Wheee!

I finally got a few hours in of night skiing last night. It was good, nice and soft! Even though the hills here aren't that steep and it's hard to plow through 3 feet of heavy-ish snow at slow speeds, I can always find some pockets where the locals are afraid to go, where I can link a few turns together in untouched powder. There were a few moments where I was so blinded by snow flying over my face, I didn't know up from down. And it was snowing so hard, all I had to do was open my mouth to keep hydrated.

The snow is cool and all, and although people gripe about it being a pain in the butt, it really is dangerous. People are constantly injured or killed trying to clear snow from roofs and roads. I know people here in Tokamachi who have lost close family members just from trying to deal with the snow, and when we are clearing snow today at school a teacher fell off the roof but he was OK. Here's an ABC story about the snow this year and some of the problems... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1477091

Mom wanted snow pics...check it out