Japan 2023 - Day 17

One of the best memories I have from our first trip to Nozawa Onsen was finding the Akari Swiss Bakery. It was open early, in time for a quick swing by for some beautiful fresh bread or the like for breakfast ahead of a day on the slopes. During the planning for this trip, I’d selected accommodation near where we’d been last time for both its proximity to the bakery and relatively easy access to the snow.

So today, Monday morning, day 18, I was excited to go find out what the bakery had to offer first thing. We’d checked the night before and it said they opened at 8am, but I got a message from Jason at 7:40 telling me that they weren’t open Mondays. Noooooooooooo!

The start to the day was incredibly frustrating for me. It was slow. I hate the chopped up snow at the end of the day and so really prefer to be out there early after the groomers have tidied it all up for me and today was one of those days where things weren’t going to my plan. I quite possibly got a little angry about it. When I was finally on my way up to the mountain I took these photos because it reminded me that as frustrated as I was and as bad as I thought the start to my day was, it can always be worse. 

At least it wasn’t raining. It was snowing which was a good thing for the planned day of skiing. It just didn’t happen to stop. At all. All day. Fortunately conditions weren’t terrible and we were happy to ski, though it limited where I was prepared to go because I was still concerned that my aging and fragile body wouldn’t hold up if I pushed myself too hard. I’ve become a lot more cautious than the rest of the family, but at least I’m still skiing.

We explored our way around the easier parts of the mountain while the nuts (mostly Thomas) went and found their own fun amongst trees and on steep slopes that this little black duck wasn’t about to engage in.

Nozawa Onsen is an interesting mountain and I hadn’t explored a lot of it last trip due to being a little lame from our time at Madarao. One of the differences at Madarao, is that you can go to the top and find a really long, green, easy run along the ridge line, but to get down from there, your only easy option is a long winding road (which is at least in most parts wide and easy to navigate). Your other option to get down either involves going to the top and taking an alternate long road that is significantly narrower and rated intermediate rather than beginner.

With the mixed ability we had skiing together at the time, we decided the green road down was the best way to go. And we nearly made it all the way down without incident. There was just one corner where everyone pulled up ahead of a somewhat steep bit and waited while Bel decided to maybe forget how to turn or stop or something? Not quite sure exactly what happened other than a sudden exclamation and an almost slow-motion plough into the group, seizing hold of Caroline briefly before her momentum took her past her, leaving her to seize hold of Rhianna and take her out as well. It was entirely comical and fortunately didn’t result in any injuries.

The road down was long. Like seven kilometres or so long but about two thirds of the way down there was an option to take a short intermediate run to cut the corner. We stopped at the top and everyone assessed it as not too steep and so down we went. Happy days.

I ended up at the back of the pack after that, deliberately waiting to make sure everyone was good ahead of me. Those at the front came upon another option to take an intermediate run to cut out some more of the green run. The only problem was, by the time you could assess how steep it was, you’d well and truly passed the point of continuing down the green run that I’d been wondering why everyone had opted out.

Unfortunately, it was significantly steeper than the other little red run. That’s okay, we were sure we’d all manage. Most of us skied our way down within our limits and left Thomas to help Aimee who certainly wasn’t feeling confident enough to tackle it on her own. So we waited at the bottom, watching and sending positive vibes.

It wasn’t to be though. The confidence wasn’t there, so Thomas kindly took Aimee’s skis for her and she opted for the direct, butt-slide down the mountain way out of trouble!

We skied at the bottom of the mountain for a bit, biding our time until lunch. On one of my runs I found Aimee taking off her skis at the bottom. I checked she was okay and she advised she was but was taking a break.

I didn’t realise that she’d had a fall ahead of taking her skis off. I headed back up for another run ahead of lunch only to come back down and find that Aimee appeared to be faring a fair bit worse than the okay she’d thought she’d been at when I’d checked. She was clearly in pain and struggling to get around. She’d been checked by ski patrol who’d advised that if needed the hospital was a possibility.  It was time for lunch though and no-one (except a Rowland *cough* Cameron *cough*) really likes going to a hospital in a foreign country, so the idea was to take some time for her to rest up and assess where things were at. She was struggling enough that even getting inside was looking tricky, so Sam and Thomas grabbed a chair from inside, sat her in it, and then carried her into the restaurant.

By the time lunch had been consumed, it was clear Aimee wasn’t going anywhere without assistance and so she and Bel called it a day and departed the scene in style.

Emily, Thomas and Sam were kind enough to ski back to deliver Bel and Aimee’s skis and poles back to our accommodation.

It was still snowing, and the rest of us skied on with half our minds wondering how Laimee was getting on.

Caroline, Emily and I were skiing up near the top of the mountain during the afternoon and I decided I needed a break and suggested we stop for a hot chocolate. While Caroline was taking advantage of the facilities on offer, Emily opted for a vending machine delivered hot chocolate, while I noticed a number of young people walking around with delicious looking ice-creams and decided that I was definitely up for getting intimate with one in the immediate future. I lined up with the kids and eagerly awaited delivery. I watched the young girl before me walk away with a luscious looking treat, ordered mine and watched eagerly as the kindly old gent serving me pulled the lever to deliver the icy creamy goodness. He swirled it around once, twice and pfft. There was no more. 

"So sorry, sold out," he declared, looking genuinely disappointed that he had to deliver that news to me. Devastated, I moped away, consoling myself with an icy cold can of coke while I waited for Caroline. She had just appeared when the old dude excitedly found me to announce that he'd refilled the machine and that I could get my ice cream. I gleefully followed him back to his little stall and watched as he pulled the lever.

And nothing happened. 

It was like being told you get a second chance at Christmas only to have it yanked from under your feet! He was extraordinarily sorry but I was still icecreamless. 

Caroline was finally sorted with her hot chocolate and so I sat with her, sipping my coke, lamenting the ice-cream that never was when for a second time I was hunted down and beckoned back to the ice-cream stand. I almost didn't go. Could I survive further disappointment? Was my day to be as bad as the person that had parked their car in someone's front-yard ditch? Warily I followed him. 

He pulled the lever.

Ice cream appeared.

He swirled ... and swirled ... and swirled ... and with great joy, I accepted the treasure and enjoyed every last bit of it! It may just have been the best ice cream I've ever had.

There’s a physio in Nozawa Onsen and Jason and Bel had found that there was an Australian-trained (and as it turned out, Australian) physio working there and so rather than commit to hospital, arranged for Aimee to go there for assessment before considering other options.

The rest of us headed out for a delicious ramen dinner at Deesuke with steamed apple buns for dessert.

Aimee reappeared eventually with a brace that was at least enabling her to stand and possibly even walk a bit but with an unknown amount of damage to her knee. We all hoped it would be minimal.

Oh and it was still snowing.