Furano and Sapporo

[Seat0B]

Background

Yes, it's that time of year again, and the Seats are off for a wonderful skiing holiday in Japan.

For those who've read my other Trip Reports, you will know that we have favoured skiing on Honshu over Hokkaido because we had a very negative experience in Niseko in February 2010. Basically we had 2 normal days, then it got very warm (up to about 7 degrees) and rained with poor visibility for 3 days (skiing conditions miserable, so we visited Kutchan) and then a polar blast blew in, with temperatures plummeting to the -15 to -18 degree mark. This caused all the water and wet snow to snap freeze and the whole mountain, including the town, became a very dangerous skating rink. After that, we decided it wasn't really worth the pfaffing about to get there when conditions on Honshu are usually so good. We changed our minds after several years of our friends telling us how fabulous, fantastic and excellent the snow is at Furano - 20-50 cm of powder snow almost every night, they said, come and join us.

So this year, we decided to give Hokkaido another try and headed up to Furano for 2 weeks of skiing, plus 3 days at the end in Sapporo to see the Snow and Ice Festival there. No other tripping around this time.

Qantas has not yet resumed its direct flights into Sapporo, so we are travelling SYD-HND on QF25 (overnight flight), transferring to Domestic Terminal and then HND-CTS (New Chitose Airport that serves Sapporo), then a 2.5 hour bus ride on the Hokkaido Resort Liner to our Hotel in Furano, arriving about 1400. And yes we know check in is not until 1500 . We flew J on fairly well priced saver tickets bought on sale (no DSCs this time). Our connecting flights CBR-SYD-CBR were booked separately as Y classic awards on the Dash-8 service because I could not under any combination of circumstances get the same sale tickets if I put CBR-HND or even CBR-SYD-HND and after about 2 days trying, I just gave up and booked the award seats.

And just like last time, that is where our troubles began. Again, many of you will have followed along our 2023 trip where we were way too close for time arriving in SYD as our CBR flight kept getting delayed for unstated reasons and then got weather delays. After that, I've vowed to allow plenty of time for connecting, so I booked on a 1510 flight out of Canberra to connect to a 2130 QF25. Worst/best case is arrive at SYD dom at 1610, arrive at International by 1645, clear immigration and security and be comfortably in the F Lounge by 1730, allowing a bit over 3 hrs to enjoy the amenities. Plenty of time if there are delays, plus on later flight CBR-SYD that would get us there on time. Perfect.

As the departure date got closer, the emails from Qantas began. Your flight has been cancelled, you are now on 1410 flight. Hmm, that's a bit long but OK. Then, your flight has been cancelled again, you are now on a 1310 flight. Oh that's a bit much, but I honestly couldn't be bothered stuffing around, I'll just accept. Then just 5 days out from departure, your flight has been cancelled yet again and you are now on QF 802, a 1030 jet service , which will result in 9+ hrs in the F Lounge. We both agreed this was a bit ridiculous, and so I looked for alternative flights. I don't know what was happening with the fleet that day, but the next flight after the 1030 was at 1630....yes, they only ran 4 flights CBR-SYD that day, and I was anxious about that because there were no later flights that would still connect to QF25 if there was any issue with the 1630 flight, and we did not have the protection of the connection being on the same PNR. If things went to schedule, no issue, but our prior experiences (not just in 2023) made us very wary. So now we even started to look at Murray's Bus Line as a real possibility for getting to SYD Int. The most convenient buses were all booked out too, so the only suitable service left at 1130. Weighing all that up, we opted for 9 hrs layover in the F Lounge and accepted the flight change. I can tell you now, I was and remain very happy with that decision.

