Thursday, February 24, 2011

Alts hucking

Today was another spring-like day on Alts. Perfect. If you paid attention to our last post, you’ll know that Brendan took it easy today due to his too close encounter with a rail. He was gracious enough to put the camera on yours truly. We quickly sessioned the terrain park again, this time hitting the biggest tables. They were perfect. I’ll unabashedly paraphrase myself to re-explain what I like about them:

-The in-runs allow you to easily catch speed.
-The ramps are perfectly so you can get upward lift without needing a ton of extra speed to clear the knuckle
-The tables are shorter tables;
-The transitions are long and steep

I’ll go even more in-depth about the parks in another post because today, though we briefly revisited the park, we decided to play around with the natural terrain features of Alts Ski Area.

The fact of the matter is Alts is not an overly steep mountain. It’s mild and perfect for beginners and works like a charm for those who are advanced skiers but prefer to take it easy rather than risk cart-wheeling down a 50-degree slope. With that said, you can still find some terrain to play on if you are willing to hike or venture into the forested pockets between the established runs (should mention that the grooming here is impeccable). Brendan and I spotted a ridge-line below the gondola that no one had touched when it was powder, and still no one had touched with the spring-like corn of today.

So, without further ado, here is a cornice I floated off of, as well as a cornice-cliff I hucked off of: not exactly smooth on the last one, but the potential…Oh, and don't be disturbed by Brendan's opening bathtub scene at the Samurai Riders Hostel. It gives you a great peek at what must be one of the most satisfying bathrooms of any hostel on earth (and don't worry, Brendan doesn't turn the camera on himself...sorry ladies!)


Fun!

Tomorrow we are going to explore Nekoma Ski Area, the smaller, but steeper, area that shares services with Alts on the other side of Mount Bandai. Stay tuned!

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