Ringing alarms early in the morning again. A bit later today as I got up at 7. By the time I got to the dining area, there were not a lot of people up. Too many hangovers. Breakfast was good again, with some Subway sandwiches as well today. M and Am were going cross country skiing with me today! It was their first time so I was going to show them the basics. After some thorough googling in Japanese, I found out the place I wanted to go to, Minekata, was actually closed and had been for two years. Since we needed rentals, we decided to do a different trail at Iwatake. Minekata is supposed to have amazing views, but it was still snowing anyway. Am is from a non snow country so she was so excited to help me clean off my car! It was really cute. Luckily the brush and scraper I just bought came in handy. I even lent it to another guy unfamiliar with snow and helped him clean off his car. I’m glad I know how to deal with snow!

It was about a twenty minute drive to Iwatake. The central part of Hakuba clearly had heated streets and sidewalks because everything was free. It’s a great way to use all that hot springs water. There wasn’t too much snow on the ground, mostly just packed down stuff. The parking lot was a bit scarier, high and fluffy, but I didn’t get stuck! The tires did their job. There was a huge line of people waiting to get lift passes, but we just asked at the English info counter about the cross country track and rentals. She said the trail was still ungroomed, which is like the norm for me and my backyard woods skiing.

We got our skis easily enough inside the building from the rental shop. Cost us 2700 yen for one day rental which is kinda steep, but since there’s no lift pass involved, it’s still cheaper. After dropping our shoes off at the car, Am decided she needed a larger shoe size. An Aussie guy from a ski school told us they had a map of the cross country trails inside too. When putting our skis on we had to be careful because we sunk really far into the snow! It was impossible to put your skis on that way ha. A couple of skiers had been before us so no trail forging. It was snowing and peaceful and beautiful. Doing downhill and cross country back to back made me remember how much I love cross country. The other downhillers thought we were crazy ha. One fall on a steep slope and barely any falls from the newbies! They did a good job. Later in the run, the snow picked up and it definitely got colder. It was actually comfortable skiing. You always sweat so much though this trail was less intense. There were too many uphill sections that you had to walk up.

We got passed by the trail groomer once which ruined the tracks we were following. Everything was flattened. He later told us that we had to turn around and go back because the rest of the trail would be finished tomorrow (Am got most of that conversation). Somehow he changed his mind (our poor faces maybe) and said if we thought we could do it, go ahead. So we did. I prefer the ungroomed stuff, ha. We only ended up doing the 3 km trail because we missed the turn-off for the 5k. They weren’t kidding about the lack of signage. After we returned our gear, I drove back into Hakuba to find some lunch. Visibility was really poor. We managed to park at the station and check out a cute restaurant/cafe in a log house. Jars of things and sun dried tomatoes around. Our waitress spoke fantastic English too. The decor and staff was really amazing as well as the food. Everything homemade, nothing artificial or containing preservatives. Even the cheesecake was made with raw milk products.

We barely made it back to the hotel, ha. I took a wrong turn and had to drive through really deep snow on some narrow streets. Then when I parked at the hotel, I got stuck in a snowbank, but reversing out worked. Totally picked a new parking spot, ha. I packed up my things. Both B and M were ready to go so we set off around 3:30 pm. I had to clean off the car again - fifth time today?? The snow kept accumulating. The wind had lessened so it was a bit easier to see at this point. Once we passed some of the gazillion tunnels on the way back, there was no more snow and clear roads. B told me while snowboarding, the snow was up to her knees! All the powder.

Somehow, while playing games during the ride, we didn’t realize that my gps was on silent. We missed the exit to the train station I was bringing them back to. B panicked because she had to catch the train around 6 pm or she wouldn’t be able to make the last bus. The next exit was mine in Tomioka! We way overshot. I drove them to Annaka instead and they were still able to make the train. Back home and bed for me. Completely wiped out.