John stuck in a phone box!
Soooo cheesy!
The last two days have been spent skiing! A lot of fun but just as difficult as I thought it would be! The first day we went to Moiwa, a slope right near Sapporo. It was easy to get to, just the subway to Suikawa and a 2 mile walk (or there is a bus from Makonamai but we didn't get it). Supposedly it's good for beginners, but there were actually too many groups of children about learning to ski, so the nursery slopes were packed :( A bit stressful for someone who had never put on skis before (ie ME!). But after lots of falling over, tears, words of encouragement from John and sweets from a lovely lovely Japanese lady, I finally started to get then hang of it, and tried the big slope. I still fell over a lot but it was a lot of fun! John pushed himself a bit to hard, but I was impressed how good he was since he hasn't put on skis for 11 years, and only went on one holiday then! Since I fell so much, I didn't dare take my camera with me, but here are a few shots I took before and after!
Bridge on the walk there
My first ever ski site :)
Are you proud I managed this hill? It may look easy but it wasn't for me!
View from the top. Wow!
Skiing day two was at Sapporo Teine, a little further away, but much bigger and better! We got a transport, 4 hour lift pass and ski hire deal from JR Sapporo station for only 5850yen (£50).
(The trains are really frequent, and buses at 9:10, 10:15, 11:50, 14:40 everyday plus 8:40, 9:40, 11:15, 12:10, 13:10, 14:10 weekends and holidays (takes 30 minutes to the top, you can get a timetable from the JR lady you buy the tickets from. I've put all the times here because I couldn't find one online anywhere). )
We went with Scott and Wayne, two Aussies we met on Christmas Eve. They were better than me, but not by so much that I felt too embarrassed!
We went right to the top area, Highland, and against my better judgement, got the lift right to the top. I must be mad!
Yes, right to the top. See that chairlift? I was on there, with skis on, fearing for my life!
It might have been a bit much, and the top of the green run down really tested my 1 day old skills, but slowly, slowly, I snowplowed my way to victory, and got all the way to the bottom! The run from Highland down to the lower course, Olympia, was fun for a real beginner like me, and a real confidence booster! Repeat, 2 more times, and I feel both completely knackered and like I have really accomplished something. So much fun! Wayne was braver than me at taking his camera today, so there's some better photos!
Don't we look pro?
So pretty! I didn't ski all the way to the bottom (runs didn't go that far) but a good section of it!
At the bottom - I'd come from almost the highest point you can see, and I'd only fallen over once...about 10 meters before where this photo was taken!
What a fun few days in the snow!
You should have taken me with you, then you would have looked pro!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha I wish you had been there to look like a fool with me. It's depressing when 5 year old Japanese kids zoom past you!
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