My Winter Wonderland

After a 3:30am start, 3 different forms of transportation and 3 different prefectures I and a group of other Oita ALTs arrived in Japan’s northern most prefecture – Hokkaido. And, despite the ridiculous temperature, all I can say now is that I wish I had been placed there.

Sapporo is just covered in snow, and it was everywhere. It is not just snow lying in patches but the countryside is just white. From when we landed to when we left the world was just a mix of white and blue.

After a 2-hour flight we arrived in Sapporo for the last few days of the Yukimatsuri or snow festival. After a lunch of local specialty, that being Miso Ramen, we spent the afternoon in the city enjoying the snow sculptures and, of course, the festival food. The sculptures are pretty incredible. They are made entirely of snow. At first the build giant frames and from there they sculpt out the snow. The most incredible one was a copy of Dresden cathedral, which was 26m high.

Supper was yet another Hokkaido specialty known as Genghis Khan (which I am sure I spelt wrong)s, or lamb. Each table has a grill that you use to cook your own giant plate of sliced meat (and the odd vegetables). The restaurant we were at was at the Sapporo beer factory, which made for an interesting evening. The lamb was really delicious, and I probably ate more meat at that meal than I have since coming to Japan, the only down side being that everything I was wearing smelt of grilled meat for the rest of the trip.

From there we had to catch a 2 hour bus ride to Niseko and one of the top 10 skiing resorts in the world. Niseko is basically a collection of ski resorts surrounding Mount Yotei, which is often called the Mt Fuji of Hokkaido.

We couldn’t see much as it was dark but the amount of snow was phenomenal. And once I actually got outside the next morning I could see the full extent of the snow they are used to. Giant walls of snow line the roads so that it is higher than me in most places. As it falls over winter it just piles up until it is higher than the cars and house are just layered in it. And the best thing is that it is just so clean. I thought that Switzerland was beautiful but the Swiss have nothing on Hokkaido. It is just clean and white and beautiful.

But what makes the snow so special is that it is the best kind of powder – soft and with a very low water content. So much so, that it is just swept off carpets and clothing so it is not as though everything is damp all that time. This makes it some of the finest skiing in the world, and there really is nothing like skiing though the fine powder snow of Niseko. This makes it tough to have snowball fights, as it is very difficult to compact and form a snowball, it also takes a lot of snow to get a decent sized weapon. In the video below my ski buddy Javi is demonstrating how soft it is by kicking a snowball, which just explodes in a shower of powder (I am not sure what happened to the sound and his explanation).

I spent most of my days on skis, and even this morning I was finding that I am still standing with my legs bent instead of upright. Friday was spent in some refresher beginner’s lessons with Javi – who was amazing and picked it up in one day. Our instructor Tim (Aussie) was incredibly impressed. It came back to me pretty quickly and by the end of the day the two of us had mastered the baby slopes. It was just the 2 of us in the class so we were able to get some really good teaching. Strangely most of the resort employees seemed to be Aussies, which you wouldn’t naturally associate with snow. And the best bit was the lack of button lifts, which in themselves can take a day to master, and instead we had conveyor belts to take us up hill.

After an intense day of skiing a couple of us headed to an outdoor onsen for some muscle relief. And there is no better way to relax than to lie in hot water whilst surrounded by snow.

Saturday I was on my own. So I joined some other folk in attempt to find some more challenging slopes on the other side of the mountain. First up was Kings 1 – which was a bit nerve wracking at first since I have yet to master “steep”, yet I survived and didn’t crash into anyone. In fact I managed to go a whole 2 days without maiming anyone at all – including myself. We then discovered the family slope, which was perfect for our abilities. It was a much longer run than the baby slopes so it didn’t feel as though most of our time was being spent on the magic carpets and you were actually skiing. The only problem in that it was the family slope so it was rather crowded and required more dodging abilities. But by the end I had at least mastered the chair lift and didn’t fall getting off.

Lunch was more miso ramen and then back to the lifts. I was convinced by Elaine to join her in attempting on the long beginner runs. I was a bit apprehensive, as my instructor had warned me that there would be tricky bits but I wasn’t willing to give up the chance to go up the mountain even if I had to be carried down in a stretcher. In fact the day before I had watched someone being brought down the mountain in a red body bag. They were fine, but being completely zipped up like that is a pretty morbid sight.

The first half of the journey down was fine. It was really smooth and easy and I even came to a stop in places due to the lack of gradient. The second half was a bit trickier. There was indeed a very steep section that I chose to walk down which was a great way to appreciate the scenery that you don’t get to see when trying not to crash. Unfortunately, by that time it had started to snow quite heavily and I didn’t have proper goggles so my glasses were misting up and I was blind with or without them so getting to the bottom was a bit trough but I made it in the end and it was well worth it, even if I did have to trudge through 2 ft of snow.

Sunday was spent sleeping on various forms of transport. An after nearly not getting a flight home we returned home. And it is strange but Kunisaki seems so much colder that Hokkaido, though I think it was due to the fact that everywhere we went was actually sophisticated enough to have central heating. I wore less clothing in those 4 days than I had been wearing in the Southern winter. Central heating and other heat retaining measures are still not that common though I hear that the demand is growing.

So by the end I was exhausted and had the skiing aches and bruises. It would have just been nice to stay one or two more days since I was finally getting into the rhythm. I would really recommend it as a skiing destination. Switzerland was great but this place is just much more special. It certainly seemed less crowded and the scenery and snow is reason enough – it is the stuff you dream about.

One thing that we all noticed was that we didn’t feel as though we were in Japan, rather that we were mixing with other tourists that included Japanese people. It is hard to explain but it was nice to feel international again instead of just a foreigner in Japan.

So if anyone is interested I am already planning my return trip next year.