The last weekend of February we took a ski trip to Hakuba Happo in Nagano Prefecture. We booked through the same travel agency that we planned our last ski trip with, so things were pretty smooth and we knew what to expect. On Friday night we boarded the overnight bus at ShinKobe station, above is us on the bus.
We arrived at about 6:30 in the morning, much earlier than the last time we took the overnight bus. To allow ourselves to wake up, and to kill time until the slopes opened at 8, we relaxed in the Virgin Cafe near the bus stop, drinking some coffee and snacking on muffins. After dropping our bags off at our hotel we headed to the mountain at about 8:30 a.m. Above is Joe getting ready for a beautiful day of skiing.
Looking back at the village from part way up the mountain.
Getting further up the mountain....
About 2/3rds of the way up the mountain, Joe with the Happo area in the background, me with a view across the valley of the Northern Japan Alps.
More Hakuba scenery....
Blue sky, white snow...
Lift shot.
Another lift shot...
Happo was one of the competition venues for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Below is the start house for downhill skiing.
Shall we go?
Joe gets ready to ski the Olympic course.
There were lots of moguls at Happo, as evidenced by the following photo. These were frustrating at first, as they were not marked on the map, but after two days we both improved our mogul form a great deal.
Joe on our hotel balcony at the end of a long Saturday of skiing! We pretty much stayed out the entire day, stopping only for a lunch of Japanese curry and for a drink break.
After the overnight bus and a long day of skiing we were pretty tired, so we headed to the onsen at the hotel for a soak before heading out for dinner.
Above is an advertisement that we passed on our way to dinner at Uncle Steven's, the Mexican restaurant that we discovered on our last trip to Hakuba.
Sunday morning! I'm wearing a Jayhawk shirt because this was the day that KU played MU in the last season match between the rival teams.
Across the street from our hotel was this small shrine, perhaps the kami that lives here receives alot of prayers for good snow or no injuries?
Joe on Sunday morning.
Me attempting to ski the gates!
A late lunch of Japanese rice bowls, french fries and cake.
The view we had during lunch.
At the end of the day on Sunday with a small ski jump in the background. The ski jump used in the Olympics was just south of Happo, and was visible from various points on the mountain.
We had a tasty dinner of Thai food after changing out of our ski clothes and stashing our gear at the hotel.
Joe eating some Thai fried rice.
We waited for the Sunday night overnight bus at the Virgin Music Pub near the bus stop. The bus dropped us off at Sannomiya station at about 6 a.m. on Monday, allowing us to get home, get ready for work and make it in with a few minutes to spare.
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