It's was a trip of 2014 with our venture with Follow Me Japan last winter to Hokkaido / Rusutsu. We have just 2 full days of snowboarding then and Wifey was sufficiently addicted to plan for a 7 nights ski trip this year. Yes 7 nights! I'm happy not to rush around the slopes and have more time to 'smell the flowers', and off the JAL tickets were booked for december. This time no pictures till when we reached our first resort, Green Leaf by Hilton at Niseko. We had an old plane with crappy 6" screens but were have the 'emergency seats' (uncomfortable ones), + 10pm flight time, meaning we were zombies by the time we landed in Haneda ~6pm for a ~730pm transit to Chitose. The Chitose leg was a dream as I slept the moment I got onto the seats (and never work up during the roar of take off!). It was a pleasant sight to visit the Chitose airport with vast shopping areas, I picked up the portable WIFI modem at the Post Office there and we were able to sooth our connetivity cravings. A quick tempura and we're onto one of the Hokkaido liners for a 3 hour trip to Niseko!
The bus arrived at Green Leaf and it was a pretty boutique-ish hotel. Instead of rushing for the mountains, we rush to catch our sleep and woke up to join an ex-student of Wenhui who's mom has graciously invited us for dinner at Hilton. A feast ensured with toro sashimi, amazing scallops, A4 Waygu, lovely rise, soup, sushi and japanese fruits, paired with nice Sake and Sochu (with soda)
The bus stop where we get down . Everything is caked with a layer of snow. Hokkaido gets meters and meters of snow every season!
Day 1 of snowboarding: Ratana had a few hours of basics with Wenhui and I grew quickly very board and went on the nearest lift. The snowboard legs came back very fast and I was making turns very soon. The weather was decent and I should have appreciated more and snow storms were to plague the next few days!
Day 2 of boarding. After a quick morning session, we were off to check out and lug all our gear to the Hirafu village. It was snowing pretty heavily and it's no fun luggage all our luggage including all our snow gear!
We stayed at a place called Pension Berg (location 1 on map), an ultra basic, fudon, common showers, shared toilets type of facility. It was off looking for a nearby slow and we took ~15mins to get to the nearest lift by walking (location 4 on map) . Wenhui had little issues getting of this lift (with very heavy falls back at Green Leaf Banzai lift and a latter lift). It was a gentle slope with a ton of kids and the change of practically no one on slope in Niseko village to Hirafu was quite an experience. After 3-4 rounds of the same lift, it was pretty tiring and a seemingly very long hike back to Pension Berg. An Onsen after a 'long day', is always very rewarding!
Day 3 was a total white out at several portions of the slopes. As the wifey was afraid of chair lifts, the only way to get up was a Gondola. I liked it a lot as it shields one from the biting winds and one has 6 minutes to eat/warm up/ catch some shut-eye.
The helmet is very understated and important part kit. This time we were clothed in Phenix attire and they're as fabulous as the Salomon gear which we had last year. The board and bindings are Burton which are very good too. I'm keen to try smaller boots or go to some boot fitting shop in the next trip. Here the wife had a very bad backward fall while clipping the heel side. Whiplash / neck / backaches ensure but she soldiered on bravely to continue after this short break.
A huge vibrant view of Hirafu village. The Niseko village side is managed by TCL corporation wholly while the Hirafu side is still owned by Japanese but with huge Australian influence.
Red Dot: Pension Berg
1: Senso 2
3. Izakaya place near by
4. Nearest lift by walking
5.Some cheap "Seng Siong" supermart, filled with Australians and Asians wiping the shelves clean on a daily basis!
6. Welcome Center - the place where most long distance buses will drop you
7. Gondola -The second major stop in Hirafu, we were here daily!
Day 4 of snowboarding, a perfect blue skies day we've been waiting for week for! The Japanese weather forecasts were really on the dot. Armed with Accu and Weather apps, Accu was able to predict even hourly forecast to pretty accurate standards. Here's our humble abode for 5 nights, Pension Berg.
The view from Pension Berg onto the main road, with a quaint Yama-something convenience store. Had good sake, apple, small bites from it!
