In Hakuba

Right now I’m in Nagano with Taro, staying at the lodge where he used to work in seasons long ago. The snow is superior to any I have so far encountered in Japan, but this is not surprising.
Taro and his friends are good skiers, but something crazy happened yesterday. Tori-san, a very skilled skier, was busting some crazy tricks on skis that made everyone say “Ooh”. I was watching him go off a jump, when he caught major air and his body tilted right so that it was unnaturally parallel with the ground. He landed so hard that he broke his carbon fiber pole in half, but luckily escaped with not broken bones or anything worse than pain when he laughs.
This reminds me of when I dislocated my rib after taking a spill in Mammoth. Luckily my father is a chiropractor so he popped that sucker back in, and I was back in action. I’ll try not to do anything so dramatic this time, but we’ll see.
By the way, if you’re up this way I recommend a bar called 902- foosball and a large screen TV playing big air footage. It’s a good thing that they don’t show those vids in the cafeteria on the slopes, or I would probably be riding the sled down the mountain with the ski patrol.