End of the Year Skiing

Happy New Year! Another year has just gone by and I couldn't think of a better way to close the year than going on a skiing trip.

It was a last minute, out of the blue decision. Was asked by N-kun last Sunday at church about going skiing the next day(!). I was so thrilled yet was also very disappointed because I had to work that Monday. Later on that night, he messaged me again saying that the plan has changed and they were going on Tuesday instead. I was virtually over the moon.

The trip was a day trip (typical Japanese). I was very excited because it was to be my first time to go on a one-day skiing trip (and it proved to test my fitness to the limit). The plan was to drive to the ski place all night, arriving in the morning, straight to ski, then drive back again in the evening. So efficient!

So there I was on Tuesday morning 1am, picked up by M-kun , then we went on to pick up F-kun and N-kun respectively. Our destination was Takasu Snowpark in Gifu prefecture (http://www.takasu.gr.jp), which would take around 4-5 hours to get there. Somehow it was difficult for me to sleep in the car, probably because of all the excitement. We got there around 5:30am, parked the car and everybody just slept in, waiting for the lift to open at 8am. Two hours later, we got up and got ready. 9am+ we were all on the snow! And boy it was wonderful! All the sleepiness and tiredness just faded away. The weather was great, the sun was shinning (for a little while). Later on the day, we had snow. Too bad, with my camera still broken, I could only capture some of the pictures with my mobile phone :(





I kinda forgetting how to ski for the first few moments, but once the memory came back, I was happily sliding down the slope, remembering why I love skiing so much and why I wouldn't want to trade it with anything else in the world.

Then around 2pm, the exhaustment creeped in. My legs muscles were aching so much and it hit me that I haven't done much exercise recently and how unfit I am (there goes another point to my new year resolution list). I had to take nearly an hour break, slept a bit and just enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa. From then on, I just took it easy, stopping by frequently at the side slope and just lying down there, enjoying the snow, the peace and the scenery.

We got together again at 4pm. M-kun basically covered all the courses (black, red, green), F-kun did about the same, while me and N-kun were staying on the red and green courses. All of us were just like a bunch of happy little kids. Tired, happy and can't wait to go to onsen to ease up the muscles pain.

The onsen! I must say it was one of the best one I've been to in Japan (unfortunately I can't remember the name *doh!*). It has outdoor bath and the timing was so right when we got there, it was in the evening, sunset time and it was snowing. The greatness was beyond words. While soaking in the hot water, the snow was falling around us and the surrounding trees were lit up with different colours. It was just beautiful!

It would have been a perfect day, but the traffic jam on the ride home spoiled it a bit. We were on the road from 6pm till 1:30am. Don't ask just how fast I jumped to my bed once I got home and how long I slept soundly for :)

The whole trip cost me around 15,000 yen. One day rental of ski set was 4,500 yen, one day lift ticket was 4,800 yen, shared transport cost was about 4,500 yen and the onsen was 700 yen (with discount ticket). It was definitely worth every yen!