getting some decent air, and actually partaking in the fun with your teenage boys and then seeing the video played back; the video that reveals a flight so short that the Wright brothers probably would have stricken it from their records. A flight so high that an emu wouldn’t claim it. A jump so sad and pitiful that the only thing that one can do is immortalise it here to secure one’s embarrassment for all eternity. But I had a go.
After the day’s skiing everyone actually seemed to be in a pretty good mood. So good that I insisted on mandatory happy hour if for no other reason than to have some company while I worked my way toward the back end of the bottle of Appleton that I had been drinking.
We added some games to it and spent a good hour or so having some wholesome family fun before heading out to dinner. We found a nice local restaurant and Michael was the instigating of a couple of rounds of sake. Emily somehow managed to talk her mother into letting her have the steak dinner and was happy as a pig in the proverbial.
Of course it wouldn’t have been a stroll through town without continuing the search for an ever-more impressive icicle and its fair to say that Thomas managed to crown himself king of that particular game!
It was a great end to our skiing before we had to head to Tokyo again for a last couple of days in Japan. I think its fair to say that there were mixed feelings about it given the state of Caroline’s knee, but I for one am ecstatic about having been able to get some skiing in again.
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