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skijay's Journal
Skijay enjoying a beer at Hakuba 47 This is the best part of the day - a cold beer after a good day's boarding.
More photos in gallery
On our third day in Hakuba, the snow gods smiled down upon us and we had snow showers for most of the day - not classified as a big dump, but enough for a fine day of boarding!
Last night ended with us going home after an onsen (hot spring - which I will blog about separately) on the "Genki Go shuttle bus" which dropped us off at the nearby Mominoki hotel.
The bus stop is about 15 minutes walk from where we are staying, but it was pitch black, we didn't know the way, and got lost. Our shuttle bus driver, who had dropped us off some ten minutes earlier, got the shock of her life when she saw us emerging from a forest on the side of a road (we had been traipsing through the snow and getting nowhere. Never follow a guy who has had too much sake).
She was kind enough to drop us three crazy gaijins (foreigners) off closer to our accomodation!
Today we headed to another resort, Hakuba 47, which is actually part of Goryu resort. It's a fairly small resort, having only a handful of runs and something like five chairlifts, but it's renowned for the terrain park.
We pulled into the carpark and were greeted by a large sign saying "Cardrona ski resort " - and for a moment there I thought we had teleported to New Zealand! There must be some cross promotion going on, although I've never seen Hakuba 47 signs at cardona - Have you??
It was raining at the bottom and snowing up the top, and visibility was excellent in the morning - it was a perfect start to the day! You cannot ask for better conditions (unless it dumps overnight and you wake up to first tracks with a sunny blue sky overhead...)There wasn't a puff of wind and we were toasty in the morning, though the afternoon got colder and we were pretty wet by evening.
Hakuba 47 has some fantastic intermediate runs, the only problem is that they aren't very well connected lift-wise, so in the morning we mainly skiied a fairly short intermediate run at the top of the mountain. It did have some challenging steep sections to get the heart rate going.
At lunchtime we ate at a large food hall where beer was served in chilled half litre glasses, poured by an automated machine which certainly gave good head, so to speak! You have to see the video to believe it.
After lunch the clouds rolled in and visibility was extremely poor. Snow on the lower slopes was challenging - clumps of slightly wet snow with the texture of sand. Skijay had yet another brush with death when she stacked it going down a steep slope and slid head first for about 10 meters!!
Hakuba 47 hosts a "Kamamura festa", or lantern festival, in February, and we stayed on to see this tonight. V asked at the lift ticket office if the festival was going to be on in the evening, and at first the girl looked puzzled, then went to speak to her manager. She came back with a beaming smile on her face, saying "Lantern festival ok!" V took this to mean that they were going to put the lantern festival on just for us gaijin! We started feeling really guilty when we saw the lifties set out hundreds of lanterns in the snow one by one.... but were extremely relieved when a few groups of people started arriving once it got dark. The main attraction was a collection of igloos, including a huge igloo bar. This was hosted by an animated old chap, who was wearing a liftie uniform, and who greeted us effusively when we walked in. He then proceeded to pour us all large glasses of sake on the house! We bought a few more drinks later, and he came round to our table with a bottle of sake, put his finger to his lips to indicate that we should be quiet, and poured us more sake! (We suspect that he was getting into the sake rather a lot himself).
We left rather drunk, or yopparata, as the Japanese say. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day - you guys should definitely visit Hakuba 47 for the lantern festival if you come here between 20 and 25 Feb.
Last night ended with us going home after an onsen (hot spring - which I will blog about separately) on the "Genki Go shuttle bus" which dropped us off at the nearby Mominoki hotel.
The bus stop is about 15 minutes walk from where we are staying, but it was pitch black, we didn't know the way, and got lost. Our shuttle bus driver, who had dropped us off some ten minutes earlier, got the shock of her life when she saw us emerging from a forest on the side of a road (we had been traipsing through the snow and getting nowhere. Never follow a guy who has had too much sake).
She was kind enough to drop us three crazy gaijins (foreigners) off closer to our accomodation!
Today we headed to another resort, Hakuba 47, which is actually part of Goryu resort. It's a fairly small resort, having only a handful of runs and something like five chairlifts, but it's renowned for the terrain park.
We pulled into the carpark and were greeted by a large sign saying "Cardrona ski resort " - and for a moment there I thought we had teleported to New Zealand! There must be some cross promotion going on, although I've never seen Hakuba 47 signs at cardona - Have you??
It was raining at the bottom and snowing up the top, and visibility was excellent in the morning - it was a perfect start to the day! You cannot ask for better conditions (unless it dumps overnight and you wake up to first tracks with a sunny blue sky overhead...)There wasn't a puff of wind and we were toasty in the morning, though the afternoon got colder and we were pretty wet by evening.
Hakuba 47 has some fantastic intermediate runs, the only problem is that they aren't very well connected lift-wise, so in the morning we mainly skiied a fairly short intermediate run at the top of the mountain. It did have some challenging steep sections to get the heart rate going.
At lunchtime we ate at a large food hall where beer was served in chilled half litre glasses, poured by an automated machine which certainly gave good head, so to speak! You have to see the video to believe it.
After lunch the clouds rolled in and visibility was extremely poor. Snow on the lower slopes was challenging - clumps of slightly wet snow with the texture of sand. Skijay had yet another brush with death when she stacked it going down a steep slope and slid head first for about 10 meters!!
Hakuba 47 hosts a "Kamamura festa", or lantern festival, in February, and we stayed on to see this tonight. V asked at the lift ticket office if the festival was going to be on in the evening, and at first the girl looked puzzled, then went to speak to her manager. She came back with a beaming smile on her face, saying "Lantern festival ok!" V took this to mean that they were going to put the lantern festival on just for us gaijin! We started feeling really guilty when we saw the lifties set out hundreds of lanterns in the snow one by one.... but were extremely relieved when a few groups of people started arriving once it got dark. The main attraction was a collection of igloos, including a huge igloo bar. This was hosted by an animated old chap, who was wearing a liftie uniform, and who greeted us effusively when we walked in. He then proceeded to pour us all large glasses of sake on the house! We bought a few more drinks later, and he came round to our table with a bottle of sake, put his finger to his lips to indicate that we should be quiet, and poured us more sake! (We suspect that he was getting into the sake rather a lot himself).
We left rather drunk, or yopparata, as the Japanese say. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day - you guys should definitely visit Hakuba 47 for the lantern festival if you come here between 20 and 25 Feb.
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