As part of my ongoing movie project, I’ve had to upgrade my computer. It’s pretty tough crunching HD video files on my single core, 2 GB RAM machine. That, and the PC I built 5 years ago that was top of the line is now pretty archaic, and even photo editing and blogging moves at a sluggish pace.

I’ve been able to pick out some pretty cool new parts (Quad core, 8 gigs of RAM yeah!), but it’s going to take a while to upgrade and do a complete wipe and re-install of my operating system.

So, I unfortunately won’t have access to my computer and by association, my photos.

I’m hoping to be back up and running and blogging by Monday. 

Thanks for understanding! In the meantime, you can check out some of my popular posts, or my Flickr page.

It felt good to get up bright and early, before the rest of the world really started moving around… driving up the Sea-to-Sky highway towards Whistler Blackcomb with an orange glow in the morning sky.

It felt good to get changed in the parking lot, ride the gondola and chairs up, and strap in my boots, and lay board to snow for the first time in a long time.

It also felt good to find some small powder stashes, get my blood pumping again and get the ol’ muscles moving again!

However, It felt really, really bad to put a huge dent in my rail near the end of the day. Darn!

Let’s go over this in photos.

Whistler is still pretty green as you can tell. The snowbase was at 55 cm today. It was pretty rocky but there was still some soft stuff to be found.

I brought along my backpack and all my camera gear. Trying out the GoPro Camera here again, but this time for snowboarding.

Allan fiddles with the camera.

Lots of icicles forming on the chairlift. They started looking really beautiful.

Here’s a series of shots where I find some powder:

SWOOOOOSH powder turn.

This really caught my eye in the morning. I loved how the morning sun was coming up, just touching the faces of a couple rocks on the side of the mountain… everything was blue and cold, except for the warm yellow on just a few rocks… they looked like they were waking up.

Jersey Cream was as high as we made it, we decided not to hike today. It was pretty busy, but not as busy as it could have been on Opening Day. We rode the singles line and only waited a couple minutes in line each time. Not too shabby!

Yeah, let’s not talk about this too much. So I completely dinged in my rail on a rock… my beloved board is now in the Board Room board shop getting its rail completely replaced by the awesome and ever-caring hands of Anthony, board medic. I suppose it’s a good excuse to get a new board… but I wanted to have a powder board + a groomer board. Now I just might have to go for All Mountain. Ah well, such is life! It’s a bit dumb riding around on rocks but it was so, so worth it just to ride the snow again.

On our way back, we stopped at Granville Island like we do every week and picked up some groceries. Since we were completely ravenous after a full day, I picked out some free-range beef tenderloin medallions. Marinated it in some sauce, garlic, Habaneros peppers, and Jalapeno peppers. Then seared it on all sides, and baked it in the oven. Topped it with a nice peppercorn Brandy sauce and freshly picked wild BC chanterelle mushrooms. Side dishes are fresh organic veggies and butternut squash pesto pasta.

All in all, not too bad a day! Eating steak while watching Canucks is awesome. Watching the Canucks lose to Calgary after a well-played game was pretty tough. We also got some good footage for the in-progress snowboard movie project, so I’m stoked about that. I am looking forward to getting my board back from repairs this weekend, and maybe I’ll get another chance to get up to the mountain this weekend.

Word to the Wise… if you go to Whistler this weekend… watch out for rocks.

Today, Whistler opened. I’m a little peeved at them for opening a day earlier, but that’s okay. I still love you, Whistler. I’ll still be there for you tomorrow for the opening of Blackcomb and some more chairs and terrains. Sure, it’s only a 55cm base and I’m going to scrape up my already scraped up snowboard. But at last, the long wait is over.

There’s something deeply satisfying about digging out my snowboard jacket, pants, gloves, helmet, goggles, and underlayers from the closet… wiggling my toes around in my stiff snowboard boots… and unzipping my board in its bag to make sure it is as fabulous as I remember.. and then laying it all out on the floor by the door so I don’t forget it tomorrow morning. Make sure my camera batteries are charged. Check. Make sure the lenses are clean. Check. Make sure I’ve got my 2-for-1 Whistler Blackcomb tickets from the Warren Miller movie printed, check!

I thought a good way to start off this season would be to recap where I’ve been, in terms of snowboarding/skiing resorts. It’s not as big as some people’s lists, but I’ve really enjoyed every mountain I’ve gone to… each one is so different.

