Back country, Round II

There`s a big beautiful snow coming down right now, so it seems appropriate that this post is heavy on the white stuff.  We`ve been busy getting the most out of this winter every weekend, and this will read a bit like a how-to guide on loving Hokkaido in winter.

Step 1 - Go cross country skiing!  Somehow we managed not to do this last year, but the park just across the river from us (Nakajima Koen) offers free cross country rentals and they have a lovely course that goes along the lake and through the woods to follow.  And it`s free!  And they`re not the only park in Sapporo that offers such fun.  It was a beautiful, snowy Saturday when we went.  

Step 2 - Go back country snowboarding or telemark skiing!  This has become my favorite way to love winter in Hokkaido, but don`t attempt step 2 without doing your homework.  It`s not terribly risky, but there is a chance of avalanche and if you don`t know what you`re doing (not that we do, we`re learning, but we`re also going with experienced friends) you could run into some cold deadly trouble.  The following pictures are some of my favorite reasons for back country over ski slopes.

These and the slideshow are all from our trip to the mountains around Kiroro with the Tipi club.  It was a seriously deep powder day and it snowed the whole time we were climbing and coming down.  

Step 3 - Go see the Sapporo Snow Festival. Especially on an unseasonably warm weeknight, as it can get crowded and cold. We went on a Monday night, the first night it officially started, but the week`s warm weather had already left some of the smaller sculptures a little bit battered.  The gigantic ones were still standing strong though.

I do love the festivity of the snow festival, but it`s also nice once it`s over.  It`s much easier to get around downtown when the extra 2 million (not exaggerating) visitors are not on the subways.  Plus, the ski slope population thins out noticeably afterwards as well.  Maybe hitting the slopes should be one of these steps, but I don`t have any readily available pictures from Rusutsu or anywhere else to entice you with.

Of course, there are lots more ways to enjoy winter in Hokkaido.  These are just the ones that I happened to bring a camera along for.  Hopefully we`ll get a lot more back country in before spring rears it`s melty, slushy, brown-snowed head (Hokkaido is supremely amazing every month except April).  Luckily, we`ve still got 2.5 months of snowy slopes (if not a snowy city) to enjoy!