Amazing mountains

Back in the big city of Tokyo already missing the mountain views of Hakuba and Tsugaike. It was a real pleasure to spend another week of my life in the small mountain town of Tsugaike. We were very lucky with the weather, alternating between sunny and rainy days with an even split right to the end. We ended on a sunny day today. I was able to wake up a little early and go for a walk before breakfast where I snapped a few of these pictures of the surrounding mountains. 3000 meter peaks are hard to get tired of staring at, hope you enjoy as much as I do. Society in general seems to have made the switch to spring and the mountains are pretty empty of people. It is a shame really because this is such a great time to visit the mountain and ski hills. Tickets are cheap, the weather is stable and good and the high peaks are still a beautiful white. Who cares if you don’t ski or board, just go and take the gondola to the top snap a few pictures and have a draft beer like we did at the Hutte on top of Tsugaike! Enjoy the view with a buzz!

Fundays Sundays

Yesterday was one of those amazing sunny spring days with no wind perfect snow conditions, lots of friends hanging out hiking and riding, laughing and eating and drinking! Good times for sure here at Nagano’s Tsugaike and Bluebloods Fundays. We partied afterwards at Hakuba’s famous Yakiniku joint, Miyama! So this morning was kind of slow as we cleaned up and tried to clear the alcohol from our bodies. So this photo report come a little late, but maybe you already saw some shots on my Facebook wall.

Staying a few more days here in the Tsugaike area to try to shoot some more photos with the Blueblood team, then it will be off to Tokyo for an event before heading back to Sapporo.

April Sprays!

Unbelievable snow today in Nagano’s Tsugaike resort! We rode high season like powder all morning! So epic! April 6th! What a day!

Car Danchi Christmas gift!!!

Still looking for a stocking stuffer or gift for that snow loving friend? Want to get something unusual and hard to find in North America? Does your friend babble on about Powder lines, Japan, and sleeping in Cars? Then this is the perfect gift! A copy of the latest edition from the “Car Danchi” series!

Car Danchi NO.5 is now on sale in the USA. There is still time to get one before Christmas! Order your copy today from Outdoor-nut

Until now if you wanted a copy of Car Danchi in the USA or Canada you either had to fly to Japan to get one or resort to less than legal mean to procure a hard copy. Well finally we have made things easier and don’t have to feel guilty about hitting that download button! Buy it from the source! The Official Car Danchi store for North America. Car Danchi NO.5 is the only movie on sale right now, but stay tuned as we are looking to add more product soon including previous editions of the movie and more.

Length: 45 minutes and some secret bonus!

Price: $35.00

Sold through the Outdoor-nut in North America

Riders
Haruki Takeuchi
Hassy
Hayato Doi
Hideki Takeda
Hiroshi Fujiwara
Katsushi Matsui
Kazushi Yamauchi
Ken Shibuya
Masanori Takeuchi
Motoki Shimomura
Shinya Nakagawa
Shunsuke Hoshino
Takaharu Nakai
Takaku Tomoki
Takamasa Imai
Yoshinari Uemura
Yuusuke Mino
Yuta Kiyohara
Yuta Kobayashi
Yuu Nishiyama
Deka-Cho
R.I.P
& Terje

The Music featured in the movie is all produced by Japanese or artists residing in Japan. From straight funk, to more ambient tracks every track is one you will want to include in your library.

Music by: Hiroshi Fujiwara, Higashida Tomohiro, Kuniyuki Takahashi, DJ Sebastien aka Seboo, L.E.D., 9dw, KINGDOM AFROCKS, Pampas Field Ass Kickers

Keep your engines running, we are keeping the dream alive! The ultimate snowboarding lifestyle powder movie is back, after a two-year recharge! In this year 2011 even natural disasters and nuclear meltdowns could not stop this crew of determined dreamers. We drove, found and filmed the best powder spots in Japan, and we want to share it with you. A snowboard movie like no other, showcasing the “Art of the turn” in glorious powder definition, enjoy 50 minutes of winter bliss, and keep on dreaming!

The Car Danchi series is always filmed at the best backcountry and side country locations around Japan. The famous spots like Niseko and Nagano are covered, but we also try to find new and unknown backcountry locations. This season we found some great spots in Niigata while cat boarding, Asahidake and even some great spring riding in Niseko’s Annupuri area.

Locations: Niseko, Furano, Asahidake, Tazawako, Hakuba, HakkodaTomamu

Unagi

Hayato

Hajime shooting Yama

Mino’s pose was so bad that Hajime had to walk away.

Shinya balancing act.

The most embarassing photo of the day.

Blueblood is shooting

A couple of shots from the Blueblood day one shoot.

Mino fell in a hole in the spring snow.

Hayato with no highbacks on his binding, and still able to make this deep carve.

Yama and Hayato

Yama getting a closer look.

Ken and Nami and  Kohaku the new family, congradulations!

Hajime helping to test my lighting set up.

Guro-san also helping out.

On the hill day one

Machines of Tsugaike

Went for a quick walk this morning to check out the Tsugaike area and look for some locations to shoot portraits etc.,  Found a few cool machines, check them out.  Ski resorts are always littered with cool new and old equipment such as sleds, snow blowers and today’s main feature, bulldozers!

Look at this monster!

Now the best machine I saved for last!  My new car which I received as a gift from my father-in-law, a Volvo polar 940!  This bad boy actually shows 240 Kph on the speedometer !  15 years old with less than 6k driven, this car is in mint condition!  Thank you very much!

Blueblood event coming up

The yearly Blueblood event is coming up next week in Nagano.  The last two years we held the event in Tomamu, but this season it has been moved to Tsugaike in the Hakuba area.  One of the team riders Ken Shibuya was born and raised right at the bottom of the resort, so he has been put in charge of the event!  Unfortunately he broke his femur about a month ago and is laying in bed.  The rest of the team will be heading south to help in the preparation for the event from next Tuesday.  

If you are in the Hakuba area on the 4th or 5th would love to see you there!  details by clicking on the image below. 

Tateyama photo report

Bought another USB cable to add to my ever growing collection at home…. So I was able to get some photos into my computer and edit for this blog report! Check it out, the product of my sweat from climbing the mountains in Toyama.

We spent the night at Kizakiko in Ohmachi a small lake near the entrance to Tateyama. We just pitched our tents in a small park.

Night view of the lake.

Pro skier Shimomura and his twin… actually a double image shot in the cafe at the top of the mountain.

How much would you guess for this cup of coffee? How about ¥850 per cup, thats 8 dollars for a cup of coffee.

Help me I am shrinking!!!

Oguchi drops in

All of these people are are holding sleds. Major accident scene waiting to happen, I didn’t stick around to watch the damage.

Masa drops in while the tour group watches. First run of the North Face backcountry meeting.

Shimo follows with a tail ride. The snow was amazing, really good spring conditions. The perfect type of sluchy snow to hike and ride in. Love that corn snow.

I guess it was a normal snow year in Toyama! The walls on the road were higher then I remembered. About 10 meters or more in some places. The bus looks like a miniature.

final day of the trip, Sunday we are blessed with about 15cm of fresh powder! Ogu and Shimo going for it all 80’s style with the short turns and hip wiggle. Yeah! Man was it nice to ride a little powder.

Shimo riding down in the dark. We waited for the sunset, but it never really happened so I shot this one almost in the dark.

Thanks to everybody who joined the tour. A great bunch of people this time. Very big thanks to all who joined. Hope to see you all back in November for the next edition.

If there is anybody close to Tateyama reading this, you might want to head up there sometime soon for a hike and ride session. The snow is still good for riding for at least a few more weeks if not more!