Okay, to start, this isn’t an FTP thread…
Got back in to Sapporo last evening – just barely.
Friday was clear in Sapporo, but cold. We caught the highway bus to Niseko Annupuri Resort (2180 yen PP) via Otaru (not the Nakayama-touge route). The weather in Niseko was overcast with the portent of snowfall. After checking in to the Northern Resort Annupuri and attempting to find somewhere for lunch, we walked down to the ski center for lunch at the cafeteria. I had a Hamburger with pilaf for 1100 yen. The meat slab was good and big (A-), but the “pilaf” (C-) was just rice with a hint of butter and frozen mixed vegetables mixed in (peas, carrots, corn). Back at the hotel, we were picked up by Minami-san of Niseko Adventure Center for a snowshoe tour. He drove us over to the gondola in a Toyota Hiace and out came the poles and Atlas snowshoes. The poles were mystery ski poles, so were of a fixed length which I thought were too long, even if the session was to be all downhill. We caught the gondola up to the top station, where it was snowing nicely.
Stomping down past the left-most (rider’s left) old pair lift base, we descended through the fluffy snow along the gelande boundary. Minami-san gave us brief instruction on how to use the snowshoes, including telemark-like sliding on deep powder on steep slopes. My back leg was completely shot from Thrusday’s powder session at Kokusai, so the telemark pose quickly deteriorated to me sitting on my back foot with the other leg boned out in front. We went through the #3 gate into the off-piste area and into the trees. The snowfall was filling the space between my Oakley’s and face – I really should have brought my goggles… Minami-san gave us information on the local trees and critters as we passed various features. About halfway down, he stomped out a flat area, dug a bench with his B/C shovel, busted out a butane stove, and served tea and handmde sesame (A+) and blueberry cookies (A). Around us, a half-dozen woodpeckers flitted about the trees searching for insects below the bark of dead branches. Once in a while, an Aussie snowboarder would go gliding past looking at us quizzically. After more nature lessons (I was getting about half of it in Nihongo), we descended through the trees to the gondola base. I got a good look at the #3 area, so I had the inside scoops on which way to drop through when the opportunity would arise on either Saturday or Sunday.
We returned to the hotel for a shower and dinner. This hotel had a big public bath, but no onsen. There was a big drill rig out front, so they were working on getting one. The room came with a discount pass for using the onsen at the neighboring Hotel Ikoinomura, but that was a fair walk away in the snow. Dinner was a kaiseki set. It was all quite good (A- overall). I won’t get into it here since I took a picture of it – I’ll elaborate on the gallery side. I got a Niseko Beer Lager (A-). It was a lager… It was seriously marked up at 900 yen.
Saturday morning looked good with heavy flurries. After viking breakfast, we headed down to the gondola and took our first ride up. The top was windy and most of the new fall was being blown away. About a third of the way down, the winds subsided and the snow was allowed to accumulate. The gelande was so fluffy that I didn’t need to enter the trees except for the entertainment of obstacles. The weather progressively deteriorated. By lunchtime, the winds were “knock you over” strong at the top and strong all the way down. The wind had scoured all the new fall from a lot of the upper parts of the courses. The sheltered parts and the base were still getting accumulation or redistribution. We took a lunch break in hopes that the wind would subside. I had the “ham and potato pizza” for 1150 yen at the cafeteria. It was a lactose nightmare with around 8mm of cheese all over it. A little too much for one person. Still, except for the potatoes, it was rather good (B-). I probably wouldn’t get it again unless there was someone to split it with. I didn’t try the 2100 yen crab pizza.
The weather was still about the same after lunch. Fewer people were going up the mountain, and eventually, even though they never shut the lifts, the number of people coming down the trails to the base area dwindled down to only a few. We decided to call it a day. I stopped by the little hotel store and got a Niseko Beer Kuro-beer (580 yen). That one was really good (A+)! During dinner, the nighter lights were on on the gelande, but I didn’t see even one person riding. Dinner was a sashimi kaiseki (A-). Not much different from the set meal yesterday, but concentration on the sashimi side. Again, I’ll get into this more on the gallery side. Afterwards, I got the last Niseko Beer varietal – a Canadian Ale (B+). Good, but not as good as the Tokachi Beer Brown Ale (A-) I got in Obihiro.
Sunday morning was evil. The wind had continued through the night, scouring all the new snowfall away even from the hotel elevation. The trees were bending and swaying outside the windows during breakfast. As of the first news, JR, buses, and most of the Southwest Hokkaido airports were shut down. The lifts were all closed. It took a bit of negotiation at checkout time to get a credit on the unused day of our lift tickets. Eventually they cashed us out and took that amount off the entire bill. Not wanting to get stranded in Niseko through Monday, we did some quick checking and found out that Chuo bus would be starting service in the Otaru direction in the afternoon. Most of the panicky Japanese and Australians mulling about the lobby waiting for news were intent on catching one of hte Chitose-bound express buses that would be going via Nakayama-touge, a route which was still closed. The bus showed up at 13:30 and we were homebound. The bus driver was a lazy-ass and didn’t want to get out and open the baggage compartments, so we had to pile our boardbags in the seats, as did all other boarders or skiers, so a bunch of seats were taken up with baggage. I felt a little bad when the bus started filling up and people had to use the fold-out jumpseats in the aisle, but IT WASN’T MY FAULT THAT THE BUS DRIVER WAS LAZY.
The snowplows were still working as we backtracked to Sapporo. The rail-clearing locomotive was just reaching JR Niseko-eki as we passed over the yellow Niseko Oohashi. Crazy huge waves on the Nihon-kai were smacking the seacoast around Otaru. There were huge accumulations of snow in Sapporo. The plows had built piles as high as two-story buildings. The sky was clearing, but the wind was still fairly strong. We had dinner at Forza Italian restaurant in Maruyama. The tomato and mozzarella salad was very good (A), but the parma ham/salami/sausage appetizer was average (B). The salad was made with organic tomatoes,and unlike the “cheese and tomato only” salad I was expecting, was a green salad including tomato and mozzarella with a wonderful pesto dressing. The gorgonzola cheese sauce penne was very good (A) and the wafuu pizza was also good (A-). The pizza was topped with miso-flavored ground meat, eggplant, green onions, and a raw egg. Dessert was tiramisu (A-) and vanilla gelato topped with espresso (?). I had my last Tokachi beer varietal, the Weizen, when I got home. It was OK… of the four varietals, it was probably the least well executed (B-). It was not an unfiltered hefe-weizen, by the way, which probably affected my overall enjoyment. Around 6600 yen for a full meal for two.
This morning it is the coldest it has been in town during my 11 days here, around -10C at daybreak. Asahikawa was around twice as cold this morning. If I was hard core, I’d have packed up last night, caught the first bus to Kokusai, ridden all day, then caught the bus straight to the airport. I’m sure the conditions would have been epic and there would be nobody around.
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