No Friends On Powder Days

Moiwa, Niseko.

Part 1: No friends on Powder Days.

I stopped to listen, but all I heard was silence, the sound of my own heavy breathing, and a nagging in the back of my brain saying I am fuxxked. I was fuxxked. I saw a river a little further below me, and recalled Julian telling me just before we split that one needs to be careful of valleys and rivers in this area. I dared not go any lower. I had followed these skiers tracks, but that doesn't mean they weren't also fuxxked, but they're also now long gone. I checked Google maps on my phone - I was well and truly way outside of the ski area. In the middle of nowhere. Below me a river. Fuxxed.

Thankfully I had the backpack, full of water, food, charger and an extra layer. But that was more for peace of mind, and extra support - I wasn't in real danger, unless there were bears around. And more importantly, for cell phone signal. I sent the group chat a googlemap screenshot of my location, while at the same time venting my anger (at myself) in text message form, and got reassuring messages back. Thank God for friends who cared. 

What I was upset about was how I ended up in this situation, how stupid I had been to follow random skier tracks, to not have familiarized myself with the trail map beforehand. The sense of regret of having only done one run before getting myself into this shit was heavy, as well as the overwhelming sense of loneliness, and tears welled up several times under that weight. 

Walking through powder in snowboard boots while carrying a snowboard is not one of my favourite activities. But snowboards come in handy in order to climb uphill to avoid falling into the river. 

After about an hour, several Googlemap checks, and wanting to metaphorically strangle myself for such stupidity, I finally got back to civilisation - a quiet road with a few hotels along it. Another 15 minutes walk I was back at the ski resort. Drenched in sweat, snow and shame. 

I had goggles on so my friends couldn't see me tear up when I saw them after my little walk in the woods. 

Part 2: Trailblazer

After a couple runs back on the slopes, we were back indoors de-icing our neck-warmers and goggles and filling our stomachs with greasy noodles. 

Stomachs filled, jackets dried, but still no sign of the boys. It's been almost two hours since we last saw them or heard from them. Then a screenshot came. Almost the exact screenshot I had sent earlier when I was stuck in the woods, but from the boys. "We are here lol". WTF!?

They had ended up in the same exact spot as I did! Chimaki and I were in tears and almost on the floor in the middle of the floor laughing and crying and dying from laughter. I feel bad for saying this but I was kinda happy and found it hilarious they ended up there, and didn't feel an ounce of bad for them at all at that time. The difference between us and me was they were 5, whereas I was alone.

Moreover, there were people just as stupid as me! 

I suppose that's why we are friends :D

FML