Welcome to Peak Leaders

Japan – BASI Level 1 Results
29/01/2010

Short and Sweet. - 100% success rate at BASI Level 1 for our first Japan instructor course. Well done everyone and thanks to Rob for delivering such a successfull Level 1. Check back soon for updates on the celebrations this weekend...

Japan – Night Boarding, Kobe Steak, Australia Day and BASI Level 1
27/01/2010

What a week it has been! We finished off Week 1 with a plush Kobe steak dinner on Friday night at a local pension, with a teppanyaki restaurant. They say a picture tells a thousand words, so I'll let them give you an idea of the evening!

And the steaks were THIS big!

We all ate our weight in steaks, salads, stir fries. Trying to walk home after consuming that volume of food...well it took a while.

The group had a chilled out weekend, practising their moves from the week before in preparation for the Level 1.

Everyone has just completed their first teaching session as part of their BASI Level 1. It couldn't have been a better day, bluebird, in fact with empty pistes. Ideal. 2 days to go until results time and everyone is looking strong. Happy Days.

Dave teaching the basic turn below.

Rob taking notes for marking as the group give their demos.

Marty below putting the group through their paces with the standard turn.

A bit of lunch and time to work on the tan!

Marty catching some rays...You don't get this brown in Manchester!

Sundip looking the part...

Sara chilling in the sun at lunch

Everyone has got the hang of the Japanese pose

Great photo of the team above.

Back to the Hotel Windsor for the day's lecture and for video analysis and feedback.

It was Australia Day yesterday and also the hotel owners' birthday. Every Aussie that resides in Myoko was in the hotel bar for beer and vegimite sandwiches. The hotel owners showed them how it's done!

And to celebrate Inoue-San's b'day, we surprised him with a cake and a rendition of 'Happy Birthday!'

At Akakura Onsen, you can go night boarding. They open one piste and the park. It was pretty epic. Empty and a unique experience. Highly recommended. The lifts close from 4.30-5pm whilst the lifties change shift, then you are good to go until 9pm. Who needs European apres-ski, when you can do this instead?!

The main chair at 5pm - empty :) (Below)

The piste and park ready to go.

The park at Onsen is a bit like a slopestyle - box and rail, then kicker or quarter pipe, then another kicker, box, rail then kicker to finish...then back up in the chair, then repeat until time for a beer.

And just another wee reminder below about the perfect parks here. Wish you were here?!

Japan – Perfect Parks
22/01/2010

We've now ridden all 3 mountains. All are epic, but the one thing that stands out is the quality and quantity of their snowparks. The kickers are perfectly shaped, with good transitions and progressions catering for all standards of rider. In one of the parks I counted over 30 features! And that was not the only park on the mountain. Rob has had the group practising grabs and 50/50s on the boxes.

Wa doko desu ka kooen? (Which way to the park?!!)

1 of 30 features in the park. Absolutely ideal. Below is a local rider showing how it should be done. Check out the view.

Rob below.

Unlike Europe, eating lunch on the mountain is relatively inexpensive, and a bit of an experience in itself. In some places you have to go to a ticket machine (looks like something you'd use to buy a ticket in a car park) put in your money and pick your dish, then take it to the cashier. No one's picked any howlers yet...the favourite has been octopus balls.

We've all been blown away by the Japanese hospitality here in Myoko. Shimosan, one of the hotel owners treated us to a drumming show; she wasn't content until the whole group had a go with her. We discovered a tiny underground bar yesterday serving local beer, sours and delicious home cooked food.

Our friendly barman!

Joe is a happy man with his beer.

The guys (and girl) have already been a bit of a hit in town with their karaoke singing -  Bon Jovi and other 90s rockers...but the Sara stole the scene with her rendition of Maggie May and James Brown. She'll have agents lining up soon!

Marty and Sara discovered a late night snack on the way home. A hot fountain with hardboiled eggs. Fish out your egg, shell it, eat it. There's even a little salt pot. Who need Maccy D's when you have this for 70 yen?

Japan – Arriving to 2.5 metres snow
18/01/2010

We all made it to Tokyo Airport, coming from all the corners of the globe. LA, Sydney, Milton Keynes and Verbier! The hotel owner Inoue-San picked us all up in his little mini bus - a little tight with bodies and snowboard bags, but 4 hours later we arrived to just a little bit of snow...

We received a warm welcome, amazing katsu curry dinner, couple of Asahi beers then off to bed (aside from those that had a couple of cheeky Santori whiskies to toast the arrival.)

Day 1. Woke up to this view this morning. Not bad!?

We've been so lucky so far. The first day of coaching was at Myoko Ikenotaira, which is a 5 min bus ride from the hotel Windsor. Amazing. Huge open runs, empty, tons of powder and 3 parks. Could not really ask for more. Oh and delicious japanese food at lunch for £4. Happy days.

The group at the bottom of the main lift station at Ikenotaira. The only other people on the mountain were a few Japanese school kids, and the Japanese army. Interesting ratio of 1 instructor to about 80 soldiers!

Empty treelined runs. If you venture off piste to the right of this photo, there's a hole in the snow, with a hot springs in it.

Day 1 coaching with Rob.

The most amazing views from every run.

Day 1...Done.