Niigata Ski Trip 新潟スキー旅行

 Waiting to board the E4 Max Shinkansen.

In addition to our Kyoto travels, we took an overnight trip to the mountains over the winter holidays. We started with an hour long Shinkansen trip up to Echigo Yuzawa. The trip included a lot of tunnels, and when we emerged from the last one, the ground was covered with snow.

We took a short bus trip, and arrived at Joetsu Kokusai. 

 Joe prepares for the day.

 The clouded in view from part way up the hill.

 Training for the 2030 Olympic gold medal.

 Snowball maker!

 One of our favorite parts of the resort was the Kid's Paradise, where little dude enjoyed sledding, snowball making (and throwing), tubing, and general snow mayhem.

 Tubing.

The hotel as viewed from the base of the lifts and Kid's Paradise.

 Skiing!

The hotel hallway. A bit of a Shining-esque feeling, but also very cool.

 A selection of local beer.

We awoke on day two to fresh powder falling outside of the window. The snow continued to fall all day, making for a fantastic day of skiing.

The hotel interior.

 

Snow!!

 

Our rental skis at the end of the day.

After a second day of fantastic skiing, we took the bus back to the train station, and picked up some snacks for the ride back to Tokyo, including snowball doughnuts, or giant doughnut holes with powdered sugar, as pictured below.