So the packing began in earnest, out came the home luggage scales, and we headed to the airport with:

• 1 ski bag containing 2 pairs of skis and poles, Mr Seat 0A's ski boots and snow boots, his ski coat and ski pants and thermals, fleece etc. Weight 28kg
• 1 suitcase containing 2 x ski helmets, 4 pairs of ski gloves, 4 sets of goggles, my ski wear and thermals etc. Weight 17 kg
• my suitcase with clothes, toiletries, medications, travelling laundry, etc. Weight 17kg
• his suitcase with the same except no medications (he's healthy) and electronic stuff like cables, cords, plugs, adapters, wifi router etc instead of laundry items. Weight 17 kg.
• We each carried a medium sized backpack and a coat onto the plane. Both backpacks weighed in at or under 7kg.

I take my hat off to those who manage to travel HLO. I'm pretty sure we will never be amongst your number .

 

[Seat0B]

Friday 24 January 2025 CBR-SYD-HND

So off we went, to catch our many-times-rescheduled flight (I bet there's a German word for that!) CBR-SYD to connect to tonight's QF25. It's going to be a long day.

We ordered an Uber XL, which turned up promptly and was indeed XL - all our bags fitted in with the skis stacked on the top. Easy check in, and as confirmed by kind people on this forum, our bags were checked all the way to HND despite the separate PNRs. The check in clerk offered to link the two bookings, and said it would make things easier for us. Leaping ahead, it really did because when I checked in from Sapporo, our bags were tagged all the way to Canberra and we didn't have to do a separate check in for the separate SYD-CBR leg - it was all done in one check in on the JAL site. Amazing. But I digress.

Easy security, quiet business lounge, a couple of coffees and soon we were on a totally packed QF802 (B737 which in itself in not very common for the CBR-SYD route). Easy flight. Straight onto the transfer bus with no wait. Immigration and Security both very quiet at that time of day, and we whizzed through very quickly and at 1155 entered our home away from home for the next 9 hrs, the Qantas First Lounge.

Holy Grail - two spa bookings were available at 1230, if we wanted them. Oh yes please we chorused and so we grabbed a quick drink and headed off for 20 minutes of "dream aligner" pampering massage with hot rocks. Felt very zen when I emerged from the spa. Asked about the possibility of a window table, as Mr Seat 0A really likes to watch all the take offs and landings, but there were none, so as we had time, we asked to be waitlisted. No problem.

We headed down to the big windows and snagged a couple of the lounge chairs looking out over the tarmac.




Did some final trip admin, like advising credit cards of our travel plans and filling out a family declaration for Visit Japan Web. Hey presto, our window table was free, so we toddled off for a leisurely lunch.

View from the restaurant


Summer menu


We shared a salt and pepper squid. It was very good today - crispy coating and extremely tender to the bite. Had a second plate it was so good. Next I had the steamed snapper, which was also very good - so good I forgot to take a photo until it was nearly all gone . Mr Seat 0A tried the brisket and said it was OK - but I didn't get a photo. The I ordered, as I always do, the signature pavlova, which I love, love, love. He ordered the tiramisu and immediately had orderer's remorse. The Tiramisu was not good - he said it had a funny texture and the presentation was dreadful - just a big spoonful of it slopped onto a plate. So after a couple of bites, he requested a pavlova and was happy as a clam with his new selection. I'm still not drinking much alcohol post-chemo - it tastes weird, so I had a mocktail (House Lemonade), which I enjoyed. He had the cab sav, which he said was good. We lingered for a while and ordered coffee and lingered for a bit longer.


By the time we finished, it was after 1600, so the day is passing by quite nicely.

Back to our seats by the window and set about charging some devices, while Mr Seat 0A did some emails etc and I did a cram course on my katakana and kanji focusing on check in/out of hotel, ordering food and using a convenience store. I have been so slack this year with my Japanese for some reason (maybe chemo hangover?). I just have not been able to get motivated to work on it like I wanted to, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came back in my cram session. Before we knew it, it was 1830, and time for dinner.

We both looked at each other and said, all but simultaneously - "I don't think I could fit dinner in!" So we decided to eat on the plane. Had a coffee and read a book for a bit and very soon boarding was called. I cannot believe how quickly that time passed. There are worse ways to spend a day, that's for sure.

