Sapporo landscape this morning.
Sidewalk not exactly suitable for walking.
First thing I said as I looked out of the window in the morning was, “dark!” Stormy, snowy start of the day. But somehow, I like the scenery with raging snow like this.
This year I haven’t been wearing gloves often. The temperature is only as low as minus 10 deg.C, and there isn’t much problem in walking and bike riding with bare hands since I’m not out for a very long time anyway. Well the primary influence is Yasushi Yamanoi, who once climbed K2 without wearing gloves for the most part.
Few may recognize his name, but Yamanoi is one of the world’s most extreme alpine climbers hailing from Japan. One of the most outstanding stories of his quests is when he survived a near fatal condition in a mountain called Gyachung Kang, near Mt. Everest, in 2002. I’ve been a secret fan of his since then, although it is a shame that I can’t quite understand the whole of his awesomeness due to my limited mountaineering experience, the harshest of which is probably when I just walked around atop the ski hill of Happoone wielding an ice axe.
I’m planning to seriously play on my bike in snow. I just can’t stop the undefined excitement I get when I see fluffy piles in weird shapes. This may be what people call stupidity, or Peter Pan Syndrome. Or it may be called passion, or it may be closely linked to the word motivation. Not to confirm it, nor to analyze it, I just wish to throw myself in it and feel it with my whole body.