The day after skiing the northeast face of Shirouma promised for optimal weather. We decided it was time for round two. Burning the candle at both ends with these long days, I couldn’t help but allow ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’ to creep into my head while walking in the dark. Sunrise couldn’t have come soon enough. Shirouma Central starts beneath the large cliff off the summit. It snakes down the center and out of view. The sun did a sufficient job broiling the easterly facing central line down Shirouma, making it prime for corn turns. Wind kept things crusty and interesting for the top few meters, but once in the line, it rode quite smoothly. Corn gave way to buttery turns as snow significantly softened down low. We worked our way down and out the way we came, and for the second day in a row we found ourselves gazing back up at the peaks while enjoying some well earned crappy Japanese beer.
