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Published: March 29th 2013
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This isn't something that I imagined I would be doing only two years ago but my partner, Jenny, and some of her family were going to Japan for a skiing holiday so I thought ... why not. Actually, visiting Japan for any reason had never been on my horizon.
Having learnt to ski only two years ago I have to admit that I was a little hesitant, particularly given that I had only ever skied the relatively comfortable slopes of Mount Buller (in the Victorian Alps). The thought of the potential for powder snow (aparently a rarity at Buller) seemed to excite the rest of the Devenish family; especially 11yo Georgia, 8yo Lauchlan and 6yo Benny. The two older kids delight in out-skiing me on any slope, which is only to be expected given that grandmar Jenny had them skiing before they were proficient at walking.
This trip is also unusual for me as I haven't travelled OS as part of a family since Robyn died. Mostly I just wander around by myself until I join up with a Peregrin, Intrepid or HF Holidays (based in the UK) small tour group.
Packing for this trip was different too;
particularly seeing that I needed more than the usual three changes of clothes depending on the climate at where I was travelling. Ski clothing takes up so much more room than cargo pants and polo shirts and I'm glad that I didn't have to lug my ski boots, which alone weigh almost 3kg.
After three flights followed by a two hour bus trip, the seven of us arrived very tired as fat powdery flakes of snow floated down against a picture postcard of defused village lights. The only disappointing part of the journey was when the QANTAS flight from Melbourne to Singapore became Japan Airlines to Tokyo which, without a doubt, was the worst flight I've had in a long while. The plane was old, the service crap and the seats were even closer together than domestic Jetstar!
Despite being the end of the Japanese ski season there is still a lot of snow around. Certainly there is far more snow than I have ever experienced. The runs too are fantastically long and varied and the old muscles were protesting big time after the first day on the slopes.
From contributing author 11yo Georgia:
After three
long horrible flights we finally reached Hirafu in northern Japan at 8pm in the middle of a snow storm, had pizza and went to bed. The next day was when the fun started. Around about 9am we went to brekkie but I hated it because all they had was a fixed menu of eggs and bacon. Then we went shopping to find me some snow boots and hire skis and boots because our own skis were too big to fit on the plane. After six shops of walking in my Vans we finally found some boots that fitted me and we finally went skiing.
The slopes here are harder and longer than the Mt Buller runs where we normally ski. Up at this mountain there are both gondolas and chair lifts to carry you up the mountain but the gondolas are faster than chair lifts and they have sealed doors so you don’t get too cold. The only down side is that you have to take your skies off every time you have ride.
After a couple of hours of skiing we had to come back to our flat because everything stops working at 4.30pm. Up at the
flat we have an outside spa, which dad increased the temperature so we could go into it after skiing. In the spa we played ‘truth or dare’ with mum and dad while Grandma and Dennis drank wine and watched TV. One of the dares was for me to stay out of the spa until mum came in so I had to run down to mums balcony window in -5C freezing cold night air and tell her to get ready. It took about 8 mins for her to actually get outside. After our spa I had to go to bed.
The next day I got up ready to get dressed for skiing but couldn’t find my right hand glove. I got dressed anyway while looking for it but could not find it anywhere. Brekkie was the same boring meal and then Dad and I went looking for my lost glove because he thought it might be in a shop where we got my snow boots. It was not in there and I couldn’t find another good pair of new gloves I liked so we had a bit of frazzle. Eventually we went back to one shop I had looked in
earlier and purchased a pair of gloves that we had missed before. FINALLY we went skiing.
Lachlan dad and I did lots of jumps on the slopes and some harder ‘black’ and ‘diamond black’ runs while mum, grandma, Benny and Dennis did ‘Blue’ and ‘Green’ runs. On some runs we had to ski so fast to get up the other side it felt like I was flying. After lunch all of us were getting a bit tired and crabby so we had one more run before going back to the Valise to leave our boots and skis and the guy that was working there said he had found my other original glove. Because I had already got a new pair Lachlan got both my old ones.
When we got back to the flat Lachlan, Ben and I had a snow ball fight and we got horribly wet and cold from head to toe. We then went in the spar again where we were in and out rolling in the snow in our bathers. After dinner we watched a movie and then went to bed.
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