Our time in Hakuba was amazing. We lucked out and arrived the week of a major snowstorm, lasting 5 days. Our first two days had smaller amounts of fresh snow, once the blizzard set in we had new snow days like we have never experienced, i.e. 400 mm in 24 hours. We experienced powder skiing like we never have! We stayed at Iwaki snowfield a lower elevation resort, this turned out to be an advantage as it provided the benefit of better visibility with the “whiteout” snowy conditions. Alastair and Caroline both wished that there was a bit steeper terrain, but the kids and I were quite happy as powered skiing in this huge amount of snow was much more difficult than I thought it would be! We were grateful that it was easy to rent good quality skis and boots, we were able to get Alastair’s boots, and our ski clothing transferred to our ski Lodge from the airport for a very reasonable price (getting stuff back to Canada was much more difficult). We had tons of fun adventures on the slopes, including having to search through deep snow for Clarks missing ski, rush to help when a staff member got caught under snowmobile when it tipped over in the masses of snow, many people ran to assist, the person was quickly released and luckily not hurt. I had some anxious moments waiting for Caroline at the lift when she had decided to take a steep tree run down the mountain and seemed to be taking way too long, luckily, she was safe. We had a great apartment and cooked much of our own food, as it was difficult to get to restaurants. We had not rented our own car as our pre-travel research the shuttle bus would suffice; at night it only had a staff run. It was busy season in the Hakuba valley, there are 10 different small ski resorts, and you can wait long time for a Grab (Asian Uber equivalent) or taxi, at rush hour we repeatedly had our ride request cancelled because there are no drivers available. Our apartment was large by Japanese and comfortable by Japanese standards, it had a great snow gear room, lots of clothes washers and driers shared in a communal area. There was also a communal lounge, and we had a fun night visiting with some Australian skiers and the hotel owner, Dan, he is Australian, and his wife is Japanese. It was fantastic to have Clark and Caroline with us for the ski adventure. Caroline and Alastair are better skiers that I am, they also clearly love adrenaline rushes much more than I do!
