Kandatsu Kogen

Well, it looks like this winter/spring will be the one in which we hit many ski resorts in Japan. Until I came to Japan, I had only been skiing once in West Virginia. I had tried snowboarding and was so terrible at it, I ended up crying and demanding to walk back to the rental place and rent skis. I did much better on skis, but it definitely wasn't love at first lift. I have never been particularly athletic, so I was bad at skiing too....but at least I could move both of my feet independently of one another.

Flash forward six years and my trip to Mt. Naeba on Christmas 2012 was only my second time skiing. Then we went to Grinpa/Yeti and now Kandatsu Kogen and I can definitely say I've come a long way. I enjoy skiing much more than the first time and with each trip I get a little better at it. At Kandatsu Kogen, I took lessons through the MWR Outdoor Rec....I learned a lot and I think I'm actually starting to call myself a skier.

Japan has arguably some of the best ski spots in the entire world. The climate in some areas dumps this wonderful powdered snow on the ground making it an ideal ski paradise. Within a day's driving distance of Yokosuka, there's tons of ski resorts. Kandatsu is northwest of Yokosuka in the Niigata area, about a 5 hour drive. John and I book our snow trips through the base's MWR Outdoor Recreation center. You can definitely drive/train to ski resorts on your own, but if someone else can do the driving for $75/person (which is a little less than you'd pay in train tickets and tolls), then I am definitely going to choose that option. We sleep all the way there and back, so although the bus is uncomfortable, it is much better than driving.

Anyway, next month we're doing two ski trips, March we have three planned, April two and then May will be the end of the season and we'll try to do two trips then as well.

Here's some pictures from Kandatsu Kogen:

The two person chair lift was painfully slow.

It didn't stop snowing the entire time we were there.

View from the chairlift.

This was at the edge of the snowboard park.

My skis at the start of the run.

John catching some air.

John doing the board slide.

All those tricks were hard work!

This chairlift faced straight down the mountain.

I was taking photos!

I swear I'm looking at the camera.