As many of you know, I’m currently WWOOFing at Redwood Inn Lodge in Nagano prefecture. Generally, I work from about 10am until 2pm, then eat lunch (usually prepared by the chef), and then I’m free for the rest of the afternoon and evening. And with lift passes available to staff for just 500yen ($5), it is worth it to go boarding, even just for a couple of hours until the lift closes at 4pm. But, after shovelling snow and doing other jobs all morning, it’s not that easy to muster up the energy to get all the gear on and head out for just a few runs, even at such a cheap price!
Having said that, I have been lucky enough to have a couple of full days off up until now, so I’ve taken full advantage of those out on the slopes. Naturally, after not riding for a whole year, it took a few runs to get used to the feeling again, but I seem to be back in the swing of things now and joyfully shredding up as much powder as possible.
There is apparently quite a lot of snow for this time of the year (the season only opened on 20th December), so this hasn’t been too much of a problem, with all the runs pretty well covered. And, as you can probably see from the pictures, there are virtually no other people out on the slopes, especially on weekdays. So, even though the ski park is not all that big, it’s like you have the whole place to yourself most of the time and thus feels a lot larger than it really is; I can ride all day and still find plenty of fresh tracks right up until close.
Blue skies and clear runs
Looking down over the main part of the park from the top of the mountain
This is my first time boarding at such a small local ski park, but to be honest there is a lot to like about it. Compared to Niseko (Hokkaido) the mountain is definitely not as tall (only about half the size), so the runs are shorter, but there are no queues, so you can get right back on the lift and go again. There are basically three main groomed runs for beginners/intermediate, but tons of powder on the more difficult runs and through the trees, and aside from under the lifts, there are no ropes so you can board virtually anywhere you want across the whole park.
In addition, I was lucky enough on my first day out to ride with a couple of people who also work here in the village and a customer from the lodge, so I wasn’t alone. On my second trip out, I met up with the lodge owner and his wife, so again I had some company for at least part of the day and this made things even more enjoyable than exploring the park solo.
I could go on and on about how great it is, but perhaps I’ll just leave this video here for you to watch instead. I haven’t had much chance to use the GoPro yet, so the quality might not be so great, but I think you can get the general idea 😉
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Osu Osu Osu! 