Due to Covid, the last time I skied was in 2016. I’ve had to move this current trip I am on, three times due to the pandemic, that means that it is seven years since I strapped a pair of planks to my feet…. Which means, muscle memory does not exist, and pain is in my very near future!
In an attempt to warm up the muscles that might be utilised today, I got up early for my usual walk, only tomorrow will know if that was a fruitful endeavour! However I headed up to the famous O-Yu Onsen, where I noted that the moon was in a pretty position and took a photo of it, not the Onsen…. Whoops (!). From there I headed over to some Shinto shrines. There are actually Shinto shrines all over the hills in odd and unusual places, I’ve caught a few of them today (pics below), but religion is still strong locally. Locals I passed in the wee hours this morning, all bowed with reverence as they passed their local shrines. From here, I ventured on to the cooking Onsen. This Onsen is kept entirely for local cooking. It’s at a higher point in the hills, so maybe it is hotter up there? No one was cooking as I went passed, but it still looked amazingly mystical and mysterious!
Given my early walk, I was up early for breakfast and was early up on the hill. I had promised to myself that I would stick to green runs today, to ease my stupid muscles/body into this thing that I proclaim to love doing, but may prevent me from walking down stairs tomorrow! And I was actually super nervous about my first run, I just don’t want to find a reason to use my travel insurance!! I can’t recall how long a run takes in Australia or New Zealand, not long, minutes (maybe 10 or 20)? A run in Nozawa can take up to an hour…. Or more. The home run, if you take the whole thing, is up to 12kms. My first run was lovely and quite, which was good because I was hesitant and slow. My second run, was annoying…. Ski school had woken up…. And were everywhere…. The green runs were boring (in a way that my muscles may not agree with tomorrow!) and I was ready for a challenge, or food. A challenge it was!
The top of the mountain are all blue runs. I had promised myself that I’d give myself a gentle intro…. Boredom and annoyance trumped this! Next minute….. I’m at the top of Mount Kanashi, wondering which lunatic direction I am going to take to get off it…! I took an old favourite, which in the end popped me over to an exceptionally quite side of the ski hill, which was entirely unexpected. In past years there had been lifts running on this side of the mountain, but for whatever reason this year, they are not. It was nice to find some quite snow to just take my time and not worry about being taken out in knees from an errant snowboarder (it’s always a snow boarder isn’t is Al?!).
The ski lifts higher up on the mountain start closing around 3:30pm, and around 2pm, I had decided that my legs had had enough, so was off the hill early. Town was quite when I went in search of an onsen, which is great, as the idea of onsening with the masses doesn’t fill me with joy. For those of you who are not familiar with the rituals of onsens, I’ve included a link, because I’m not going into the gory details here (!), I soaked in the onsen with only 2 others until I got the head spins and decided it was time to get out! The thing about onsens is their temperatures can vary, but usually they are super hot, just a bit lower than egg cooking temps! I always try to sit by the cold hose, but even then, that doesn’t always make much difference. Either way, an onsen is the best way to relieve aching muscles after a day on the slopes. https://www.kashiwaya.org/e/magazine/onsen/rules2.html
Dinner: Gyoza and grilled octopus + worlds largest “1 beeru” 1900yen $21.45
Temperature: -7 degrees Celsius (up top)
Snow depth- 1.5m
Snow forecast- Significant snowfalls expected Friday and Sat, 30-60cm per day
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