Japan - Hakuba Valley

The weather was insane; gusts of high winds, the snow did not let up at all, we were wet, frozen, covered head to toe in snow from falling over, exhausted from the extra effort involved in navigating the POW and we could not havw been a happier pair!
It was an amazing day with no major injuries. What a cherry on top to a great week!
Lunch involved a hotdog and an Asahi Tornado (see video).

Entering Spicy rentals and dropping off our snowboards, rather than swapping, was an odd feeling as we were so used to carrying them back from the store. We felt naked without them.
We had a quick shower and onsen before our in-lodge dinner of Habe at 6 pm. What an incredible meal!
Orchestrated by Sarasa (Stephens wife and our other host), she prepared a hot dish that was essentially a Japanese broth, which we added various ingredients (carrots, Japanese rocket lettuce, 3 types of mushrooms, sprouts, chicken and pockets of ... held together with toothpicks). They were boiled at table side, and you picked out what you wanted to eat with the tongs, placing it into either of the 2 sauces; a sesame based and a lemon soy.
Part way through, we were given a chicken mince concoction to separate into mini meatballs and cook them in the broth.
When all the ingredients were eaten and only broth remained, Sarasa came around with rice and turned it into a Japanese style risotto!
To cap it all off, there was ice cream with red bean for dessert 😋.Läs mer