12 Feb 09

Today in the more pretty quarter of Hakuba's backcountry I saw this raicho (ptarmigan) playing in the snow. Earlier in the day I had followed some snowshoe tracks of an elderly Japanese couple out spotting them. I mentioned that I had seen them in the area before, and we also talked about avalanche risk on the day. The Japanese gentleman seemed quite knowledgeable in that regard. I don't know if they found their bird, but I saw this one at 2300m. It is amazing how friendly these birds are.

It was a sunny and windless day to be out backcountry touring, with 50cm of new snow and a quiet setting to enjoy it.