Back in the carpark after 5 hours snowboarding!
17th February 2007
Unexpectedly I was surprised when I looked out the window to find that a few centimetres of snow had settled on the ground, the trees and my car. A short while later I could hear the lady next door removing the snow off the drive way with a shovel. Naomi and I woke up and decided that we would go out to Nekoyama Snow Resort for a few hours! The sun was trying to come out from the behind the clouds. We set off from home and drove to the ski resort. Half way there the black tarmac turned into a white solid sheet of white snow and the clouds were darker and there was no sign of snow. Eventually we found ourselves driving with heavy snow falling with almost 0% visibility and unable to see where the road as everything was white! I started to feel sick from concentrating on not slipping and crashing into the railing on the side. The snow on the windscreen started freezing up but we made it safely to the ski resort. We bought a 4 hour ski pass and started snowboarding pretty much straight away! There were heaps of people there making the wait in the queue a long one. With people sitting resting and chatting in groups on the slope and trying to avoid collisions, it made it difficult to enjoy a decent run at times. I collided with Naomi for the first time at a fairly high speed but managed to reduce the impact and avoid breaking any bones!
It was time to go home and we walked back to the car. With the amount of snow that fell while we were snowboarding I was worried about the journey back. Anyway those worries became reality and after removing the snow from the windscreen and packing the gear back in the car I put the car into 1st gear and tried to move forward only to find after moving less than a half a metre that my car was bogged in the snow! I only have front wheel drive. Naomi and I got out and move the snow from around the tyres and I tried to move again with no luck. The wheels were spinning but the car wasn't moving!! A guy who was nearby came to our aid and we pushed the car while Naomi manoeuvred the car. It took a couple of tries but we got the car out and started our journey back. The visibility on the way back was quite poor and we were driving on snow half of the way but once arriving back in Tojo, the snow had disappeared and the sun was out. It is amazing how two places only 30km apart one being 300m above sea level and the other 800m, can be affected so differently by the weather.
As I write this it is 8:10pm and a few centimetres has already settled again on the ground. I have parked the car down the drive way and I am sure that the neighbour will be out bright and early with the shovel to remove the snow once again.
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