I went with Pete, his friend Mark, and a teacher at our school, Maya. (I know, there's probably no need to keep giving people fake names on this blog. I guess I've gotten into the habit of it.)
We took the shinkansen up there and it wasn't until we were right in Yuzawa itself that we started to see snow. It had been a warmer-than-usual winter, so I was a bit apprehensive about the weather and snow quality, but all was well. The first day was sunny and actually no colder than Kawasaki - about 8 degrees. On the second day there, it was -3 and it snowed! ^_^ ^_^
I *love* snow. ^_^
Anyway, snowboarding was notable mainly for how bad I was at it. I was probably the worst snowboarder in the history of snowboarding. I am not even exaggerating.
General consensus before we went was that a first-time snowboarder should always take an introductory lesson to learn all the important basics. However, on realising there would be nothing in English, Pete and I decided on a more 'oh, whatever, we can figure it out somehow' approach.
Mark was going to just ski, and Maya opted out of any snow sports, so accordingly Pete and I headed up to the slope together.
I've never been to a ski slope before. Basically they are snow-covered mountains - with a minimum of trees etc - and chairlifts going up them at various points. There can be various runs on a single mountain, and each has a difficulty rating. So you might take the first ski lift up, then get off and take another one up to try a different run. Around the bottom of the runs were restaurants and gear rental places.
We started on a beginner's hill (and were later told that usually beginners don't start on a hill but at the bottom, hahaha). We hired gear beforehand. The first challenge is to actually get onto the chairlift. So, you have one of your feet strapped firmly to the snowboard, and the other foot is free. Thus, you can theoretically 'walk' in an awkward, shuffling fashion, dragging the cumbersome board with you. For me, this was very slow, and very difficult to walk up even the slightest slope, since the board tended to naturally slide down.
I think part of my problem here was also my extreme unaccustomedness to snow. I can't recall the last time I actually walked in snow - probably in London as a 7-year-old. (I've seen it since, but usually streets have been cleared off or only have a thin layer of footprint-encrusted snow.) I hadn't found my 'snow feet', so to speak. I almost feel like if I'd waited until later in the day, I could have picked it up slightly more easily.
Anyway, thankfully Iwappara resort was very un-crowded that day, so we were not holding anyone up. I managed to get into the lift - the snowboard hung heavily from my foot, uncomfortably so. But the lift ride was awesome, going up this beautiful mountain, seeing all these people skiing and snowboarding down, and the mountains all around us. There wasn't even a safety rail though... o_O.
So we got to the top and naturally I fell off, getting off the lift. Didn't matter; snow is soft. It was to be the first of many, many, many falls!!
Anyway, I'll spare you most of the details, but suffice it to say, it took me about 45 minutes to figure out how to stand up on the board. After 2 hours of trying, I had made it 1/3 of the way down the hill. Yes, one hill. I told you I was bad!
Standing up was hard because both your feet are strapped into the board. If you are standing up on a slight slope, as soon as you push yourself up off the ground, your board starts to slide forward down the hill... I eventually got the hang of it (by shoving the front side of my board forward into the snow before standing). But even once I was up, I'd often fall down straight away, or after only a couple of seconds of movement.
Actually, the moving was fun, but I couldn't keep the board straight. It kept pointing forwards and I had absolutely no control over where it was going. Again, thank goodness the slopes were not crowded. I would have been a total menace. I never stayed up long enough to actually gain too much momentum. And fortunately, falling didn't hurt, because of the snow. But it become a grind after the 60th, 70th time... it took some physical energy to keep getting up so many times. (Also, if I fell over forwards, I'd have to swing my whole body and the board around so I could get into the right position to stand up. So it was tiring.)
I was amused at the bland Japanese pop being piped through speakers on the slope. 'Only in Japan', me and Pete said - but Mark said he'd encountered music on ski slopes in New York state.
