A Good Weekend

On Saturday morning, Angelica and I left the house early to try snowboarding for the first time. It was a blast! I can't believe I never tried this before. I wish I would have gotten some pics of myself snowboarding, but frankly, I was too fast for the camera.

You know you're getting old when you try to take pics of yourself having a good time and you look like this.

Saturday afternoon, I finally took a shot at the rockclimbing wall on base. I made it up the easy pitch twice before my hands and forearms started burning so bad I couln't make it again.

On Sunday, we took another trip up to Lake Towada. You really have to check this place out during each different season to appreciate all the scenery. This is Helen standing with her class's stuffed animal, Greta. Each weekend, a different kid takes it home and writes in a journal about where they took Greta.

When will backpacking season ever get here?

Sitting around waiting for spring so I can hit the trail and sleep under the stars, I decided to see if I've accomplished my winter task of building a lightweight backpacking list.

I made a spreadsheet using advertised weights of all my gear and made my goal to have a pack weighing under 13 pounds before adding food, water, and fuel. Here's my list...


Gear
Clothes
Extra Socks (3.77 oz)
Thermal Top (4.83 oz)
Thermal Bottom (5.11 oz)
R1 Bottoms (8 oz)
Gloves (2 oz)
Cap (3 oz)
Patagonia R2 (14.8 oz)
Poncho/Tarp (10 oz)
Subtotal for Clothes (51.51 oz)

Sleeping
Stakes (10 oz)
Guylines (2 oz)
REI Bivy (17.6 oz)
Sleeping Bag 32deg (34 oz)
Sleeping Pad (7 oz)
Subtotal for Sleeping (10.6 oz)

Packing
Backpack (32 oz)
Stuff Sacks (4 oz)
Subtotal for Packing (36 oz)

Cooking & Water
PocketRocket Stove + 1 can fuel (3.2 oz)
Coffee Cup (2 oz)
1-liter Platypus Bottle x 2 (2 oz)
Pan (4 oz)
Water Filter (11 oz)
Subtotal for Cooking/Water (22.2 oz)

Other essentials
First Aid Kit, etc (6 oz)
Headlamp, compass, etc (10 oz)
MaxiDeet (2.4 oz)

Total -- 12.27 lbs

All my gear (except food, water, and my sleeping pad).
This is my food preparation gear. A titanium pot, a titanium mug, a water filter, an MSR Pocket Rocket stove, and a can of fuel. I've read tons of arguments on the best lightweight silverware whether it be titanium or lexar. I think they're all wrong and the the asians got it right...chopsticks!

This is my sleeping set up minus my sleeping pad. Basically, a 32-degree bag, a GoLite Tarp/Poncho, an REI Minimalist Bivy, some rope, and some stakes.

This is the REI Minimalist Bivy. Basically, its a waterproof bag that wraps around your sleeping bag.

This is what the GoLite Poncho/Tarp is supposed to look like set up. I'm waiting for the snow to melt so I can practice setting it up.

I packed it all in and put it on the scale at work.

And, voila! Under 13 pounds before food and water!

Tokyo

I made my first trip to Tokyo over the weekend to pick up Rose's mom. I rode the bullet train which was fairly exciting. While it didn't feel very fast from the inside, we went about 450 miles in 3 hours. Once exiting the train at the Tokyo station, you enter what feels like a small underground city full of restaraurants and shops. It took me 30 minutes to find an exit to the ground level.

Once on ground level, I was reminded that I really don't like big cities. Its kind of claustrophobic. I didn't dress warm as well, so I was kind of miserable walking around.

A short walk from the train station is the Imperial Palace. Its a huge complex surrounded by moats.

A house located inside the Imperial Palace garden.

The city is apparently "smork" free as there were signs like this everywhere to include carved into the sidewalks.

Japan is well known for the many electrical gadgets and fine automobiles it exports, but it is often overlooked on its advances in the field of high-tech toilets. The highlight of my trip was being able to take this little beauty for a test drive. The first feature I noticed was a perfectly heated seat...definitely a "warm" welcome in from the cold.

The control panel was conveniently located on the right side as I am right-handed, but I wondered if a left-handed user may have some trouble. Perhaps a swiveling control panel could be designed to accomodate other users. I particularly liked the adjustable water pressure. I toyed around with it for awhile and it was functional at all pressure levels, but I found that I fancied medium the best. Another thing I would change is perhaps an adjustable deodorizer. With this particular seat, you only had the choice of "Powerful Deoderizer On" or "Powerful Deoderizer Off". Some days require more deoderizer than others. Lastly, it had the energy saver function. What else would you expect from the country who brought you the Kyoto Protocol?

The Beach in January

Well, it had been a couple of weeks since we posted anything on the blog, so Angelica and I decided to go out and take some pics. We both decided it would be pretty cool to see snow on the beach.

