Day 8 - Windy snowy Shiga Kogen

Day 8 - Windy snowy Shiga Kogen.
It started off with a carpark weather check, a few centimetres of snow at best. Buffett breakfast was had. Potato gems today, no waffles. These are the 2 items I have noticed them rotating.

We rode the link chair over to Family, during this ride we had perfect snowflakes landing on us. We went and did the green run with family finding hidden paths off the sides. During one such detour, Dale did not appear following the other 2, so I went back up a bit to find her, as she had fallen. I noticed her pocket was open, she asked is my phone there? Which it wasn't. Hubby had then come back up the slope to see what was happening (didn't read my message I sent). We luckily found the phone in a few minutes.

Then we went up to Terakoya, where it was a bit more windy and freezing. The goggles were not coping with fogging. Visibily was challenging, so after a run or two, it was into the cafe to warm up with a hot chocolate.

From here we rode the lift out of the bottom of Terakoya that leads to Takamagahara, we skied down and attempted to go over the bridge. Snowboarder obstacle and not enough speed, so side stepped over that - not fun, especially for Oscar. We did a few runs on Nishidateyama, before ending up at Alpen Shiga at the bottom of Giant for lunch.

Lunch was spaghetti and meat sauce, the hamburger curry rice and corn and potato soup. The place was packed when we entered, but a short wait got us a table. After lunch we rode the new gondola on foot to see what was in the bus stop building as we had never been inside it previously. A shop, ski rental and some food for those curious.

We were quite cold, it had not stopped snowing all day, though the sun did try to poke through at times, it was noticeably more windy than before, and there was still a lot of hard surface on most ski runs. The new snow wasn't doing much for the run surface. So we headed back to Yakebitaiyama via the 2 gondolas up Higashidateyama, where we encountered some lines. Then down family again, up over to Diamond and then back to C1 to finish the days sking.

Dinner was at Narutoya, a ramen place. We had gyoza, pork ramen and udon. It was lovely, and only 5,450 yen. We then walked back to the hotel rather than waiting 50mins for the shuttle bus.Read more