Finishing the Season at Nakayama Touge

Nakayama Touge

Yotei from Nakayama Touge

We finished off the 2013/14 season just before Golden Week with a park session down at Nakayama. This is where we had our first lift served day almost six months ago. A very different vibe down there this time. T-shirts, sunglasses and park hits were the theme of the day. The park setup was looking really nice, a solid jib line and small rhythm jumps high up, leading down to a couple of nice large step down jumps lower down.

Park hits and slush. Good times

Two large step downs at the bottom of the park

It was fairly busy with local riders getting their last fix for the season. There was some real talent on show, especially some of the young rippers, probably half our age but going twice as big!

Local kids lining up to hit the bottom kickers

We had a good days riding though, slowly building up to hitting the biggest features and finishing off the season on a high.

Mike spinning and getting corked

Dub 10 from Riot Skis Rider Tsubasa ‘TBS’ Tanimura

The old favourite, 360 mute. I’ll learn some new tricks next year, definitely

Down at the bottom of the slope were a load of different demo tents and the smell of grilled meat wafting from the numerous yakiniku BBQs. A very pleasant way to spend a spring day.

Demo tents and barbeques

So that’s it for the resort skiing, but definitely not the end of the season. There’s still turns to be earned with some spring touring. Even with the super warm weather we’ve had in Hokkaido through May, the snow sticks around in the hills for weeks after the lifts stop turning. Stay tuned!