Our next leg of the epic trip was to Niseko.
Early in the morning we had to catch the travel coach to take us up the mountains.
Niseko lies on Mt Niseko-Annupuri.
The plan is to ski or snowboard for the next 6 days.
When we arrived at the Hirafu Welcome Center, it was already snowing and we had someone from The Vale, our hotel, pick us up.
So the first day in Niseko we spent familiarizing with the place and then checking into our ultra posh hotel. We also met up with Eugene’s family (who were going to be with us this whole leg) and went for our ski and snowboarding gear fitting. Once all the equipment were sorted, we went out for Jap BBQ dinner and included David’s family too.
Day two was actual skiing and snowboarding. The kids had their own group lessons while the adults had our own private snowboarding lessons by Coach Carter. Snowboarding is not easy and we fell a lot but it was fun. Snow wasn’t fantastic and ski lifts were not working due to less optimal snowfall. At night we had dinner together at a random bar because all the restaurants were full.
Day three the snow didn’t improve. In fact at one point it rained and snowed at the same time, which is bad since we wanted pelting snow. We did well enough to push up to the mid slopes. Over there we got a magnificent view of Mt Yotei, the mountain peak opposite our mountain peak, which was awesome. Snowboarding skills were improving but my knees were getting bruised. The kids were definitely skiing better than the adults could snowboard. Dinner was an awesome ramen. Oh yah and every night I went to the onsen in our hotel which was so lovely, dipping in hot water even out in snowy conditions.
Day four and the snow finally improved! We were all so happy. We dropped the kids off at Grand Hirafu Mountain Center for group lessons and then went to Hanazono to continue our snowboarding lessons. Coach Carter followed and boy was the snow and the slopes there SO much better! It was great fun in nice powdery snow. Falling wasn’t so painful. Dinner was at a JingGisKhan restaurant, basically a meat BBQ restaurant. We also had a good snowball throwing competition which the kids were so hyped about.
Day five we brought the kids to Hanazono this time to experience the wonderful slopes and runs there. The snow just got better and better so snowboarding was really a lot more awesome. Had a beer with David again there. We were really doing a lot better now, without lessons. Dinner was at Kanpai for free flow shabu-shabu.
Day six we were back at our own slope. That morning after the first run Eugene and I were on the ski lift for the second run when I saw our kids lying in the snow midway and my son was saying he ‘fell the wrong way’. Immediately I knew something was off and had to rush down to check it out. Sure enough he hurt his knee so we quickly brought him to a physiotherapist near the hotel who diagnosed that he had a suspected MCL tear and meniscus tear. We had to put him on a brace and crutch. Also had to go to a clinic (the NIC) for a second opinion. Quite bummed about it but the boy was in good spirits. By afternoon we were back and I could go for two remaining runs before I had the worst fall of the trip while trying to attempt a vid of my run. Then we had dinner at our hotel restaurant and got drunks on five bottles of wine. Also played snowball championship with the kids again.
Finally it was day seven and we returned all our gear and checked out and the bus had to pick us up at noon. It was sad to leave Niseko tbh. We had such fun in our first lengthy snowy experience. The bus took us straight to New Chitose Airport where we hung out for awhile and then caught a late flight back to Tokyo.
Everything seems meh after Niseko :’(
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