Thursday 29 January 2009

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Ready...





This Dakekamba is ready to help someone who wants to send a message in the old-fashion way.






Dakekamba or Erman's Birch (Betula ermanii), at Kumanoyu, Shiga Kogen.

Walking in the morning


to enjoy this beautiful sunny day and refresh body and mind.
-6°C this morning.
Kumanoyu, Shiga Kogen, Nagano, Japan.


Tuesday 27 January 2009

ATM


If you are visiting Shiga Kogen and need to withdraw money with credit card or ATM card, you just have to go to the Hasuike Post Office (ゆうびんきょく - Yubinkyoku).
There's an international ATM cash machine which accepts all these cards.

Calm Monday


Monday was another beautiful day at Shiga Kogen!
Lots of ski school boys and girls brought color to the ski run.




Smile! You're on...


Jigokudani Yaen Koen livecam!

take care...

the trail was icy Monday morning.
but the sun between the trees was gorgeous...

they look so shy...




More pictures from the Snow Monkey Park
















Sunday 25 January 2009

Sunny Sunday Morning


Now it's -5° C outside and the sky is a gorgeous deep blue. Perfect for winter sports lovers, play in the snow with kids or taking pictures! ;)
This is Kumanoyu ski field.

Watch out!


Here you don't have to look just at left, right and straight to walk...
it's better to look up and down too!
Watch carefully for icy patches and icicles when you go out for a walk and especially, when you focus your attention taking pictures!!!

Drop in temperature...




Shiga Kogen is back to it's usual...

As I told you before, Friday was very warm for a winter day in Shiga Kogen. It was 3° C when I was posting, in the middle of the day...

But Saturday started colder, about -8.


The heavy snow expected didn't came but a light snow in the middle of the day brought back the white to the highest trees.
And the windows of Shiga Kogen's Shuttle Bus was freezing again!

Saturday 24 January 2009

オムライス

オムライス=Omuraisu= Omelette + rice
or
Rice in an egg wrapping.


It's a very popular dish in Japan.

I believe for those who are not used to Japanese dish, Omuraisu can be a good option. It's not a sweet kind of dish, just rice flavored with ketchup and a huge omelette covering it. This one, from Hotel Ichinose, here in Shiga Kogen, is served with a tasty gravy.

WHAT TO DO IN A SKI RESORT BESIDES SKI?







Thinking about how someone could spend the day besides skiing, I thought snowshoe hiking could be the best alternative to enjoy one day in the middle of the snow. In the end of the day, I was sure about it!
Before we start, at 10 in the morning, I was almost given up hiking because the day was cloudy and I thought this hiking thing would just be beautiful in a sunny day. I couldn't be more wrong!
The beauty of the snow, the snowy trees and the white sky in the background were amazing! And the fog coming and going, showing a little more of the local nature from time to time was magical!
And snowshoe hiking it’s not just about walk and contemplate, at least not where I was hiking, in Shiga Kogen, about 3 hours from Tokyo, in Nagano Ken. Since I don’t have snowshoes or anything, I decide to hike with the local guides and they hire snowshoes and poles, and showed me all the beauty hidden in the summit of Higashitateyama, a mountain 2.000 m above sea level.
With those genki women, we found footprints, I could smell Christmas trees, learned about local nature and tradition, slide down the mountains and could even taste the flavor of the nature… but there are some details that I believe it’s just better to discover by yourself.
All I can tell you it’s worth, even in a cloudy day!
You can check how much fun we had in this pictures and here, here, here and here. And read about it in Japanese from someone who was hiking at the same day.

スノーシューでハイキング


「楽しいですょ~(^.^)」道のない雪の上をどこまでも、自由自在に行きたい場所行き、坂があったらお尻で滑り降り、雪のシャーベットを食べて・・・雪でテーブルを作り、楽しい昼食 お い し い・・・・幸せ。
茂子.

Friday 23 January 2009

Snowshoe Hiking...







at Shiga Kogen. Higashitateyama summit, 2.000 m above sea level
















So much fun in the middle of the snow!
















Shiga Kogen's Guides are great! So nice!!!
















Snowshoe Hiking... love it!
















Fog...

It's becoming foggy right now...
Reminds me yesterday, when it was almost the same weather conditions...
In the end of the day, about 4:30 p. m. I was chatting to an Australian guy smoking in front of Hasuike Ropeway Station and he told me he was finishing his 4 day stay at Shiga Kogen beautifully! Despite the cloudy, the weather was just fine to ski.
It's nice to hear it!

Hot Hot Hot...


The snow of the rooftops are melting today... the weather is great and thermometer register 3° C now. This picture was taken about 11 in the morning and now, the sky is blue, without clouds... just beautiful!
But if you are coming to Shiga Kogen this weekend, be prepared, everybody here are expecting lots of snow tonight and the Japan Meteorological Agency expects drops of temperature between Saturday and Sunday... minimum expected of -8° C, so, take care and have fun!

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Today...


at 8:30 a. m. at Maeyama. This is the advanced course.
I guess today will be between sunny and cloudy all day.