On the bright side, Pete and Mark were really nice and encouraging. We got our only snowboarding advice from Mark, who had never actually done it himself... however, Pete picked it up quite quickly. He said that he fell down a lot on his first descent, but it got progressively easier. And in fact, this weekend, Pete's gone snowboarding again!
Anyway, after two hours and 70+ falls, I finally got tired of it. It was lunch time, so I just gave up and walked down the hill the rest of the way. It felt such a relief to finally have my feet out of that blasted board.
10,000 yen for gear hire, lift rental, etc, and it was kind of a waste of money for my two hours. Still, I was glad I tried it. Better to go and fail than not try it at all, right? ^_^
***
Anyway, apart from snowboarding, how was the trip?... well, for once I wasn't staying in some cheapy backpacker's hostel, but we got quite a nice hotel, right at the bottom of the ski hill. This hotel came with dinner included - shabu shabu (a kind of hotpot ^_^),
When we checked in, the hotel was empty and the clerk seemed somewhat po-faced and didn't seem especially delighted to see some customers come in. After, I commented to Maya that he hadn't seemed very friendly. Seconds later, he emerged from behind the desk and started asking me where I was from. Oh, Australia? It's summer in Australia, right? Take care that you don't catch a cold.
As it happened, hours later I did develop a cold, but I assume this was a coincidence and not some kind of unintended jinx. ^_^
It's fun to be in a hotel in yukata. (These yukata are like a very very casual kimono... too casual/pyjama-y to be worn out in public, but within the hotel it's okay). We had dinner and played cards. The guys had continued snowboarding/skiing for some time after I'd returned, so were feeling a bit stiff. I'd done some tramping around in the snow; gone up the lift again sans snowboard, just to enjoy the ride and take some photos.
The hotel also had a hot spring. From the hot spring you could see the snow-covered trees and mountains outside, so it was really beautiful and relaxing. There was a little waterfall inside the hot spring, and both times I went there there was nobody else in there. I could even sit there and watch the snow falling outside.
I thought we were getting a breakfast buffet included, but what we actually got were pre-prepared full Japanese-style breakfasts, when we went down there at 7:45am. This was a shame, since Mark didn't come down for breakfast. The restaurant dude expressed concern about whether we foreigners would be able to eat a Japanese-style breakfast. I wanted to prove him wrong, but it would have been impossible to finish all of that breakfast. As when I had stayed at ryokan in the past, it was about 3x as big as I could've eaten at 7:45am...
Anyway, breakfast consisted of:
And a few other bits and pieces.
It was my first time eating a Japanese breakfast with a Japanese person present. Pete quizzed Maya about how it should be done. With her advice, he made a small depression in his bowl of rice, cracked his raw egg into it, mixed it, and added natto (fermented soybeans). Let me tell you, that is not a nice combination. Pete, who likes almost every Japanese food under the sun, was virtually gagging with every runny, sticky, glutinous, yolky mouthful. Yuck.
***
The second day, we went to Gala Resort, the most famous/popular ski resort in Yuzawa. The guys went off to ski and me and Maya stayed in the resort building. First it was lunch and an Irish creme cappuccino. Then we took the gondola up the ski hill. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life. (See my Flickr page for pictures. ^_^) We had another cappuccino, and dessert, in the cafe at the top, with the most stunning snowy mountain view spread out in front of us.
We also went to the hot spring in Gala, which was also very relaxing; again we could see snowy scenery out the window. I have gotten the hang of hot springs now - where to put my belongings, what etiquette to follow - and I have to say, they are very relaxing and enjoyable when they are not scaldingly hot. These Yuzawa ones were a perfect temperature.
I also tried out a massage chair, which came complete with a screen that came down in front of your face and played soothing images of tropical beaches, dolphins, etc. The soothingness was slightly reduced by the 'Odotte Pikachu' game machine shouting 'ikuze Pikachu!' and 'Pika pika!' a few feet away. Hahaha.
***
Anyway, it was a really good weekend, except that I had a slight cold and I couldn't snowboard much. But I got to see SNOW and enjoy the company of some nice people. ^_^
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