MOUNTAINS I’VE BEEN TO OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS

1. Whistler Blackcomb

2. Cypress Mountain, Vancouver

3. Seymour Mountain, Vancouver

4. Mount Washington, Vancouver Island

5. Apex Mountain, Penticton

6. Big White, Kelowna

7. Manning Park, near Hope

8. Mount Baker, Washington

9. Mission Ridge, Washington

10. Squaw Valley, Tahoe

11. Mammoth, California (Yup, that’s an avalanche)

12. Snowbird, Utah

13. Steamboat, Colorado

(Yes believe it or not, I used to be a skier just one and a half years ago!)

In the next two years I hope to visit…

- Alaska
- Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- Alberta
- More interior BC for catboarding
- Somewhere on the other hemisphere (New Zealand, Argentina etc)

One can only dream!

Where have you been, and where do you dream of going?

I’ve finally had a chance to post this up after many weeks… I hope you enjoy my little recap of my adventures trying to find surf in Japan. I only had time to do a day trip in Japan, so this isn’t a good guide for week long adventures in Japan… but if you happen to be out there and want to make a quick trip out to the ocean for some waves, then read on!

I’ve posted this picture before. This is Shonan, near Kamakura. The waves roll into this bay and clean up quite a bit. The downside is, it is super crowded and the waves are usually smaller here compared to the exposed side on the ocean. I do recommend you check it out if you have time though!

The first step is to plan out your route. Most people will be coming from Tokyo. Your goal is to get to the Kazusa-Ichinomiya station. In my case, I was coming from the Hamamatsu-cho station near the Tokyo Bay hotel (where I was staying for work). Your best bet is to go up to the information counter and purchase your one-way ticket to the Kazusa-Ichinomiya station. You will have to likely transfer at Tokyo station, and then catch the rapid train out to Ichinomiya. I paid around 2,000 yen ($25 or so) for the entirety of my one-way ticket out there (and the same coming back).

Once on the train, you’ll keep going east out of Tokyo, passing many cities, skyscrapers, housing developments, parks, and even cemeteries.

Eventually you’ll be further and further out of the city and you’ll see more rural landscapes, such as fields and forests and more traditional-looking houses.

You’ll pass through the Chiba prefecture and you’ll want to get off at the end of the line, which is the Kazusa-Ichinomiya station. If you want, you can connect here to the Torami station which is a bit closer to the surf schools. Unfortunately, I didn’t get off there but I probably should have.

Once you’re out of the station, orient yourself and make sure you’re travelling East towards the Ocean. There’s a long road that goes straight to the water. In my case, as soon as I got out of the station I turned left, crossed railroad tracks, and past a few businesses. You’ll also pass a Surf English language school on your right. If you hit this, you know you’re going the right direction.

I found myself on a beautiful palm-tree lined road with fields on either side. So serene.

I stooped down to take a photo of this little wooden structure… it caught my eye in the tall grass.

After about 30 minutes of walking, I re-assessed my sitation and decided it was best if I hitch-hiked. I knew it was going to be about an hour more of walking according to the GPS on my Blackberry, and I didn’t want to waste any time in my day since I had to catch my flight home the next day and didn’t want to get back too late. I stuck my hitch-hiking thumb out for about 15 minutes before a very cute older Japanese woman picked me up in her beaten-up white farm truck. She gestured at me in both a friendly and impatient way and so I ran over to her and got in the truck. In Japan, people drive sitting on the right side of the car, so sitting on the left sure felt weird! We weren’t able to communicate very well since I spoke no Japanese and she spoke no English. All I knew how to say was Hello, Goodbye, Please, and Thank You, and “Ocean”, “Surfboard”, and “Wetsuit”. That wasn’t enough.

She drove me all the way to the ocean (Bless her heart!) and I understood that she was saying that there were 3 main surf spots in town. She showed me spot number one.

And then spot number two.

And then I was finally able to communicate to her that I didn’t have a wetsuit or a surfboard and I needed to rent one. So she dropped me off at some of the surf stores in town. I walked along the road going into every store, but no one really spoke English and I was able to discern that they didn’t do any rentals and didn’t know anyone that did.

