Hakuba-mura, Chubu, Japan
Friday, January 13, 2017

*ASH*

Everyone had a bit more of a sleep-in this morning including the snowboarders Cal and Dyl. Cal, Dyl and I had brekky at the hotel and then headed to Sakka- the slope closest to us. I went to check out the bunny slope and see if it would be open for us newbies. They said they were hoping it would be open by 10-11am.
Maj, Lou and Blake headed to Penke- where we went the night before for dinner. They had an epic brekky with perfect bacon, eggs, hash browns and coffee which hit the spot from the sound of it. On returning from my inspection at Sakka I discovered that my snowboard was missing. A trip back to Sakka and a trip to the rental shop later, it turns out one of the students staying at the hotel had returned it to the rental thinking it was a spare one. Lucky the lady at the hotel was so nice and arranged someone to get me and get my board. Back I went and got ready to meet everyone at the slopes; on my way out around the back of the hotel I discovered Blake Lou and Maj having the time of their lives tobogganing down what was once our little path to the Sakka slope. Turns out all the beginner areas were closed due to the rough weather. What ensued was an incredibly fun few hours of tobogganing down the path, jumping into metre deep snow, high jump comps and an epic snowman making sesh. Now this was my kinda of snow sport! Can't say we were too bummed about not getting a snowboarding session in. We had a ball being big kids in such a picturesque setting.
Cal and Dyl on the other hand had a tiring morning- with them almost wanting the snow to stop! The chair lifts were stopping and starting a lot because there was too much snow! Callum went down a not-so-crowded spot which saw him get stuck in shoulder height snow!! After 20 minutes and contemplating the idea of having to simply wait until he got found by somebody, he managed to unclip from his board and use the board to compact the snow and get out then climbed up the hill to get the chairlift- by the time he got himself back to us kids at the hotel he was completely EXHAUSTED!
Not long after, Dyl who was just exhausted rocked up back at the hotel as well- pretty much the same thing had happened to him! As an Okka bar owner said to us "it was like raisin toast out there" with people stuck in the snow everywhere. 153cm on snow in that 24hours- safe to say none of us had ever experienced such a thing!
Cal and I ducked to the laundromat and grabbed some lunch at Lucky Petes for epic burgers then returned our snow gear. For the boys it was then time to watch the Sumo on TV with some Asahis. For the girls? You guessed it- back in the Onsen for a long soak with some grape flavoured alcoholic beverages and chats.
Maj and Dyl went back to Penke again for some sliders, bacon fries and slaw..that was actually just what Maj ordered - not sure about Dyl