We opened the curtains this morning to blue skies. This will be a good day for skiing. We had decided on Hakuba47 / Goryu Ski Fields today, so after another cooked breakfast it was onto the shuttle for only a 20 minute ride to the Escal Plaza ticket office. There were no deals today for tickets in fact they charged Y500 deposit on the tickets so that you would return them at the end of the day. Tickets were Y5000 for adults and Y4000 for seniors so it was a Y20000 day including the deposits.
First lift up again was a gondola but this time there was no snow or fog. The first few runs were great with fresh powder from yesterday and last nights falls but it didn’t take long before the runs were filling up with skiers and boarders. After yesterdays weather, everyone that was skiing in Hakuba must of been on these fields.
We got in some good long runs then started exploring the mountain over 3 linked ski fields – Goryu, Hakuba47 and Iimori. Towards 2pm the runs were getting very chopped up and rather than getting an injury, I called it a day after 12 runs and 21.72 km of skiing. It was a sweaty day and I could have sworn the temperature must have gone over double digits but found out it only reach 4C. We must be getting acclimated to the cold. How are we going to cope when we get to Singapore and home with temps in the 30’s at the end of the week.
Onto the 315pm shuttle back to the hotel and I was into the onsen by 4pm. Being an hour earlier made a difference as I had it to myself although I could hear a bit of chatter in the female side. I got to 30 minutes and that was enough. This time when I rinsed off, I turned the water temperature right down and used a tepid shower to bring my temperature down.
Everyone had decided that the Samurai Kebab was worth a second visit so the shuttle driver dropped us off for another great meal. It was another walk back to the hotel but it seemed a little colder than last night and it was -5C, a lot colder. Managed a few more steps today with 8312.
Tomorrow we are off to the snow monkeys.
