4th February



Had another great weekend snowboarding, this time at Nozawaonsen – a resort about 20 minutes drive from my house. James will soon be leaving Japan to go back home to England and a weekend on the mountain was the perfect way to say goodbye. It’s not the easiest place to get to by train so luckily Kat and James took me in their trusty car! We were meeting Kyla and some of the people from our Hakuba trip a few weeks ago so I decided to join them at the lodge and stay overnight.

We arrived quite early on Saturday and because I had my brand new board tucked under my arm and boots stuck to my feet...



...I didn’t have to worry about getting comfy with any rentals and managed to get straight on to the lift after we bought our passes. Nozawaonsen is a huge mountain and so far the most expensive for a 2 day pass – cost about \8000 for the weekend, that’s still less than 40 pounds.












A full day of snowboarding and amazing views was followed by a trip to a recommended onsen in the town (Nozawaonsen has over 20 free onsen) which unfortunately wasn’t quite the relaxing experience I had hoped for. This particular onsen had no showers or changing rooms, was a tad overcrowded with an overwhelming smell of sulphur and the main door opened right into the bath!　Still, the water was hot enough to soothe our aching muscles and prepare us for a night of karaoke...

























Sunday morning arrived all too quickly but brought with it a fresh covering of that lovely powder snow. After some breakfast we were ready to hit the slopes again and I spent most of the day trying to link my turns! The boys (and Kyla!) were a tad more adventurous and hit the jumps and “deadly” half pipe. Poor James had a tumble before lunch resulting in a very swollen shoulder and a job as the designated photographer.



I have a long weekend to look forward to next, with Iiyama snow festival on Saturday and then Kyla and I are going back to Hakuba for Sunday and Monday on the slopes. “Gambatte” legs!!!