I kept walking and finally came upon the Surf Garden complex. Up the stairs to the left (very hidden) is a gym… (yes, a fitness centre), and surfboard rentals. LOL! What a strange combination.

I had a strange conversation with the man running the shop since he also didn’t speak English, and was able to eventually rent a wetsuit and board for the day for 6,000 yen, about $70. Expensive, like everything else in Japan. But still worth it!

He called a girl downstairs to come help him, and she spoke more English. She was a complete angel, and made sure I had the right size wetsuit and was even able to find me a board I liked… a 7′8″ expoxy board in nice condition. They even lent me some flip flops.

I was stoked.

Then they led me across the street and pointed at the forest and told me to go through it. I asked them twice to make sure I was hearing them right, but they assured me there was ocean and surfing through there. Check out my video.

It was a leap of faith but I ran through the forest and over some bluffs and sure enough, I saw waves. And even a couple surfers, but not crowded at all.

So I grabbed my board, ran out, left my flip flops right on the beach like all the other guys there (no one steals ANYTHING in Japan, apparently… one guy even left his cellphone there)… and started surfing.

It was a little mushy, it wasn’t a huge day, or as epic as they say it is normally there, but it was a great vibe and I had a blast surfing in Japan.

After a few hours I came back to the shop and they even had a little indoors shower for me. Awesome!

I hung out with my new girl friend and we talked about Japan, about Canada, and about surfing. What a different life. So strange to see someone just like me, living the same dream as me but on the other side of the world.

We went down to the bar to have a drink, and only after I had ordered it did I realize that I had spent every single yen I had on the train and the rentals. I had nothing to my name, and they didn’t accept cards anywhere there. So my new friend talked to the manager and he was nice enough to comp my drink and even offer me food if I wanted. I took lots of pictures together with my new friends.

She even offered to give me a lift back to the station… and no matter how many times I declined, she insisted. So I got a ride all the way back to the station in town. What a sweetie. I can never thank her enough. I gave her my card and told her to call me when she visits Canada one day.

Back on the train, the sun is setting and I’m driving by all sorts of sights I didn’t notice on the way there. The tankers, the ships, the ports… even Disneyland!

We went right by a giant Ferris Wheel too.

Finally back in the city I’m craving some food, so I stop by the very busy Shibuya station to get some ice cream from the Stone Cold Creamery. I wait in line, listen to them sing old 50s tunes while sculpting and mixing toppings and ice cream on a ice cold stone slap. A delicious way to end the day.

Surfing in Japan. I’ll never forget it!

Here’s a map for reference:

As I’ve been mentioning, this year I’m planning to shoot a full-length feature snowboarding movie with some friends. Will it be shot with 10 thousand dollar video cameras? No. Will it feature professional riders? No. Will it be sponsored? Nope.

But it will be fun.

The first step is, of course, is for us to plan out what we want in the movie. We brainstormed some ideas for themes, visuals, titles, sequences and more. The premise is starting to shape up a bit… it’ll poke fun at snowboard movies with huge sponsors and product placement… and show a group of friends who aren’t pro riders and can’t spend every day riding… but are people who are just like you and me, and still live and breathe snowboarding and the outdoors. It’ll profile each rider, why they snowboard, and some of the activities they do in their every day lives. And it’ll feature Vancouver and the West Coast… and why we love the BC mountains so much. And it may even feature some exotic locations. It’s still up for debate. Oh — and it’ll have a killer soundtrack.

Allan has also been working on some storyboards. I think they are turning out fantastic so far. These are for the opening sequence. It’ll make more sense soon.

In other news, I picked out the Burton Zoom 28L camera bag/backpack as a belated Birthday gift from Allan. I think it is rad. It’s got fully protected slots for my camera and soon-to-be-acquired HD video camera. It’s got a vertical snowboard carrier, a spot for a shovel and ice pick, and a thermal pocket to keep batteries at their maximum life. Not to mention all sorts of other features.

I’m in love with it. It’s going to make shooting while riding much, much easier.

I’ve also been walking around in my snowboard boots for the past couple days and will continue to do so until Thursday. Gotta break ‘em in again. Yes — Thursday I’ll be up at Whistler for Opening Day. WOOHOO! Only 4 days left.

In other news, Canucks Captain Robert Luongo got injured today. Argh! Let’s hope our streak can continue without our star goalie.