Boarding for QF25 was effective, with Group Boarding being strictly enforced. We were both in Group 1 and a couple in front of us and another bloke just behind us were both bounced as they were not Group 1.

On the plane, I still wasn't really hungry, so I had a cheese plate and fruit platter and then slept through the night.

 

[Seat0B]

Saturday 25 Jan 25 Part 1

Here's the dinner menu and drinks list



And the breakfast menu. I ordered the French Toast and Rhubarb, and it was OK. Not great, but better than the hockey puck dried out bacon and egg roll served to Mr Seat 0A. Sorry, no photos. Despite my 5 hrs sleep, I was pretty tired by this point, having left home 24 hours before, and still some way to go!

 

[Seat0B]

Saturday 25 Jan 25 Part 2

Arrival into Japan is always a cacophony of things going "bing bong beep beep" and people sing-saying "irasshaimase" and "hai dozo", and this time was no exception.



We hot footed it to the inevitable Disney-style long, long queue for immigration, and blithely declined all paper forms and an invitation to use a kiosk to register, because we had done the thing on Visit Japan Web. They still made us do a fingerprint and biometric photo at a kiosk, although for some reason, my fingerprints kept rejecting as not correctly captured. Tried 2 machines, same result, so they said not to worry, just do it at the desk. Mr Seat 0A's worked first time.

Waited in line for a long time 40+ minutes, and soon it was my turn at the immigration counter. I showed my QR code and that was fine. It took ages for the machine to register my finger prints, but eventually it did, my passport was stamped, a visa attached, and I was admitted to Japan. I waited just the other side of the line for Mr Seat 0A, who did not have such a smooth run. His QR code had some problem or other, and they tried lots of ways to make it work, but no deal. So he was sent to fill in the forms again, on line. Now this was interesting, because some of the questions on this form are tricky if you don't know the answer, like "what prefecture?" and "street address of hotel". He had not yet activated his e-sim and so couldn't access it on-line. Tried the airport wi-fi and it was operating at snail's pace and pages kept timing out. And of course, I had all this information in printed format in my back pack, so I made to give it to him and got reprimanded by immigration to stay on the "admitted to Japan" side of the line at all times. I felt a bit stressed by all this, so headed to carousel to get our bags, and then to oversize luggage to pick up ski bag. Fortunately they all arrived, but none of them were anything like "priority" in terms of being delivered before other bags, with all but one bag being definitely in the last quarter of the bags brought out. By the time I'd done all this, Mr Seat 0A had been admitted to Japan too, and so we made a bee line through customs and straight to the JAL domestic transfer desk which was absolutely overrun. The line was absolutely massive.

I left Mr Seat 0A with all the bags and wandered to the top of the line to see if there was any priority check in for OWE or Business class and there was indeed a separate lane for Business class and another line for First Class. So I grabbed one of the luggage trolleys and Mr Seat 0A and made my way to join the First Class check in. This was a moment I was super glad to be a QF WP! A few people in the long line seemed to think I was pushing in, and made a fuss about it, and the unusually forceful (for Japan) check in clerk who was monitoring the line tried to send me to the back of the line. I held my ground and flashed my electronic WP card, and was immediately apologised to profusely with much bowing and personally escorted to the First Check in. Offered the choice of exiting the terminal and catching the free connecting bus outside, or going through a security gate in International and getting a special airside terminal bus. There was a long line for the airside security and I was leaning to the general transfer bus, but then Mr Seat 0A found out it was 15 minutes between the terminals, all airside and said he really really wanted to take the airside airport tour. So we endured a 30 min+ wait for a single security point to handle all the transferring pax, before narrowly missing the transfer bus and having to wait 15 minutes for the next one to arrive. Once again I was glad that we were not on MCT here as we kept losing time at every point in the journry - immigration, luggage, check in (luckily not for us), security and wait for transit bus. Anyway, it was totally worth waiting because the airside transit was very interesting with numerous different aircraft types on display, and busy pre-departure preparations taking place everywhere you looked. It was an absolute hive of activity with various maintenance tasks, loading and unloading of bags and cargo, ground operations staff, refuelling, catering trucks, pilots doing pre-flight walkarounds etc. Mr Seat 0A was in his element.

