After years that our winter sports gears have been in storage, it was finally time to unpack them. Two months ago I aired them out and washed our jackets. We also changed to winter tires and started making rough plans which ski resorts to drive to this season.
We chose Naeba, a famous resort located between Gunma and Niigata prefectures. The weather forecast was good; being at the "peak" of winter, I would say our timing couldn't be more perfect.
Having been slumped with work in the last couple of weeks, this trip was much needed. We packed light and fast, and set off to our first snowboarding trip in 3 years. Although driving on a Friday night was probably not the best decision, it still gave us the chance to start our runs at the early hours of the next day.
Tokyo motorways have always been inefficient; it's just too time-consuming driving out of Tokyo. But once we were on the highways, it got better. We got hungry halfway and had our share of ramen at a high way stop.
About an hour before arriving at our lodge in Naeba, it started snowing. It was a trippy view.
The lodge was super accommodating, and made sure we were comfortable. Arriving at 9pm on a cold snowy night got us so sleepy so we snuggled the night away.
There was fresh powder snow for us the next day! We were able to do fun runs on the powder before it got crowded around noon. I tried going up the gondola but the condition on the higher slopes was too difficult for me.
The lift tickets allowed us to go to 3 different resorts: Naeba, Tashiro and Kagura. They are connected by a 5km, 20-min gondola (dragondola) ride, which we took, out of curiosity to check Tashiro out, but it was just mostly flat which Kevin did not enjoy.
We got down to take the bus back to Naeba; Kevin did a couple more runs, and I just waited while eating waffle crepe with fresh seasonal strawberries!
Dinner was interesting. We queued up in a local restaurant called "Bamboo" but then got really hungry and left towards Naeba prince hotel, where the fireworks festival would also be. It was -8deg outside and I was shivering in the cold. We spent about half an hour but did not like to food selection there, so we gave up on watching the fireworks and walked back to Bamboo. Luckily the bar served awesome cocktails and pate' while we waited for a table to dine.
It was worth the wait. The food was rewarding. No wonder people flocked there, it would also be my top dinner option.
The matcha (green tea powder) tiramisu was heavenly. We resisted ordering some more, and settled for caramel custard cream puff, which also was very satisfying.
The next morning, even though I got lots of muscle pain from the day before, I felt energetic to snowboard. The sky was bright, and the slope condition was good. I managed to do about 10 runs, but my toe-edge turns were still messy.
We decided to stop at noon, and grabbed sausage sandwiches from a stall. The bread was unexpectedly tasty. They had different types of sauces and toppings but my favorite was the chili sauce. The mont-blanc crepe, however, which was a bit disappointing.
We drove back to Tokyo and as much as I wanted to drive so he could also rest, I totally passed out. 🤣 The next 3 days were full of muscle aches all over my body.
It was actually better than I expected; I thought my old knees would disappoint me. Yes I fell a couple of times but ai was also able to enjoy a few runs. I still dream about the sausage buns though.