After about a week of raging hail and rain we are blessed with a beautiful clean sky. The sunset today was spectacular, casting an warm orange hue as it lowered into the horizon. Me and Hiroko spent some time watching the sunset and admiring God's beauty after the storm. At night we went down to the ARC and did some climbing. Nothing like climbing to finish off the day.


Glow of the Sunset


Hiroko Otsuka dailing out the roof problem.

This weekend was spent ski/snowboarding down the slopes of California's famous Mammoth Mountain. Though we spent much time driving with little sleep during the nights we had a blast. The snow conditions were perfect. Okay, well, almost perfect. Soft powder down most of the runs and the weather was sunny with a slight breeze. I haven't been snowboarding for too long, only 4 times to be exact, but I feel like I'm getting pretty good. I unknowingly road down a diamond with grace and speed. So after a saturday of snowboarding, we decided to go down to Mt High to go boarding. To make the long story short. We made it down to Mt. High.. found out they were closed. Turned around, but decided to wait out the 10 mile traffic line. Cruised down.. land slide.. big long detour. Then got home. Oh almost forgot to mention getting stuck in the snow while leaving mammoth. ... over all GREAT WEEKEND. I truely want to thank God for keeping us safe and blessing us with such a great weekend.


At the Summit for Mammoth Mountain (Me, Hiroko Otsuka, Kenny Hsieh, Ernest Quim.)


Hiroko Otsuka Riding Down the Cornice Bowl a Diamond Run


Me Jumping into the Snow.


Getting Towed Out.


Taken After Removing Then re-installing the chains. (Ernest Quim., Hiroko Otsuka, Me, Kenny Hsieh)


Into Grizzly Cafe ( Hiroko Otsuka, Kenny & Ernest)

I thought that that I was going to have to wait for Hiroko like i did last time we went snowboarding. Boy was I wrong. This time armed with a pair of skis Hiroko flew down the mountain with speed and agility. She said she skied when she was very young and that she kind of remembers, but she never mentioned that she is really good at it. Though it was odd to be the slower one for a change, I was really proud of Hiroko. My Hiroko Otsuka, the fast and sexy skier. We had a good time at mountain high.


Hiroko Otsuka readjusting her brand new boots.


West Resort - Me and Hiroko Otsuka


The Lift ride up on West Resort

We scheduled to meet and leave the Commune at 7:00 PM. Start hiking by 8:00. Reach Ski Hut by 9:30. Sleep till 4:00AM and start the climb. That will give us a total of 6.5 hrs of sleep. Of course those schedules were way off what actually happened. We didn't leave till 10. Got to Ski Hut at 1AM. and only had 3.5 hours of sleep. Ty, Peter and I, stumbled out of the cabin at about 4:20am. We started our short hike to the Baldy Bowl. When we reached our destination we started to gear up for our ascent of Mt Baldy via Baldy Bowl. To Ty and our surprise he forgot to pack his crampons. Since the Bowl gets as steep at 50 degrees near the top there is no way he is doing this with out crampons. He turned around and headed back towards the cabin. A bit bummed about the situation and a bit happy that he will be getting some extra sleep. Me and Peter start climbing. The climb is fairly straight forward, climbing straight for the top. At first we had some steps other people have made the previous day to use as stairs, but as we got higher they were washed out by signs of avalanche. As we ascended high the winds started to pick up. Snow and chunks of ice pelted at us by the wind. When we reached the first sign of the rock gullies we taught we were near the top. We had another 1.5 hrs till sunrise, so we decided to dig ourselves a little shelter to hide from the wind and rest. We didn't want to make it to the summit and wait in the high winds up there. What we didn't realize is that we were not even close to the top. We sat there to watch the sun peak up behind the mountains. Then we started climbing again. As we got even higher the winds became stronger and harsher. It was strong enough to pick me off my feet a couple times. I spend much of my energy trying to stay planted to the ground, dodging ice, and walking/climbing straight. I was so cold my the water in my bottle started freezing. When we reached summit i was tired. We quickly grabbed a picture and headed down. We tried glissading (sliding down). It wasn't as fun as we thought it would be. It hurts the butt. Got back.. Now I feel accomplished. However I now have a fever, sore throat and stuffy/runny nose i need to rest up.


Me (Mark Hsieh) and Peter Franz in the shelter we dug out.


The sun rising behind the mountains: our view from our dug out ledge.


Me in our shelter. You can get a idea how steep the climb was in this picture.


Random shot with stuff in air. It was cold.


Peter Franz and I at summit.


Decent. Peter Franz

Spending my New Years - 正月 (shogatsu) in Japan was a cultural experience which I enjoyed. There a few differences that make it very different from the American New Years and the Chinese New Years. However the most profound difference is that, in Japan, they don't holler and hoot, and count down from 10 to New Years. The last 15 minutes are spent in a calm atmosphere talking among family and friends, while listening to meditative resonating sounds from temple bells around Japan broadcast on television. One New Year comes around everyone greets their friends with "Happy New Years". In asian cultures food is a big part of any holiday so we had special New Years food. We had New Years brunch on the first with Hiroko's Dad's side and on the second we went to her Mom's side of the family to have New Years dinner. During New year nearly all shops are closed. However on the first many of the big department stores and some of the small stores open up for one of the biggest shopping events of the year. Fukubukuro is what they call it in Japanese, I call it the mystery bag. At many shop, including bakeries, they have a limited amount of these mystery bags. The concept is that you buy these mystery bags not knowing what is inside. Most clothing store bags run at about $100 US and people will buy many of them. Groceries will often have bags of different value. It was like buying gifts for yourself. You don't know what you'll get but you know its from a certain store and you like there stuff. The scary thing is that you might get something that you don't like, don't fit, or you already have. The good side is that normally you'll get much more that what you paid for. Lets just say I can't believe how much stuff we bought and not know what is inside each bag. Now I'm back in American and can't wait till I go back in May. People ask me, "what was the best part of my trip to Japan?" well i must say, that it was meeting Hiroko's family and friends.


I did not know a single thing in the bags i bought.


Hiroko Otsuka's Dad and Sister


Ebisu subway station


Rappongi Escalators


Entrance into Rappongi restaurant area.


Huge Spider Outside Tokyo Modern Art Museum At Rappongi


Hurry Pee - Dad waiting for Fio to unload.


First Sunrise I saw this year in the US.