Finally we were admitted to the JAL Diamond Premier Lounge in the Domestic Terminal, and it was pretty nice, with a quiet ambiance, traditional looking Japanses style low furnishings in dark brown, lantern style lighting, and a good view of the tarmac.



The food selection was limited, with miso soup, 2 types of rice triangles, croissants and savoury snacks.



To drink there was a self pour bar of sparkling, other wines, beers and spirits, and non-alcoholic drinks were coffee, tea, juices and soft drinks like Coke.





We did not have long to wait until the departure board told us JL507 to CTSwas ready to board at gate 15. This will be the first time for both of us on an A350, so we are both looking forward to it.

 

[Seat0B]

Saturday 25 Jan 25 Part 3

Boarding was by a strictly enforced Group system. My Boarding pass said Group 1 and as we were travelling together on the same PNR, I expected Mr Seat 0A's to aslo be Group 1. But no, as a QF LTG (OWS), he was allocated as Group 2 and they were not willing to override th computer to let him through. Not a big problem, but not what I expected. Boarding was quite orderly, and reasonably fast, with everyone on board in approximately 20 minutes.

The A350 is huge inside, and JAL ran it with First, Business and Economy. Business was 1-2-1 and Business was 2-4-2. I don;t know what econmy looked like! Business looked and felt very much like Premium Economy, but it was comfortable for us as a couple travelling together being seated in one of the 2 seat sections. The seats were quite spacious, and as a shortie, I had plenty of room, as did Mr Seat 0A, who is 180cm. He also appreciated having a window and daylight.





The flight map was interesting. It's a geopolitical reminder of how close Russia is to Hokkaido.



The flight was quite short, just over an hour. We were served a choice of hot/cold drinks, but no food. This also surprised me. Economy seemed not to be served anything. First looked like they got similar to QF Dom Business.

The JAL Priority Bag tags work much much better than the QF ones do and our bags were very prompt arriving at the carousel in New Chitose. We were out into the arrivals concourse very quickly and have 1hr 45 mins to wait until our bus to Furano. We passed the time exploring the absolutely massive shopping centre upstairs on the departures level, although on so little sleep and with all the Japanese noise and the effort of speaking Japanese, I felt a bit overwhelmed when confronted with a huge array of bento boxes for lunch. So I opted for my go to favourite comfort food in Japan - a konbini tamago sando and a bottle of cold green tea. Mr Seat 0A had a tonkatsu sando. We both nibbled a small block of Meiji Chocolate. Our wait again passed quickly and soon we were aboard our last leg - bus to Furano. I watched out the window for a bit, but soon the warmth and the white noise of the bus worked their magic and I drowsed off to sleep, only waking a few minutes before Furano, with a cricked neck. We were delivered to the hotel door at 1445, and yes, don't you know it, we had to wait until 1500 precisely before we could be checked in. So we did a small walk around the facilities of the hotel and checked in at precisely 1500.

We are staying at Hotel Naturwald Furano and it is quirky, and cutesy, and kitsch in that (good) Japanese way. I'll do a separate post later about the hotel. The longer I stayed, the more I liked it! We have half board here (breakfast and dinner included each day), and selected the early sitting 1730-1900. So to fill in the time until could legitimately go to bed, I contented myself with unpacking my things, putting my skis in the ski locker, having a long soak in the onsen, eating dinner and was in bed asleep by 2000. Unusual for me as I'm usually a night owl.

Tomorrow we ski. It has been a very long journey to get here, so I really hope the snow is as good as everyone has raved to us.


