First day skiing in Hokkaido

Well, we made it to Tokyo on schedule, but by the time we got our bags and cleared customs we had missed our connecting flight to Asahikawa. No problem, they put us on the next one 5 hours later. By the time we got to town and rented a car, it was too late to go skiing anywhere. We decided to drive about 1.5 hours to Sounkyo Hot Springs at the base of Kurodake and ski there Saturday. The skies were grey and snow was falling as we drove deep into a beautiful steep walled gorge. It was almost dark when we arrived, and we set about trying to find a room.

We got one at the Northern Lodge, and we appeared to be the only guests. We then set about trying to find dinner, which appeared problematic, as the hot springs resorts are apparently a big summer draw, but not so much in winter. Many of the restaurants were shuttered for the winter.

The is an annual ice festival here, which gives you some idea of how cold it is. It is lit up at night,and the cost is minimal, so we went in to check it out. Turns out there was a food stand inside, so a bowl of piping hot noodles made a nice dinner.  Back to the lodge for a soak in their Onsen, or Japanese hot spring, and then we were done.

We woke up to a foot of fresh snow.   The parking lot was decidedly uncrowded for a Saturday morning, at least by California standards. We rode the gondola up, then took a chairlift ( an all day pass for both was about $36), then put on skins and began climbing to the summit. It was in the low 20's and snowing intermittently. Skies were overcast and visibility varied, but it was never a whiteout.   We held our own climbing with the locals, and Donette and I were the 3rd and 4th to reach the top. We ripped our skins and enjoyed several hundred feet of 1'+ fresh untracked snow.

  We lapped this bowl at the top again,then climbed to the top one last time and skied to the top of the gondola for lunch. Again, a Saturday with a foot of fresh, and we were the only ones in the cafeteria.  Eventually another gajin walked in, and we started chatting. He was from Ohio and had been in Japan a month or so. We rode the chair one last time with him, then followed him all the way down beneath the gondola to the car.  That run was challenging and fun, but the snow was definitely better up high.  We managed to program our Japanese GPS in the car correctly, and made our way back to Asahikawa.  Tomorrow is cat skiing, so guaranteed more runs that what we can get under our own power :-)