February 13, 2017 - Hakuba 47 & Goryu - Hakuba

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We both had a terrible sleep with the heater on, it was too hot. Without the heater, it was too cold - even with the giant duvet cover on the beds. We decide to listen to the locals and save Cortina for another day. So, we head to Hakuba 47 and Goryu. Brad said that we can ride both resorts and use one lift ticket. He also recommended that we get the red vests and we can ride in the trees.



We don't have much time, so we decide to eat breakfast at the hill. There is a free shuttle bus that picks us up at the hotel beside us. These buses can take us all over Hakuba and do different resorts. The buses look like a giant camper van with wheels very close to the front of the bus. We jump on the bus with our gear and head to the resort. It is all really simple and the buses seem to be right on schedule.



When we get to Hakuba 47, all of the restaurants are closed and don't open until at least 9am. It is 8am and I am starving! We get passes for the ski hill. These are a bit different than our passes at home. We get a card that we scan ourselves when we enter the lift. This cuts down on having to have someone scan our pass. I put my card inside my jacket and it can scan easily through it. We also put a 500 yen deposit down on the card and get the 500 yen back if we return the card at the end of the day. We ask where we can get the red vests and are told to go to the ski school and the next orientation is at 9am. Darren and I decide to hit the slopes for a little bit since we have some time.



The first lift is a short gondola ride. We have sleeves to put over the top of our snowboards. We carry the snowboard into the gondola and I assume the cover is to prevent scratching of the windows...although they are already very scratched up. It is a cloudy day, but we can see some of the mountains. The mountains here start with small mountains infront of the larger mountain. They are fully covered with trees, but a lot of trees are decidous. Larger mountains are hidden behind the ski resorts and these mountains go above the tree line. We head up another chairlift. We head down, thinking that we are going to the bottom on the hill, but we get stuck at another chairlift. This place already confuses me. All of our runs at home lead to the bottom of the hill. We head up this chairlift and we get turned around again and end up at the same chairlift. We missed our turn that was under the bridge. I've never had to ski under a bridge to get to the bottom of the hill, but this place as this. I'm sure we will get used to this as the day goes on. We do miss our 9am orientation, but head down to the bottom to get some food. We look at a few restaurants and there is a lot of pizza here. We opt to get some soup-like food, also known as ramen. Ramen is a noodle dish. Unfortunately, most of it is made with pork. I get a curry udon and Darren gets a miso soup. I never realized that curry was so big in Japan, but it is. It has a milder taste than other Asia countries and a really nice flavour. Now, I will smell curry all day under my face warmer.



We catch the 10am orientation for the red vests. We have to do a 5 minute orientation and sign a waiver. We literally get a red vest that we have to wear while riding some of the tree runs. If we go into these areas without a vest, they will take our ski pass away. If we hurt ourselves in these zones, then we need to pay for ski patrol to respond. If we don't return our vests by 3pm, then they will send someone out to look for us and we will have to pay a hefty fee. We wonder how crazy these trees are going to be! We are told that a crevass is in one area and it is like a natural half pipe, but if we enter the wrong way we could die! This sounds intense. I am a bit worried about this, but at the same time think that this is over kill. Darren and I head up again and see all of the fresh, untouched lines in out of bound trees. We want to hit these spots so bad, but don't want to loss our passes. We figure that we should check out the resort first before taking any risks. Many areas in Japan are heavily manipulated and controlled. The landscape isn't keep to a natural prestine forest and waterways. Slopes are stabilized with cement, waterways are dammed (even small ones). The chairlift itself is monitored with video survelliance at spots where the chair is close to the ground and it is possible to jump off the chairlift. Netting with cables are placed under the chairlifts that are further off the ground. We aren't sure if this is to catch people in case they fall or to catch things in case they fall. Either way, it is catching heaps of snow at the moment. Speakers are placed every so many poles and we listen to modern day, English music as we go up the chairlift. This is pretty cool.



We finally try our first tree run with our red vests. It is a bit tracked out, but at the same time, we are surprised how few people come into the trees. The snow is soft in some places and where the beginner tree riders go, it is choppy. It is easy to find better stuff if we just go to an area that is more difficult. These tree runs are super fun and very spaced out. In Canada, this would be an easy tree run.



