February 19, 2013
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志賀高原 02-2013
Back from Jap, so sad that xanga's app for android doesn't really work, hence i couldn't post anything through mobile and hence..... no updates.
Let me do some recap here.
Not going by shuttle bus but we drove ourselves. Makes me feel very local, Never drove to ski resort before~!!! Destination: Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel. I always stay in the Prince Hotel if there is one.
2.5hrs drive, we got there at 1pm, room was ready so we quickly unloaded everything and start snowboarding~!The lift was 1 min walk from the hotel, that's what I call ski-in ski-out. It was snowing when we got there and snow was getting more and more heavier, powder everywhere~!!
I didn't expect alot of powder hence i brought a shorter board, lighter and more bouncy. Perfect for park riding.
Sky was dark and i was wearing dark iridium lens, I can hardly see.....
I was surprise there were no night ski, the lifts stopped at 4:30pm. I got nothing to do at night, we went to bed super early after dinner.
Next day, stop snowing, Friend B got her Go-Pro DV with her, about to shot some videos.
Weather wasn't the best, but the view was awesome~~~!!!!
Just like chinese water painting~!!!!! but is real.Weather was fantastic. we went to the next slope, FYI, shiga Kogen got like 19 mountains linked together, you can go from slope to slope. How can i miss a chance like this?
Next day the weather looked ok hence we decided to go further....
We got to 東館山, 2,3 mountains away from our original slope, 燒額山. See the funny ball shape gondola at the back?? they were installed for the Winter Olympics held in Nagano in 1998. One of the course here was actually called "Olympic course".
We got to the 2nd highest point at Shiga Kogen - 寺小屋. (highest: 橫手山) Under the sun, the view couldn't be prettier.
Didn't have chance to record the 2nd half of the day before the weather turned bad very quickly and several lifts closed hence we were busy looking for possible routes to get back to our slope.
Concluding past 3 days results, we've almost covered 1/2 of the shiga kogen area. (routes we covered were shaded in black)
Last day, we've decided to go to the green or red runs that are near by but we haven't covered. Japanese are so creative, they crafted a Tommy train and totoro by the lift.
We found this sectino of the mountain really hard to get to because there is only one lift accessing it. Want to get there from our slope, we have to go down a black run.... and we did.
left at 1, 2pm.... as we started to get hungry......
I did regret abit after planning to go to Shiga Kogen, as it was so far away.(almost 3hrs driving, haven't done this again since i moved back from England)... But deep in my heart I always want to go because everyone talked about it, it is like a "must visit" place for snowboarder. And it is the biggest ski resort in Japan!!
After these 4 days, I don't regret at all, it was an awesome resort, the runs, the lifts, the slopes, the view, all very good... Maybe not in near furture, but i will visit again, this time I will cover the other 1/2 of the map. That's what I called "Complete".
