Hakuba Goryu

Our first day of skiing in Hakuba! Stephen dropped us off at Goryu where we were meeting up with friends. We took the gondola to the very top to start exploring. The girls waited at the exit for their friends Max and Henry to arrive while Andy and I headed straight out. The Japanese Alps looked postcard perfect and the ski conditions were perfect too - a little overcast, no wind, plenty of snow and no crowds!

We remained at the top getting used to our skis and the snow however it wasn't long before Andy went exploring! Then after a few runs, I took the plunge too and skied over to the harder slope. Covered around 11km before calling time for coffee.

While recovering, the girls let us know that lunch was at 12 and we were to meet them at the bottom! That meant tackling the one track down which was very hairy in parts and as I went down memories floated back about how awful it was. Emerging unscathed, I vowed not to do that route again. We snuck in a few loops of the easy run before finding the kids.

We ate lunch with our friends, Jodie (who was skiing at the top but we missed bumping into her) and Craig (who was not skiing but joined up with us for lunch). Ski stories, notes and tips were compared and then we were back out on the slopes again.

Our afternoon session began at Limori, a small resort between Goryu and Hakuba 47.  The runs were short and good but one of the chair lifts was at ankle height...ridiculous! Unfortunately the lifts connecting Hakuba 47 were closed due to scheduled maintenance so we were unable to make it over to that resort. The girls went off again with the boys and had lots of fun even climbing to the very top!