Edit: Correct typos

 

[RooFlyer]

The flight was quite short, just over an hour. We were served a choice of hot/cold drinks, but no food. This also surprised me.

Surprised me too when I was on this flight about a year ago! After the little cold drink I kept waiting,waiting for some tucker, but nope, nothing came

 

[Seat0B]

Sunday 26 Jan 25 - Mountain Orientation

Slept for a solid 12 hours and only just made it to last entry of breakfast at 0900, but we managed to eat, dress in ski gear, gather our equipment, buy tickets and be on the mountain by 1000.



Our hotel is in the Kitanomine zone of Furano resort (the red dot on the right hand side of this map), directly across the car park from the base of the Kitanomine Swift Lift, so it's a very short commute. We received a hotel discount and purchased a Senior (60+) day ticket for JPY 6,200 = about $65 per day on current exchange rate. That is literally 25% of the cost of a walk up day ticket at Perisher - grrrrr.

The full price for a Senior ticket was JPY 6,900 per day. Adult ticket JYP 7,500 per day and children 12 and under with a skiing adult free, but they had to get a daily ticket card to activate the lifts. Teenagers 13+ paid the adult rate for day tickets. The season passes were JPY 82,000 for adult; 59,000 for senior and 56,000 for teenager. kids 12 and under 3,000. This resort does not really do discounts for multi-day passes. You can by a 4 day pass for the same cost of 4 x daily tickets, but you are then locked into those consecutive days, which is unattractive in case of bad weather, wanting a rest day etc.

A couple of days later, we found that you could join the Prince Seibu Global Rewards app (free to join) and then show your membership bar code and receive a discount of JPY1,000 per person per day off the lift tickets, so we ended up paying only JPY 5,900 per day for our tickets. It would probably have been worth our while to buy a season pass, but we did not realise this until after we had already bought a couple of day tickets. That's one for the travel mistakes thread for sure - I just never even thought of this as a thing for us so we probably over paid by about $100 each - oh well, will be wiser next time.

It was initially cloudy but I thought the view was spectacular enough to snap this shot of Mr Seat 0A. The temperature was about -4 and the snow was beautiful. Light and squeaky dry; crisp, tending to slightly crunchy on the corduroy (which was still plentiful even at 1000); but sadly it was slightly icy and scraped out on some of the busier pasts of the runs and in the narrower chutes.
.

And then the cloud cleared and the true nature of the spectacular view was revealed. Wow!!!





For the first day, we just stayed in the Kitanomine zone and took it pretty easy. I'd been crook with some kind of cold/flu thing (not COVID, I tested for that I felt so poor) for the couple of weeks before we left and was still a bit below par. Plus I hadn't resumed my gym program in between returning home in early January from Christmas in the Middle East with Seat Son (yes, there will be a TR!) and leaving for Japan, and I did not want my legs to be so sore that I couldn't ski the next day .

Despite all those factors, I had a really great day, and was really happy with my quick resumption of where I left off, effectively this time last year in Japan because of how coughpy our Australian season was in 2024. The things I am working on to continue my improvement are:

• weight onto the new downhill ski early in the turn
• maintaining enough speed to carve (yep, sometimes I'm a 'fraidy cat and brake exactly when I should give it a bit of a squirt into a turn)
• using my poling to encourage forward/downhill reach at the initiation of the turn.

We came in smiling after a few hours, made a cuppa, had a small nap, read a book, did a load of washing and had a long soak in the onsen, then dressed for dinner. What a great day.

I'm a bit perturbed by the weather forecast. Tomorrow looks like being a carbon copy of today. There is no snow in the immediate future. To be honest, if I got these snow conditions at Perisher, I would be saying "best day ever", but for the heart of Hokkaido powder in the middle of winter, it was a bit disappointing. Anyway, let's see what the future brings.

