Okay, to start, this isn’t an FTP thread…<\/p>\n
Got back in to Sapporo last evening -\u00c2\u00a0just barely.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Friday was clear in Sapporo, but cold.\u00c2\u00a0 We caught the\u00c2\u00a0highway bus to Niseko Annupuri Resort (2180 yen PP) via Otaru (not the Nakayama-touge route).\u00c2\u00a0 The weather in Niseko was overcast with the portent of snowfall.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 I had a Hamburger with pilaf for 1100 yen.\u00c2\u00a0 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).\u00c2\u00a0 Back at the hotel, we were picked up by Minami-san of Niseko Adventure Center for a snowshoe tour.\u00c2\u00a0 He drove us over to the gondola in a Toyota Hiace and out came the poles and Atlas snowshoes.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 We caught the gondola up to the top station, where it was snowing nicely.<\/p>\n
Stomping down past the left-most (rider’s left) old pair lift base, we descended through the fluffy snow along the gelande boundary.\u00c2\u00a0 Minami-san gave us brief instruction on how to use the snowshoes, including telemark-like sliding on deep powder on steep slopes.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 We went through the #3 gate into the off-piste area and into the trees.\u00c2\u00a0 The snowfall was filling the space between my Oakley’s and face – I really should have brought my goggles…\u00c2\u00a0 Minami-san gave us information on the local trees and critters as we passed various features.\u00c2\u00a0 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+)\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0blueberry\u00c2\u00a0cookies (A).\u00c2\u00a0 Around us, a half-dozen woodpeckers flitted about the trees searching for insects\u00c2\u00a0below the bark of dead branches.\u00c2\u00a0 Once in a while, an Aussie snowboarder would go gliding past looking at us quizzically.\u00c2\u00a0 After more nature lessons (I was getting about half of it in Nihongo), we descended through the trees to the gondola base.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
We returned to the hotel for a shower and dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 This hotel had a big public bath, but no onsen.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a big drill rig out front, so they were working on getting one.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 Dinner was a kaiseki set.\u00c2\u00a0 It was all quite good (A- overall).\u00c2\u00a0 I won’t get into it here since I took a picture of it – I’ll elaborate on the gallery side.\u00c2\u00a0 I got a Niseko Beer Lager (A-).\u00c2\u00a0 It was a lager…\u00c2\u00a0 It was seriously marked up at 900 yen.<\/p>\n
Saturday morning looked good with heavy flurries.\u00c2\u00a0 After viking breakfast, we headed down to the gondola and took our first ride up.\u00c2\u00a0 The top was windy and most of the new fall was being blown away.\u00c2\u00a0 About a third of the way down, the winds subsided\u00c2\u00a0and the snow was allowed to accumulate.\u00c2\u00a0 The gelande was so fluffy that I didn’t need to enter the trees except for the entertainment of obstacles.\u00c2\u00a0 The weather progressively deteriorated.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0By lunchtime, the winds were “knock you over” strong at the top and strong all the way down.\u00c2\u00a0 The wind had scoured all the new fall from a lot of the upper parts of the courses.\u00c2\u00a0 The sheltered parts and the base were still getting accumulation or redistribution.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We took a lunch break in hopes that the wind would subside.\u00c2\u00a0 I had the “ham and potato pizza” for 1150 yen at the cafeteria.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a lactose nightmare with around\u00c2\u00a08mm of cheese\u00c2\u00a0all over it.\u00c2\u00a0 A\u00c2\u00a0little too much for one person.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, except for the potatoes, it was rather good (B-).\u00c2\u00a0 I probably wouldn’t get it again unless there was someone to split it with.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t try the 2100 yen crab pizza.<\/p>\n
The weather was still about the same after lunch.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 We decided to call it a day.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I stopped by the little hotel store and got a Niseko Beer Kuro-beer (580 yen).\u00c2\u00a0 That one was really good (A+)!\u00c2\u00a0 During dinner, the nighter lights were on on the gelande, but I didn’t see even one person riding.\u00c2\u00a0 Dinner was a sashimi kaiseki (A-).\u00c2\u00a0 Not much different from the set meal yesterday, but concentration on the sashimi side.\u00c2\u00a0 Again, I’ll get into this more on the gallery side.\u00c2\u00a0 Afterwards, I got the last Niseko Beer varietal – a Canadian Ale (B+).\u00c2\u00a0 Good, but not as good as the Tokachi Beer Brown Ale (A-) I got in Obihiro.<\/p>\n
Sunday morning was evil.\u00c2\u00a0 The wind had continued through the night, scouring all the new snowfall away even from the hotel elevation.\u00c2\u00a0 The trees were bending and swaying outside the windows during breakfast.\u00c2\u00a0 As of the first news, JR, buses, and most of\u00c2\u00a0the Southwest Hokkaido airports were shut down.\u00c2\u00a0 The lifts were all closed.\u00c2\u00a0 It took a bit of negotiation at checkout time to get a credit on the unused day of our lift tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually they cashed us out and took that amount off the entire bill.\u00c2\u00a0 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\u00c2\u00a0in the afternoon.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The bus showed up at 13:30 and we were homebound.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
The snowplows were still working as we backtracked to Sapporo.\u00c2\u00a0 The rail-clearing locomotive was just reaching JR Niseko-eki as we passed over the yellow Niseko Oohashi.\u00c2\u00a0 Crazy huge waves on the Nihon-kai were smacking the seacoast around Otaru.\u00c2\u00a0 There were huge accumulations of snow in Sapporo.\u00c2\u00a0 The plows had built piles as high as two-story buildings.\u00c2\u00a0 The sky was clearing, but the wind was still fairly strong.\u00c2\u00a0 We had dinner at Forza Italian restaurant in Maruyama.\u00c2\u00a0 The tomato and mozzarella salad was very good (A), but the parma ham\/salami\/sausage appetizer was average (B).\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The gorgonzola cheese sauce penne was very good (A) and the wafuu pizza was also good (A-).\u00c2\u00a0 The pizza was topped with miso-flavored ground meat, eggplant, green onions, and a raw egg.\u00c2\u00a0 Dessert was tiramisu (A-)\u00c2\u00a0and vanilla gelato topped with espresso (?).\u00c2\u00a0 I had my last Tokachi beer varietal, the Weizen, when I got home.\u00c2\u00a0 It was OK…\u00c2\u00a0 of the four varietals, it was probably the least well executed (B-).\u00c2\u00a0 It was not an unfiltered hefe-weizen, by the way, which probably affected my overall enjoyment.\u00c2\u00a0 Around 6600 yen for a full meal for two.<\/p>\n
This morning it is the coldest it has been in town during my 11 days here,\u00c2\u00a0around -10C at daybreak.\u00c2\u00a0 Asahikawa was around twice as cold this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 If I was hard core, I’d have packed up last night, caught the first bus to Kokusai, ridden all day,\u00c2\u00a0then caught the bus straight to the airport.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure the conditions would have been epic and there would be nobody around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, to start, this isn’t an FTP thread… Got back in to Sapporo last evening -\u00c2\u00a0just barely.\u00c2\u00a0 Friday was clear in Sapporo, but cold.\u00c2\u00a0 We caught the\u00c2\u00a0highway bus to Niseko Annupuri Resort (2180 yen PP) via Otaru (not the Nakayama-touge route).\u00c2\u00a0 The weather in Niseko was overcast with the portent of snowfall.\u00c2\u00a0 After checking in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8,12,13,16,18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paJYlx-a7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}