Japan - Fuji Rock 2010 - Day Two

Day two of Fuji Rock. The weather forecast was looking better, but it was still pretty cloudy.

Third Eye Blind on the White Stage

Third Eye Blind on the White Stage

John Fogerty on the main stage. I have never liked Creedence Clearwater Revival so it was time to find another band to listen to.

I ended up at the White Stage where Japanese rock band The Cro-Magnons was playing. They were not awesome, but better then John Fogerty.

The Cro-Magnons

Fishbone on the Red Marquee Stage

Fishbone on the Red Marquee Stage

I was planning to stay for Flogging Molly playing at 9:30, but the rain finally showed up. The rain combined with still being a little jet-lagged made me decide to head back to the condo I was staying at for a soak in the onsen and a good nights sleep.

Japan - Fuji Rock 2010 - Day One

I've made it to Fuji Rock!

The line from to catch the shuttle bus from the train station is not too bad this year, only about 10 minutes, much better then the crazy long line from last year.

Arriving at Fuji Rock. The weather is a bit overcast and cloudy, but not too bad.

Panorama of the main stage. For the bigger bands this whole area is packed with people.

A one man band. One of the cool things a Fuji Rock is some of the smaller stages and performers scattered around.

The rain has come.

Rain, rain go away!

Some mosh pit action for Ken Yokoyama at the main stage.

Flaming Ninja?

Them Crooked Vultures on the main stage. They were not doing anything for me, so time to wander around and see who else is playing.

Broken Social Scene on the Red Marquee Stage. They seemed to be trying to see how many people they could squeeze onto the stage.

Muse, time for the main band of the day.

Muse put on a really great show.

Japan - I'm heading to Japan

I'm heading back to Japan to go to the Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic music festivals and then to hang out for a couple of weeks.

Flying United this trip. This trip is a little different because instead of flying directly to Tokyo from LAX, I'm flying to San Francisco, switching planes and then flying to Tokyo. Coming back I fly directly to LAX.

The Jet had a flat tire that they were changing before we boarded. I wonder if they have AAA roadside assistance?

California - Stars Time Lapse

California - Skiing the 4th of July Weekend - Monday

The last day of the ski season.

Me at the top of Mammoth. During the winter, this sign can be completely buried with snow

There was still a small terrain park

4 rails and a medium kicker with a smaller kicker next to it

This photo is just sad. It's the last day for skiing and these guys would rather work on their tan. Even worse is where's the ladies?

At the end of the day everyone gathers at the top of the mountain for for an end of the year party/snowball fight.

Approaching the top of the mountain at the end of the day. The crowd is attacking the gondolas with snowballs

The crowd gathering at the top of the mountain for a season end party/snowball fight

Snowball fight in slow motion

After skiing I went for a soak in one of the natural hot springs around Mammoth

California - Skiing the 4th of July Weekend - Sunday

Happy 4th of July!

I after returning from Canada I decided to go up to Mammoth Mountain for their last weekend of skiing for the season. I was originally planning to drive up Saturday so that I could ski Sunday and Monday, but I was still tired from my Canada trip so I decided to go to stay in LA on Saturday and then get up early Sunday morning and make the drive up to Mammoth. Sunday morning I was still moving a bit slowly and didn't get on the road until 5:30. But I still managed to get to Mammoth and hit the slopes by 11:00 for a couple hours of skiing.

It was amazing how much snow had melted since I was here two weeks ago. The bottom of the mountain was pretty much all melted with only small snow paths made by the snowcats to get to the lift. But once you got to the top of the mountain there was quite a bit of snow. There were two chairlifts and the gondola running.

July 4th and still skiing

There was lots of snow on top of the mountain, but getting to the bottom was a little trickier

I think this guy made a wrong turn and ran out snow

Bikinis and Bikes

This guy was having a good time

Lately I've been trying to shoot time lapse movies of the stars. So after skiing I decided to find a good location where I could camp out and set my camera up. I ended finding a spot in the mountains above Bishop that gave me a nice view of the Owens Valley, Bishop and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

My camp for the night

The stars above Bishop

Canada - Momentum Ski Camp - Day 7

It's Canada Day!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good on the glacier for the last day of camp, it was raining and snowing with bad visibility. And even worse then weather was that my legs had turned into wet noodles, all of the skiing and mountain biking had finally caught up to me. So I skied for a little while, but decided that it was better to quit early before I hurt myself.

Jeff really enjoyed the air-bag

To get to the glacier at the top of the mountain where the ski camp terrain park is located was a bit work each day. We would have to take one chairlift, then walk about 100 feet to another chairlift. At the top of that chairlift we would get on a but that would drive us around the mountain to where we would get on a third chair lift to the top of the mountain. The whole process took about 45 minutes. But one of the cool things about riding the lower chairlifts was that we would almost always see bears and sometimes deer.