 

[Seat0B]

Dinner Buffet at Hotel Naturwald Furano

We had this included in our accommodation booking, but the buffet was available for guests without dinner included and people off the street for JPY 5,500 per person. It was totally amazing. You were allocated a 90 minute slot, either 1730-1900 or 1930-2100. We opted for the early slot as I'm usually tired and hungry after a day skiing, and despite being a night owl, I tend to go to sleep much earlier when I ski.

The buffet included a huge selection of prepared dishes, both Japanese and Western, along with a 'cook your own" hibachi yakitori at your table each night. A selection of photos of the amazing food follows.

Some of the prepared dishes.



The chef dedicated cooking tempura. There was another one dedicated to sushi and sashimi but he didn't want to be photographed.

 

[Seat0B]

Dinner Buffet at Hotel Naturwald Furano - the hibachi yakitori

This was super fun. You got to select your own tasty morsels and then cook them at your table. The raw ingredients included a huge range of seafoods and shellfish, pork, beef and mutton, and a type of pork sausage described as a "coarse weiner".



...then, you took them to your table and cooked them. The extraction system was very effective and there wasn't much smoke around despite a lot of people cooking a lot of BBQ meats.



Next step, enjoy!



Wash it down with the free flow open bar - I missed a photo but the range was huge. You could have scotch, vodka, gin, sake, various fruit liquers, Furano red wine, Furano white wine (Mr Seat 0A tried both but was underwhelmed), Kahlua, Baileys and of course, beer from a self pouring beer machine, plus a wide choice of soft drinks.



I was initially worried that 2 weeks of the same buffet might get a bit dull, but as you can see from this selection of photos, there was plenty of choice!

 

[Matt_01]

Boarding was by a strictly enforced Group system.....

That is JAL, we were all on the same PNR and at the time x2 WP and a bronze. JAL were not having a part of our daughter boarding with us so MrsM just waited with her.

.....Business was 2-4-2. I don;t know what econmy looked like! Business looked and felt very much like Premium Economy, but it was comfortable for us as a couple travelling together being seated in one of the 2 seat sections.

Where you in what JAL refers to as Class J, it sound like business but is more like Y+.

We were served a choice of hot/cold drinks, but no food. This also surprised me. Economy seemed not to be served anything. First looked like they got similar to QF Dom Business.

Hot/cold drinks in J is normal on JAL domestic, even on the longer flights such as HND-OKA. The domestic first product IMO is a step up from QF in every aspect.

 

[Seat0B]

Where you in what JAL refers to as Class J, it sound like business but is more like Y+.

Yes, that's it. It was just how it automatically booked as the connection to a Business Saver ticket SYD-HND. I would have been fine with economy connections, but it didn't offer the choice. Nor the choice to upgrade to Domestic F.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Seems like we've all been hit by the ruthless rule following in Japanese domestic boarding policies. I've even taken to sneaking both carry ons through myself while the better half brings the personal items to make sure we get overhead bin space nearby.

Very invested! I hope the snow delivered for you!

 

[Matt_01]

Yes, that's it. It was just how it automatically booked as the connection to a Business Saver ticket SYD-HND.

I would recommend you hang on to your BP. From memory Class J earns SCs at a Y rate, when we return to AU I have contacted QF sent in a copy of the BP and SCs were adjusted to the J rates. We have done this on a few occasions.

 

[Matt_01]

Seems like we've all been hit by the ruthless rule following in Japanese domestic boarding policies. I've even taken to sneaking both carry ons through myself while the better half brings the personal items to make sure we get overhead bin space nearby.

Very invested! I hope the snow delivered for you!

IME there is no need to try and sneak the carry on with you, the staff will just let you take the others carry on with you. I have taken 3 carry ons with me when boarding while Mrs and MissM waited for their turn.

 

[drron]

When in Furano we stayed at the New Prince Furano hotel. But we were there for the flowers not snow. But I did read their snow information and they had a run for powder lovers on that side.
Also the same was the buffet dinner. Didn’t need to find other places due to the fantastic variety of food.
Hope you keep having great days.

