Woke up to a grey sky today. Still I was waiting for the gondola to open at 8:30. Though today I took it much slower than yesterday. The grey sky made it almost impossible to see any contrasts in the slopes.
So I went easy on the snowboarding. Took my time in the short lines for the lifts. Taken some time to get my board strapped on. So I did not go to the peak today. Though I went to the gate to read the conditions in the back country. As yesterday it was written in Japanese, English, and Swedish :-O
Though the peak gate opened around 9:30 it did not seem worth it to climb for 20 minutes into the clouds and have no view as payment for it. Then go in quite steep slopes with poor visibility. Besides, there were almost no untouched areas left yesterday. New snow please 🙂
Instead of going to the peak I found an ungroomed slope lower down. You had to climb up a short slope from the end station of one of the lifts. That and a sign saying “Experts Only” may have been the reason why it was empty from people. I went halfway down zigzagging between trees and stopped for a rest. While I was sitting in the snow just enjoying the silence and the nature, a white bunny came jumping. About 10 meters from where I was sitting. Paying no attention to me it continued down the slope and disappeared. High point of the day 🙂
I also had time to stop for hot chocolate at a cafe in the slopes. And a lunch. There was no possibility to forget the lunch today. In the afternoon it started to snow more and more. By 15:30 I was in taking a hot bath, and though the bath had a roof some snow drifted in under it and landed on top of my head. It was a strange but quite nice feeling.
Dinner I had at one of the restaurants at the hotel. Today i had Japanese dishes. Too much of it. Usually I am with Chie and maybe some additional friends so we can order a lot and share. I ordered salad, pickled vegetables, grilled pork and vegetable tempura. Each dish enough for a person.
Now I am full. Just laying on the bed waiting for my stomach to get flat enough for me to sleep on it. And it is still snowing 🙂