A perfect day for wefie on the Gondola, with Michael Chin ( a fellow powder addict-pro skiier from Singapore).
Wifey looking pro
The tourist shot. Clothed in Phenix gear which are superbly excellent in repelling water and a very pro-looking helmet too. I opted for shades instead of goggles as the rental goggles are not as 'wide' as my regular shades. The only issue is that during extreme wind/snow, water /fog does get into the eyes/internal parts of the shade.
Another spectacular view from the Gondola. Good views are really important, to see where the humps and dips of the slopes. In extreme white outs, we're literally riding blind, going all out via feeling.
Wifey on the BLACK slopes, pretty steep.
Another awesome view. This was the ONLY photo taking day and I took no chances.
It's also the only day which we want to the 'top' of the Hirafu slopes and got down via the Yamazono side, which is even more empty than the Niseko side. Wifey had a big all off the chair lift and managed to ride smoothly down the awesomely smooth and gentle green slopes of Yamazono. It was off for a nice lunch and an early shuttle bus ride back to Pension Berg for Onsen and rest.
After a few nights of food in Hirafu, we were of to Kutchan, a nearby village where prices were 'for regular Japanese', easily marked down 40% from Hirafu. 15mins by shuttle bus, our 'All mountain pass' got us free rides on the Niseko United Buses too (else it'll cost 390 yen per direction per pax). The rain came suddenly and it was the most hazardous walk in the dark, ultra windy, pretty heavy rain (by tropics standards), and fortunately, the dinner was awesome. This was Hamakko, Kutchan North 2 West 1. Costing just ~2800 yen per pax, we had sake, beer, huge plate of Sashimi, classics was the Potatoe, and a belly warming Rice in Tea. I never near potatoes can taste this way, ultra-flavorful, soft and chewy at the same time. The Rice in Tea was simple as it is, for the clearest of broth having all the essence of dried scallops, seaweed and the Hokkaido winter magic. A great meal for 3 (including Michael). And it was off again in the dreaded rain back to Pension Berg.
Day X of the snowboarding. It was the final day of riding, and the horrid rain the night before promised lots of crappy ice kacang, marbles and golf balls all over the mountain. Frozen sidewalks made for a treacherous trek to the Gondola with wifey made the 2nd of 3 falls of the day (not counting ON the slopes). The day promised to be very windy and snowing too. A bleah day indeed. Heavy winds have ripped the steep parts of the submit of the snowcover, with 'bare solid earth' showing a several portions of the upper slope, making for very treacherous riding. Big ice golf balls littered the parts, making turns difficult and a very bumpy ride with vibrations through the body. We made just ONE run that day and decided mid-way it's going to be our only run. Near the bottom of the slopes at the welcome center, a portion of the SOLID ICE was so slippery that I slipped and slid ~20 mins downslope (with flashes of Cliff Hanger going thru my mind, :how to stop??). Once down at the center, the weather set in and horizontal blizzard ensured. A long trek to Pension Perg--> Green Leaf to return the gear. Back to familiar grounds, the icy conditions were as bad.
We went to Kutchan directly from Green Leaf, a 45 mins rides with several stops in between. This was to make full use of our All-Mountain Pass, with the trip itself worth ~600 yen per pax. We had wanted to try the Torimatsu (Of Anthony Bourdain show), and this was FULL. We went around in the cold but non-raining (very important!) weather and found this 'hole in the wall'. Koiso, in Kutchan , North 3, West 1. 2 tables and a small bar counter, with just a page of pictures and english, with the rest of the menu in english. We ordered most of it and boy, it was the find of the trip! Especially the Sake, we wanted to BUY the sake the moment we sipped it. The Tofu-delicious dish was great (I'm ain't a tofu fan), chicken skewers were perfect, Saba was a little salty and overcooked, while the potatoe salad ensure we were filled to the brim, and we have the Rice with Tea again! (not in picture). We were off to a nearby huge book store and equally huge supermarket for browsing before the next bus brought us back to Pension Berg for our final night there.
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