Snowy Grave (雪景色のお墓)

Took this while wandering around a small temple in Nagano at New Years.
正月に、長野の小さな寺でうるうろしてた時にこれを撮った。

More from the Northern Alps (アルプス)

Snow Monkeys (温泉に入る日本猿)

Last year I wrote about the snow monkeys in Nagano Prefecture. Well I went there again a couple of weeks ago. What an amazing place. The monkeys just love the hot springs.

去年長野県の温泉に入る猿について書いた。この前、また行った。本当にすごぃところで、温泉を浴びてる猿を見るのが面白い。

Northern Alps Sunrise (北アルプスサンライズ)

New Years in the Snow （雪の正月）

We spent a couple of weeks in Hakuba (Nagano Winter Olympics 1998), and got some great photo opportunities. The mountains really are beautiful in the mist and snow.
今年の正月は白馬で過ごした。そんなに奇麗な景色では良い写真いっぱい撮れる。雪と山と霧はすごくきれい。

Know your equipment! 知識

I was just thinking about a hike I took up one of the peaks in the Japan Alps with some friends last new years. We hiked a few hours up the snow covered mountain, to get about 10 to 15 minutes of fun riding down a sweet gully, and a further hour or so back out down to the top of the resort we had hiked out of. It a was tough hike up for me without any snowshoes, and with a board strapped to my back I was fairly knackered by the time we reached the top. I had packed my dslr into my pack and planned to take some pics, but when we finally got to the top, my camera wouldn't work. I kept getting the Error signal. Shit! It was bloody cold up there at that point, and all I could think of was that the cold was shutting my dslr down (I had had this happen with a smaller point-and-shoot camera). So I grudgingly packed the camera away and came back with no shots of the scenery or the riding action. I was bummed. Anyway, back at my mate's lodge, I pulled the camera out, just to find the same error. After a few minutes of fiddling (and worrying) I realized that the lense had been unlocked slightly and was no longer set to the auto f-stop position. Maybe the cold affected my thinking up on the mountain, but I sure won't make that mistake and miss a chance for some great shots again...

去年、友達とバックカントリースキーを楽しむために雪山ハイキングに行った。3時間のハイキングの末、ようやく目的地に到着。意気揚々とカメラを取り出したが、ハプニング発生！！カメラが動かない。。。エラーの表示。。。寒さのせいか？？？結局、原因は、寒さとは関係なくレンズが基本の位置から少しだけズレていただけだった。バックカントリースキーは、とても楽しかったが、写真が1枚も撮れなかったのは、今でもすこし悔いが残る。。。

Here is a pic I snapped from my mobile phone before we hit the gully. Checking the snow layers for avalanche risk.　かろうじて携帯で撮れた1枚「なだれを防ぐためのチェック」

Snow and Huge Mountains (雪山)

There is nothing quite like the stoke of getting into big mountains in the middle of winter when they are covered with massive amounts of snow. Every year my mates and I head to Nagano, home of the 1998 winter olympics, and spend a few weeks snowboarding and skiing. A mate owns a lodge in Hakuba (the olympic village) and it makes a great base to hit the many resorts and back country in the area. This picture brings back a lot of great memories for me. The mountains are really impressive! Most people don't realize just what Japan has to offer by way of snow, but there is a lot of awesome terrain and snow to be had. Check out the Snow Japan link on the right for a glimpse of what can be found. Or have a look at my Snow in Hakuba gallery on my website at http://giphsub.smugmug.com/ for more pics like these of the snow in Hakuba.

これは長野県白馬村から撮った写真だ。長野県の雪山は凄く奇麗で何回見ても感動する。この写真見たらまたボード行きたい！

Which ones are the monkeys??

In January I went to Nagano for my annual snowboarding trip with a bunch of friends. Maybe you have heard of the snow monkeys in Japan. They took over an onsen (hot spring) area years ago and have since become quite a tourist drawcard. You often see pictures of them sitting in the hot springs with snow piling up on their heads! Anyway, being so close to Hakuba, where we were staying, we decided to head on over and take a look. It is something I had wanted to do for years but had never had the chance. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and not snowing at all - Japan had a shocking snow season this last winter - but the little critters didn't disappoint! My mate and I followed the little monkeys all over the place. They were totally unafraid of the humans invading their space. It was amazing watching them getting in and out of the onsens, and I would highly recommend a trip to Jigokutani onsen near the Shiga Kogen ski resorts if you are ever anywhere near Nagano Prefecture in Japan. While my mate and I were fascinated with the monkeys, it seems that my girlfriend was fascinated with the monkeys taking pictures of the monkeys!