 

[Seat0B]

I would recommend you hang on to your BP. From memory Class J earns SCs at a Y rate, when we return to AU I have contacted QF sent in a copy of the BP and SCs were adjusted to the J rates. We have done this on a few occasions.

Interesting. It actually earnt at PE rate which seems to be correct in accordance with the partners earning tables for domestic flights. Not great but I do t need more SC this year to retain WP. And at current rate I won’t be LTP until another 30 years or so pass (ie until the 12th of Never). So not even worth the interaction with QF.

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 27 Jan 25 - We ski our little legs off!

A couple of warm up runs in Kitanomine, then over the link lift (highlighted in yellow) on this map to the Furano zone to explore that area.



The views on the transit and over at Furano itself were just stupendous. It's absolutely gorgeous looking out across the valley, river, township of Furano and up the other side to the magnificent snow covered peaks that were shrouded in wisps of cloud. I tried to get some photos, but the scale is just so huge my photos cannot do it justice. After this attempt, I just gave up trying and I hope I will be able to use the shots I did take as memory prompts to the spectacular reality in the future.



Really enjoyed the transit and several runs in the middle and top of the Furano zone. Based on this and yesterday's runs, I decided that I think the grading of the slopes (beginner, intermediate, advanced) is a bit wonky here. I'm a pretty good skiier and usually ski blues (intermediate) and most blacks quite happily. Here, I feel like the green (beginner) runs are much harder than beginner runs at home, and I even found some of the red (they interchange red and blue for intermediate in Japan) runs were a good challenge, whereas at home and even other resorts in Japan, USA, I all but never find a blue run a challenge. So it was with some trepidation that I approached E1 Panorama (black). But honestly it wasn't any harder that some of the intermediate runs I had already skied so I don't know - !

Next, we tackled the top to bottom run at Furano zone and it was magnificent - long run, challenging in parts, spectacular views and remarkably few people on the run. And when we got to the bottom, we found out why. The main quad chairlift (marked with a big red squiggle on the map above) was closed. And so the only way back to centre mountain (marked with a red circle on map above) was to ride the much touted Furano Ropeway.

This is a giant gondola which takes 101 people per car. The only thing is that it has a capacity of 600 people per hour because there are only 2 cars - one going up (totally chockers) while the other comes down (usually totally empty) on a round trip of 10 minutes. We waited for 20 minutes to board and were about #95 or #96 to board. Our car was cram packed with people - everyone standing and holding their skis or board. There were very few straps to hold, and those that were there were too high for me to reach. So we were sardined in like the Tokyo subway in peak hour. Off the car went, and as we passed the first pylon, there was the usual jiggling over the rollers and a gentle rock of the car - which felt very precarious standing in a crowd with nothing to hold onto. It was also very warm in the car and stuffy because there was no ventilation. By the time we exited 5 minutes later, I had motion sickness. I decided I wasn't going to ride this lift again, effectively ruling out the bottom half of the mountain for me.

Over the rest of our time in Furano, we learnt that the quad was closed because of a serious maintenance problem - the back slide brake that stops chairs slipping backwards on the cable was broken and as the chair is quite old, a new part had to be manufactured and would not be installed this season. So for the whole rest of the season, there will only be the Ropeway to get up to centre mountain. We also heard people complaining of 40 minute waits at various points of the day and even a couple of 50 minute waits on weekend mornings at the start of the day. Yuck.

