Niseko, Japan
Skiing
Friday, February 8, 2008
One of many volcanic mountains.
Julia and I both woke up again at 4:00 a.m., bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed. The jetlag is still with us, I'm afraid. However, we had to
get up at 6:00 a.m. today to leave for
Niseko and the start of our snow skiing in Japan. There was a bit of
confusion in the lobby as we and a few other parties waited for our bus but,
in true Japanese fashion, everything ran like clockwork. Other than the great
views of Hokkaido, the bus trip to Niseko was uneventful.
The sun was shining when we arrived, so I was able to snap this photo of the big
volcano towering over the village. I found out later that this is a rare
view this time of year, as the mountain is often completely obscured by
clouds.
Once we arrived at the Scott Hotel in Niseko, we were
greeted by the Ski Japan representative and given a tour of Hirafu
Village. The weather kept changing all day, with patches of sunshine followed by
white-out conditions and falling soft, powdery snow, which is fine by us as this is why
we came here.
As I mentioned in an earlier update, the toilets in Japan
are quite interesting to say the least. Here is a photo of the control panel
of one Julia snapped in a ladies' washroom.
The control panel.
I felt like a bit of a weirdo taking a picture in the loo,
but couldn't resist.
The toilets in Japan are the complete opposite of those
in Egypt; they are squeaky clean. Here they are fitted with lots
of extras to make the whole loo-going experience truly as exhilarating as
possible. The little things that make all the difference include a heated
seat, music to cover up embarrassing sounds, and various squirts of warm water
at different angles. You get to press different buttons, and super-fast air
jets blow air to dry everything. Who knew that going to the bathroom could
be so much fun? I haven't seen this yet, but I've heard of loos where the
hand-washing basin sits on top of the toilet, and the water from washing your
hands is used to do the next flush. Very space- and water-saving.
Julia looking relaxed after a long day of skiing in her
hotel-provided pajamas.
Today we all took part in the Onsen bathing ritual. The
hotel we are staying at has an indoor and outdoor spa bath with water
supplied by the local volcanic springs. As is so typical in Japan, you do not
just jump into the spa; you have to follow a traditional set of steps. First,
you must take off your shoes at the outer entrance to the spa. Then you go
into the changing area where you undress. The interesting part of my
experience here was that there was an elderly cleaning woman working in the
men's changing room while I was disrobing.
I politely waited for her to leave, but in the end, I just had to strip off in front
of her. I guess this was one of the unwritten Onsen steps.
Once naked, you take your hand towel with you into the
bathing area. In the bathing area, you grab a short plastic seat (which is
bucket-like) and a plastic bowl, then set up in front of one of the bathing
stations. There you find a shower nozzle, tap, body soap, and shampoo. You
clean yourself with your hand towel until you are nice and clean, then step into the bath, making sure you do not put your hand towel in the water.
This can be achieved by leaving it on the side of the pool or, more
traditionally, placing it on your head. After soaking in this pool until you
can take no more, you may go to the outdoor pool. The spa pool water was very
warm, and it was snowing outside, making it a hypnotic
experience. When you are finished soaking, you tip freezing cold water over
your head and leave. All in all, the Onsen is a fantastic experience.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Lawrie and Julia with the big volcano looming in the background.
We had an excellent day of skiing today. Julia was booked for ski lessons, so
after breakfast, Andy, Lawrie, and I accompanied Julia down the ski slope to
her ski school meeting area. Julia surprised us all with her skiing skills,
as she had completely underestimated them to us. We had a few runs with her,
and then Andy, Lawrie, and I took off to explore the mountain.
From Julia: I had a cute young Australian instructor who
called me 'doll' all morning—very flattering for someone old enough to be his
mother. There were only three students in the group. One was an Australian woman
from Perth who was seeing snow for the first time. When she heard I was from
San Francisco, she said it'd be 'too rude' for her to tell me what she felt
about Americans. Our instructor then pointed out that I was from San
Francisco, which isn't the same as the rest of America! Skiing was lots of
fun today, and David and Lawrie (and the lunchtime beer) helped me do a
couple more runs this afternoon.