Throughout the day, we notice that not many people do jumps or ride very hard. It seems that a lot of people are learning. It also seems that this is a very risk adversed culture. Rules are heavy enforced and followed, so not many people venture away from what they are told to do. We did learn later on that many of these resorts are privately owned and they fear liability. Therefore, tree runs are higher risk and so less tree runs are provided.



We ride Hakuba 47 in the morning and then head over to Goyro in the afternoon. We stop at the bottom of Goyro for lunch. This side of the mountain is much more developed than Hakuba 47 and has a main building with stores and restaurants. Darren isn't very hungry and just gets a bubble tea. I get subway and get a sausage sandwich (basically a hot dog) and some potato fries (like wedges). The meal was small and came to over $10 CAN. I was shocked how expensieve Subway was.



We hit a few runs on the Goyro side, including an amazing run on the far right side, close to the backcountry. We also find out that if a run is listed as a double black, this means that the run is mogals. Nothing like our double blacks at home with cliffs, huge drops and steepness! We would love to go into the backcountry here ourselves, but think we have a lot of exploring to do at the resorts. We wish we had more time. It is highly recommended to hire a guide for the backcountry as 1) it is easy to get lost and end up in a creek bed 2) it is important to know which mountains slide. Avalanches are common here, especially with the coastal wet, high volume snow. I believe someone said that 6 people this season have already passed away from avalaches this year. I think some of this is due to pure ignorance; however, some people have been buried on guided trips.



We fit in a much snowboarding as possible until we are tuckered out. We did good and hit up the entire resorts. We even got to do a few super fun tree runs a couple of times. We stop at the bottom for a drink and we meet a couple from New Zealand. We chat with them a bit and say that we might see them in a couple of days because they are planning on doing the snow monkey tour and we are hoping to get on one.



We return our card at a machine to collect our 500 yen and catch a bus back to Hotel Royal (right beside our hotel). Darren and I spend little time getting ready to hit the onsen. An onsen is like a hot spring. It is mineral water and hot. Hotel Royal has an onsen and it costs 500 yen to enter. The men and the women onsen are separate as you are naked. Upon entering the onsen area, I wash myself. A Japanese lady helps me as I don't know how to work the taps. If you don't wash yourself before going into the onsen, you are given dirty looks. It is highly frowned upon to soak in an onsen with everyone else and bathe in the onsen. The onsen is meant to relax and heal, not to wash. There is an onsen inside and I climb in there. It is bloody hot. I stay in this steam roomed onsen for about 10 minutes and then think, there must be one outside too. I see so people come into the onsen, but they go somewhere else. I check it out and there is another onsen outside and this is much better. It is snowing slightly and the water isn't as hot. It is more relaxing. There are 3 other Japanese girls and then another white girl comes in. It is interesting to watch the white people because we are so self-concious of our bodies and try hiding. In reality, most people are trying really hard to not look at you or try to only look at your face. So, who cares? Be naked. I chat with this girl and she is from Australia on a tour with a bunch of other Aussies. She doesn't know anyone. She thinks that Japanese are strange for being naked in the onsen, but I wonder if we are the strange ones. A lot of countries imbrace the human body and don't hide it. Maybe we are the weird ones with not being okay with human flesh. I admit, I feel awkward sitting naked, but I don't want to feel awkward.



After the onsen, Darren and i try to go grocery shopping to buy breakfast and lunch food. We want to save on the cost of food a bit. Unfortunately the grocery store just closed, but we found a convenience store with a food section. We bought some instant noodle, snacks, eggs, cheese, yogourt and granola. We also bought a few cans of drinks. All of this for $30 CAN, which is much better on the budget.



We still want to experience Japanese food, so we decide to eat suppers out. Darren has been craving sushi since we got here. We walk down to street to try to find a sushi restaurant. We know one is down here, but we can't find it. We do find a ramen restaurant and get this instead. It feels insanely cold outside, so the less walking the better. I get a tempura ramen and Darren gets a miso ramen. I'm not big on the miso, so I let Darren experiment with that. Our meal was closer to $20 CAN tonight, which is significantly better than last night. Both dishes were very good.



We head back to our hotel and crash for the night. As usual, it is an early night. I hope tonight I sleep better.

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