Did a few more runs up the top and then went to the only food stop on the whole mountain - in the red circle on the attached map. I was really surprised at how under-served this mountain was for food and toilets. Both Kitanomine base and Furano base had a couple of fooderies and toilets, but on-mountain options were nil other than this one place. By comparison, Shiga Kogen, Nozawa Onsen, Madarao and Hakuba Happo One and Tsugaike were all much better resourced with eateries and loos, although the very small resorts of Hakuba Norikura and Hakuba Kortina similarly only had a service centre at the base of the lifts. If you could deal with the inevitable red tape, there is a real business opportunity for an on mountain restaurant and especially for decent coffee. Anyway, probably because of this, the lunch place was absolutely heaving with people, and sharing tables was the norm. Over our time here we would sit with people from NZ (they have been there for 2 weeks and it had not snowed once during their whole visit ); from Germany (Q: why are you skiing here and not at home? A: no snow); from Spain (here for the adventure of somewhere exotic); Montana (Q: why aren't you skiing at home? A: no snow); China (to celebrate Chinese New Year) and Japan. To get your food, you bought a ticket from the vending machine which was handed over at the food counter and quickly replaced by what you had ordered. As usual in Japan, there was free water and green tea available for all customers. it was good to rest our legs.

For those who have read my earlier TRs, you will remember my quest to turn the available Americano coffee into something resembling a flate white, one creamer at a time. For those who have just joined us, here is a repost of my photo from 2024 showing the desperate state we had reached at that time, this one at Shiga Kogen.


Let me just confirm that it was exactly the same at Furano as these sad photos both on and off the mountain reveal. The quest continues....



Headed towards home at about 1430 as the light was flattening out very noticeably as the sun weakened. And thus I was introduced to H1 - the ONLY way back to Kitanomine from Furano (unless you count skiing to the bottom of the hill and catching a town bus, which I don't!). This was a particularly challenging quite steep blue run that was in total shadow (on the north of the mountain), in very flat light, with large sheets of ice, moguls scraped by the very large number of skiers and boarders using the run, and a few very narrow pinches to negotiate. Add to this mix all of the kamikaze beginners doing a mega snow plow the whole way down on a slope well beyond their capability (because there was no realistic alternative for them) and all the smart ar$e snow boarders (mainly) and some skiers who thought it was a great race track and so straighlined it at speed causing mayhem in their wake - boy was my heart rate elevated by the time I exited at the bottom of Kitanomine. I was pretty unhappy with how I'd skied this run - when i get spooked, I fall back into bad habits such as forgetting to keep my shoulders down the hill and too much traversing - I actually do not need to do these things, I am quite capable of skiing these conditions with some style and technique, but the head game gets the better of me. So it was a bit of a sad ending to an otherwise great day, as I was really cross with myself.

Shrugged that all off with a nice long onsen and the fabulous buffet dinner. I ran out of photo space on my last dinner post, so here are a couple of the self serve icecream sundaes I made myself using the delicious, creamy Hokkaido ice cream. They were very good.

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 28 Jan 25 - Rinse and Repeat

Morning routine - completed
Ticket purchase - completed
Warm up runs at Kitanomine - completed and appreciated
Transit via link lift view admired
Fabulous runs on centre and top mountain joyously completed
Coffee break - completed but terrible
More runs - joyously completed
H1 - beasted it!!
Finisher runs - delightful
Washed some clothes - done
Soaked in onsen - completed - so relaxing
Afternoon laze - completed
Dinner - - completed and delicious
Bed - you know what they say, early to bed, early to rise...

What was different?

• We left Furano at 1330 to tackle H1 home and there was much better visibility, and slightly softer snow.
• I gave myself a strict pep talk and beasted the run with good edges set and shorter radius turns. Might not have been pretty, but it worked.
• Finisher runs at Kitanomine allowed me time to work on my carves.
• Took a walk around our immediate environs. Visited the new Rythm store there and they want an exhorbitant JPY 5,000 for a simple hot wax.
• Found a proper coffee place - Ronin Coffee - aahhh life is good.

 

[RooFlyer]

Dinner Buffet at Hotel Naturwald Furano - the hibachi yakitori

Hmmmmmm yum. Can you stay there without skiing?

 

[Seat0B]

Hmmmmmm yum. Can you stay there without skiing?

Yes you can, and quite a few did. And the place is also a great summer destination with paddocks and paddocks of flowers especially lavender everywhere. I'm thinking about a non-ski season trip to Japan, but it just seems so wasteful .