So this totally looks like I've taken photos of postcards and then put them up but this is for real. This is Nozawa Onsen and I did not want to leave. Its a small village in Nagano (think 1998 winter Olympics) and it is as picturesque in real life as it is in the postcards. The town is famous for powder snow and 30 free onsens in town. The second picture was our 'local'. And after 4 days in this town I am in the routine of sleeping, onsening, skiing, eating, skiing, onsening and eating and then doing it all over again!
I went up on the Wednesday night and got there a bit after 8pm and was taken up to Nozawa Cottage while Melon, Karina, Dre, Duncan and Kristian were arriving from Tokyo. So the owner of the cottage invited me down to a local bar to celebrate Australia day and kill some time while I was waiting.....The gang arrived at about 12:30am and I was a little tipsy but very excited to see them! cottage which is right on the edge of the slopes, just 150m to the main gondola.
In the morning we had a look around town, got our bearings and then headed to the hire shop to get some gear and hit the slopes. Kristian and I were skiing and both hadn't been in over 10 years so we had a 2 hour lesson (with a hot Swiss instructor). It was great to ski again, but I really had trouble trying to relax into it. I would go super fast and then freak out a bit and then either crash or slow right down and come to a complete stop. Or I would just plough the whole time. So my aim was to try and get better turns and maintain some consistent speed. It too me a good 3 days to do it but by the end I was much better. I think that I wanted to be so good at it but I was trying too hard. Yes, I am a big fat try hard. Anyways, I've found that this sport really tests your personality. I am a control freak and I don't like heights, so being unable to control my speed and getting on chairlifts was a bit of a test.
The first day Kristian and I were heading up the baby slop to practice a run or two before the lesson and it was my first chair lift ride of the trip. We are going up and I am getting a bit anxious because there was no bar. Or at least we thought there was no bar. We get over half way up and my knuckles are white clenching the side of the chair and melon yells out from ahead, 'put your bar down'. I felt so much better when we had the bar down. Obviously. Then on day 2 there was a single chairlift that really didn't have a bar. It was fine for most of the time, until I opened my eyes and got kind of dizzy. So I made it to the top but then coming down was another story. This run was quite steep compared to the other baby run we were on. So I was headed for the powder snow going kind of fast and then planted face first into the snow, it didn't hurt a bit but I managed to lose a ski on the way down. I started freaking out thinking that's it for my ski experience but thank god Karina was nearby with her snow borad and managed to dig around for my ski while I was freaking out about losing it. By this stage, the confidence and energy levels had taken a bit of a knock and it was a rough afternoon. So back to the baby slopes and had a couple of nice runs because i thought that was my last day and so I just relaxed into it and it was great. Saturday was a day off and the other guys went to see the snow monkeys but I was buggered and stayed in the village with Karina. We had a stroll around town, ate okonomiyaki and saw the cooking onsen,. Then went home for a nap. We went to the crazy little izekaya for dinner and ate some great food and drank sho-chu.
I had to head back to Tokyo on Sunday but I had just enough time to get in half day skiing before i caught the train and It was great. We stuck to the baby run but it was great all being on the mountain together and skiing and I really finally relaxed into it. Had better turns and was maintain a more consistent speed. Still not a great skier by any means but I feel like by day 3 i finally got it . And I would totally go skiing again. Especially where there is onsens. After a long day my body was so tense from trying so hard. I thought i would be worried/nervous about getting naked in front of friends but it was not a problem. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. Get undressed, wash yourself on the side of the bath, acclimatize and then sit in the bath... so relaxing.
What a idyllic winter wonderland! Well done on the slopes Cass!
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