So, we hopped in the trusty Suburu and headed out. I don't think I've posted anything on my car, but I love that thing...all-wheel-drive and good gas mileage. I know Buz loved his little Impreza and now I know why. When I'm driving it, I feel like it can take me anywhere. As an additional bonus, it will fit in most parking spaces. Whenever we get back to the states, I think I'll buy another one.

Near the beach, there was a nice little wooded area which looked worthy of a pic.

And...the beach! I've seen the beach and I've seen snow...now, I've seen them both together! OK, it wasn't quite as cool as we anticipated, but it made for a nice morning. Angelica got to try out her new snow shoes too (not that she really needed them there).

Hakkoda-San Snowshoeing

Me and Dan went snowshoeing up in the Hakkoda Mountains over the weekend. It seemed easy enough...a 2.5 mile hike up to Sennentai Cabin for the night.

The first part of the hike was through a heavily wooded area. We just followed some cross-country skiers' tracks.

We left the wooded area and found ourselves in a big frozen river bed. It was beautiful at first, but then the wind picked up and the visibility quickly dropped to less than a hundred feet.

At the top of the river bed, there was what looked like a vast frozen wasteland. On a sunny day, I'm sure its quite a sight, but on my first trip in an unfamiliar place, the wicked wind chill and the low visibility made it a rather daunting place. I don't know how tall these pine trees were, but judging from the height of other trees further down the mountain, we guess the snow to be near 30 feet deep. It would be an easy place to get into some trouble.

At last, we found a row of long bamboo poles stuck in the snow which led us to refuge.

The cabin was already being warmed up by some Japanese cross-country skiers. We warmed up and ate some chow...then went outside to "look around" a bit.

Warmed up with a full stomach and knowing where the cabin lies gave us some comfort of mind to go explore a little bit. Unfortunately, the visibility was still too low for us to wander off too far.

The cabin we stayed at was called Sennentai Cabin. It was built in the 1980's by local enthusiasts. Anyone is welcome to stay as long as they share the space with anyone else who may be staying there. The cabin is basically an open room with three levels of bunks. I guess that it would sleep 15-20 fairly comfortably. It has two large kerosene stoves for public use. When Dan and I arrived, there were 6 or 7 old Japanese men already staying there. Although they spoke pretty much no english, they were friendly and hospitable. Judging from their knowledge of the facility, I think they may be part of the group that built the cabin. Throughout the day, they were busy installing new bamboo trail markers and replenishing supplies in a room located below the main cabin.

Me with Shojiabo on the right and Jimol Hanga on the left. Shojiabo was being very generous with his Sake and Jimol Hanga was doing his best at communicating with us as he knew the most English out of the bunch. All of the Japanese men were incredibly friendly and helped us out with the basic tasks of staying in the cabin (i.e. melting snow for drinking water!). I hope I run into them on future trips.

There was a sulfur field at the bottom near the end of the hike with steam coming out of it (the Hakkoda mountains were formed by volcanoes).

Overall, it was an exciting trip. Being my first winter hiking trip, I did come up with some "Lessons Learned."

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't use Camelbak bladders...the tubes freeze and you're left without water until you find a place to thaw out.

2. When using a new camping stove, make sure you test it fully prior to the hike. I have a new Coleman Fyrestorm Ti stove which I decided to use for the first time. It uses an inverted butane canister. I couldn't find the recommended Coleman butane, so I used another brand. It worked fine for a few seconds, but then the butane valve suddenly froze over and started leaking butane. The ensuing fireball scared the crap out of everyone and nearly lit one of our Japanese hosts' ass on fire.

3. Gear that works fine for years will not necessarily work as well in the snow. My trusty Magellan GPS's clip holder got ice jammed in it and broke when I tried to stow my GPS. My trusty Mountainsmith walking sticks were a total failure. The snow disk fell off of one rendering it useless...it is now simply a long stick which completely sinks in the snow. My other stick got ice jammed in the locking mechanism and kept collapsing on me.

4. You need tinted goggles...but not those ones you got free from military issue for Middle East sand storms. Goggles keep your eyes from freezing and prevent snow-blindness. Good ones won't fog over.

5. Bring more bourbon!

Sledding!

I took the kids sledding today. We had enough snow to cover the slope beneath our base "ski lodge" overlooking Lake Ogawara.

Schichinohe Orphanage

Me and the kids spent last Saturday on a unit visit to a local orphanage. It was quite an emotional experience for many of the Americans who had never been on an orphanage.

Most of the children were disabled. Here, they are performing a song for us in sign language.

We cooked some dogs for them.

Chowin' down.

Santa wasn't able to get down here for the visit, but luckily, his second cousin, Tyrone, was able to fly in from Atlanta.

Each child was sponsored by a member of my unit so they all received a gift.