Niseko ski area is covered with snow that has the consistency of talcum powder.
It is extremely dry due to the very low temperatures.
The highest point on Mount Niseko is only 1,308 meters, or about 3,900 feet.
This is very low for a ski resort, especially with this kind of powder snow,
but being low means you do not have issues with the lack of oxygen that you
typically get at higher-altitude resorts.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Lawrie about to step off the edge.
We had a full day of blue skies and lovely sunshine today. Julia continued her
lessons and really began to improve her skiing technique.
Some friendly Japanese folks we met in the ice bar.
We left the hotel for dinner this night and ate at a fish
house run by a "Fishing Master" recommended by a Ski Japan
host. It was fantastic food, but Julia and Andy finally broke down and
mutinied against the small portions and generally low caloric value of the food, ordering
double portions. Once again, we drank a little too much sake. As we staggered
back to the hotel, we came across an ice bar. This is a bar made
completely of ice. Yes, it was cold in there.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The ski team.
The storm that had been predicted finally moved in on us
today. It snowed on and off all day, lowering visibility, making it
colder, and improving the skiing. We expect it to continue snowing for
the next three or four days.
Last night, Julia won a door prize of $100 worth of professional photographs
from a local ski photographer.
So after lunch, we all met up with the
photographer, who took us all over the mountain, getting us to pose for
him. It was a lot of fun. Julia and I had a quiet evening. While Andy
and Lawrie went out for dinner and drinks, we stayed in and had an early
night. It is getting harder as I get older to ski all day and then party all
evening.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Nighttime at Niseko.
We had more snow and some sunshine today. The skiing was
fantastic! Lawrie, Andy, and I skied the entire mountain.
Effectively, this ski resort is three resorts that are independent, but we have a pass
that gives us access to all of them. We skied with Julia in the morning and
again in the afternoon; she is moving away from the snowplough and keeping her skis
parallel. This is great progress.
We consumed much alcohol at the Jam Bar, ate a great
dinner, and once again staggered back up the snow-covered hill to the hotel.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The volcano Mt. Yotei on the clear day we had on Sunday.
It really snowed today, and the temperature went down to
-16 degrees Centigrade, or 3 degrees Fahrenheit, without the wind chill, and
it was windy. We only skied until 1:00 p.m. as it was just too cold for us. Julia has come down
with another cold. She did ski today but only half the day like the rest of
us.
It was so cold that our hand-held radios and my camera
stopped working. It turns out that below freezing, batteries stop working.
When we came in for lunch, everything started working again as the batteries
warmed up. I had been filming everyone skiing, but Andy was having problems
getting down a particular hill. Andy did eventually make it down the hill, but
by then my camera had stopped working, so I couldn't film him.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Julia and I enjoying sake during our stay in Niseko.
It continued to snow all last night and all day today.
The place was covered with powder snow, with at least a foot of new snow
falling by morning! Julia's cold got a bit worse last night,
so she slept in this morning. This worked out as Julia had a private ski lesson scheduled for the afternoon,
which she soldiered on and completed.
Lawrie, Andy, and I got up early and made first tracks on
the un-skied powder snow. It is a rare experience to make first tracks,
so we were all very pleased. It continued to snow all day, which led us to have many hot chocolate stops. The bad news is that Lawrie
fell while we were skiing through the trees. As he went down, he heard
something tear in his knee. He was able to ski back to the hotel, where we
put his knee on ice and administered Advil. We are not sure of the extent of
the damage, but we are hoping for the best. Meanwhile, Julia was having her
private lesson. All of this training and Julia's enthusiasm has paid off, as
she really can ski now.
This is our last day at Niseko. We leave for Sapporo
tomorrow at 9:15 a.m., where we will continue our train tour of Japan.
Skiing Video