Snowboarding in Iwa-ppara

So, like I said in the previous post, after getting back from our Christmas long weekend in Naeba, we booked ourselves in for the new year's long weekend in Iwa-ppara. I've got to say, this place is convenient. Under two hours from walking out our front door in Tokyo, to being on the mountain. This resort isn't as high up as Naeba, so the snow wasn't as good, but it snowed all weekend, so everything was just fine. This place is perfect for beginners, it has amazingly wide open runs that are nice and long, from where this picture was taken (again with the poor quality phone photos!) it is over a kilometer straight line to the bottom. Nice. The place we stayed in wasn't anywhere near as fancy as the Naeba Prince Hotel, but it was good enough, and it had a nice outdoor onsen bath. And its right in the middle of the ski run, so you can ski right to the front door. You did have to take your boots off to go to your room though, but still, can't complain.

Also took my camera with me, so here is some more photos:

It snowed while we were there, about 50cm over the three days...

And then just on dusk on the Sunday night, there was a brief break in the clouds...

Finally got to use my new ND filter that I got before we went to Thailand, pretty happy with the results actually! The lift in this picture is a gondola, but unfortunately its closed this season. I think that the resort will be much better next year when they have it open again, without it, half the bottom section of the resort is unusable. Still plenty of room to ride elsewhere, but it would be much nicer if this section was available. Anyway, was still a good weekend, despite that and the weather, we will be going back!