When people think about winter sports in Hokkaido, skiing and snowboarding usually come to mind, as the northern island of Japan gets dumped on during the winter. Snowboarding (and skiing too) is one of the main reasons I have stayed in Hokkaido so long, but another one of my favourite (winter) sports is surfing. The waves are not only good, but they are also uncrowded - I guess everyone has gone skiing! It snows down to sea-level throughout the winter (and the spring too), so the ocean is frigid. However the waves are sick! It isn't a zoo like it can be during the summer either.

The photo above is of me on the 11th of February 2011. I actually went backcountry snowboarding that same morning, drove home and went surfing in the late afternoon. Fun, but I was pretty tired the next day!

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SURF AND SNOWBOARD SLANG

to dump = to snow hard

sick = very good

zoo = crowded surf point