Nozawa Onsen

A couple of us from work went for a last minute weekend trip to Nozawa Onsen. A lot of people had recommended this resort, so definitely keen to try it out. After deciding on Friday afternoon that I would go, was a bit hectic getting home to pick up boards then get back to work to get picked up for the four hour drive up to Nagano. We stayed in a really budget lodge run by an Aussie (vegemite toast for breakfast!), so the accommodation wasn't flash, but it was cheap and close to the slopes.

 

Now this was a fun resort. We spent most of the weekend dropping off the right hand side of the mountain down through a selection of incredibly steep gullies and ridges. At the start of the weekend it was almost untracked, but by the end... well we chopped up a fairly vast amount of terrain. In the end we had to give up on it because the temperature warmed up and it was getting just a bit to sketchy... 50+ degree lines that were coming with you rather a lot... and there was some fairly large cookies rolling down as well. We certainly wiped all the gullies clear of tracks by the amount of snow that was slipping down them. Heh steep... Fun.

So after spending a day and a half in the resort and not going on one single "marked" trail, we decided to try out a run called skyline to finish off the afternoon. Wow, this is probably the best groomed run I have ever ridden. It is a relatively narrow trail that goes straight down a ridge line with steep drops off both sides. Really impressive views all the way, and not crowded at all, so you can really speed down all 3km+ of it. Impressive.

After staying till closing time (several laps of Skyline!) on the Sunday we had a quick onsen then headed back to Tokyo. Even caught a glimpse of Shiga in the distance on the way home. Definitely going to go there next season, and definitely going back to Nozawa Onsen as well.

We got a taste of the famous weekend freeway traffic on the way home, but a quick stop for some ramen and we missed the worst of it and ended up back in Tokyo by about 10pm.

Snow and Shopping?

Yes, in Japan you can combine snowboarding and shopping together into one weekend. In fact you can do the both of them together in the same resort. Karuizawa.

We stayed in a cabin at the Prince Hotel. Very cool, a cabin in the snow, complete with big icicles hanging off the roof.

From the front door it was about two minutes walk to get to the ski lifts in one direction, and about two minutes walk in the other direction to get to the huge outdoor outlet mall thing. The slopes definitely aren't the best in Japan, but they are certainly good enough for a weekend of fun, and the views from the top of the mountain are pretty nice. And there is some pretty cool rocky mountains off behind the resort.

The actual ski slopes are pretty small, and so they get pretty crowded, probably the most crowded slopes I've seen here in Japan. And the whole resort is very beginner friendly, so a lot of time is spent dodging out of control beginners. And no powder, but still it was fun to just cruise around, and when you've had enough, you can go to the mall!

All in all a fun weekend.

Still snowing...

 

Its still snowing.

This is the front of our apartment building, the grass is all completely covered and there is snow piling up against the little walls. There is a couple of inches of slush on the roads as well. The news is saying that some trains and highways are closed, and even the Shinkansen's are running late (that never happens!).

Might be interesting walking to work tomorrow morning if it freezes tonight...

It's snowing in Tokyo!

It's been snowing here in Tokyo all day. Very cool! Have to go out later, could be interesting...

Has been a while since I posted, but have some more to post later today...

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!

It's snowing... time to go snowboarding!

Should have posted this a week ago... didn't get around to it.

Our hotel room. Night skiing.

It's winter. It's Christmas, so there's plenty of long weekends and days off work. So we've been snowboarding. First up, Naeba. Home to the "Dragondola". Living in Tokyo has its advantages, it's under two hours to get from home to Echigo Yuzawa, which is surrounded by numerous ski fields, then about 30 minutes by road to get to Naeba from there. I've got to say, Naeba has ruined my whole snowboarding experience. How? Ha, look here or in the pic of night skiing on the left. See that twenty something storey high tower? Well we stayed in that. Oh, and is that a gondola and a quad lift right outside the door? Yes, yes it is. I like being able to put my boots on in my room, and at lunch time, not have to fight for a table, just get takeaway and eat in your room. Nice. From now on, all snowboarding accommodation must be located less than 20 steps from room to lift. The quality of the pic's isn't too good, but its not too bad for a mobile phone. One is obviously our room, nice and big, great view of the mountain, and even better view of the fireworks each night... did I forget to mention there is fireworks? Well there is, and they were pretty damn good. The other pic is taken from the top of the quad lift which leaves fight from the door of the hotel. "Nighta" (Night skiing) until 10pm every night. Oh, it snowed too, mmm powder, deep windblown pockets in the out of the way sections of the black runs. Very nice.

On the way back to Echigo Yuzawa from Naeba, I spotted another resort right near the train station, looked like it had really nice long, wide, open beginner slopes, just what Yoko needs to practice linking turns. So two hours later, back at home, a quick Google finds that the resort we were looking at is called Iwa-ppara. Another few minutes and we've found a hotel right in the middle of one of the runs. A quick phone call, and we're sorted for the long weekend leading into new years.