Last 2 Days in Niseko

Yoda and Tiny Nuts were only here for a couple of days but it was nice spending time together on the slopes and during mealtime.

The Auther family arrived on the 6th and we showed them around Hirafu and took them to dinner at Fujizushi, where we ate nice sashimi and sushi.
The ootoro (fatty tuna), uni (sea urchin) and crab were great.

After dinner, we took them to The Barn for chocolate fondue!

Finally, we showed them the Ice bar where we sipped their specialty which consisted of lychee liqueur, grapefruit juice, vodka and blue Curacao.

GQ, Joe, Herminator

Yesterday, the Quad 4 lift and all other upper lifts in Hirafu were closed due to strong winds, so we took the shuttle to Niseko Village. We waited at the bus stop.

Herminator and Sleeping Beauty skiing.

GQ on the lift.

Mt. Yotei was gorgeous yesterday morning.

Skiing down Namara with Carol.

Trooper boarding down without falling at all!

For lunch, we ate at the Ezo Pub and I tried their Hokkaido Chicken Soup Curry ~ a bit spicy and nicely adorned with fresh vegetables.

The Niseko Village Hilton has a coz loby with this impressive fireplace.

For dinner, we ventured to Kame again and took the entire group. We had to have the Auther's try it as well. Hot Toddy even ate in her long underwear. Now, that's casual, fine dining!

First course - trio of salmon, prosciutto, and shrimp.

Trooper felt good today so she ate her rib eye steak with rice!

Second course - a delectable clam in a super secret broth which we ate with French fresh bread.

Trooper and Sleeping Beauty. Trooper is the best babysitter ever!

GQ and Trooper: student and teacher.

The Family!

Third course: flounder or steak

Fourth course: anchovy pasta with shiso leaf - light and delicate.

Last course - caramel tart, strawberry mousse on top of tutti frutti nougat crumble. This was great!

Dining at Kame is our favorite meal in Niseko. See you next year!

Gourmet Dining & Skiing Annupuri

Last night, Herminator chose the restaurant for dinner out of the Niseko Dining Guide. We went to the J Sekka Cafe & Deli and had a nice casual meal. Shoji san ordered the Osso Bucco which looked tasty.

Chikako san ordered the Soup of the Day: Split Pea & Ham which was garnished with crab meat.
Hot Toddy & I ordered the spaghetti with Taraba crab meat and chili which was quite nice!

Trooper ordered the venison burger with beet jam with homefries. It sounds interesting and it tasted pretty good!

The cheese plate had three types of cheese: cheddar, goat & white accompanied by a variety of breads and crackers.

The favorite was the lemon cheesecake, but the healthy organic berry & apple crumble was a nice touch to the end of a nice meal. Gochisou samadeshita.

The J Sekka had other dining outlets, too so maybe we'll try it next time.

Tiny Nuts & Yoda joined us on the slopes this morning. Here, they're showing off their expensive rental equipment. JPY3000 for two days of rental with insurance and they come in pink and purple. What a deal!

Tiny Nuts & Yoda worked with us in both PIC Phuket & Saipan and we've had several reunions with them in Japan and Saipan!

We skied to Annupuri after combating 40kph winds, zero visibility at the top and lots of fluffy powder. When we got to the mid hill range, visibility improved. By the time we wanted to take the Magic Carpet to Niseko Village, it had closed due to high winds so we took a full bus from Annupuri to Niseko Village and rode the gondola to ski from there back to Hirafu.

The gondola is nice as we can stay relatively warm and remain out of the wind and cold.

We picked up the kids late (THANK YOU, TROOPER!) and took everyone to lunch at Abucha. Polar Bear and Sleeping Beauty loved their oreo hot cocoas!

My teriyaki chicken sandwich on organic wheat bread was just what I wanted.

Trooper wanted an icicle from the roof so GQ picked one for her.

Here she is.... the amazing babysitter and snowboarder! Did I mention that she boarded from the top of the Ace Quad yesterday?

Tonight, we dined at our favorite all time restaurant in Niseko called Kame - the Secret Restaurant. It definitely met our high expectations. Tiny Nuts & Yoda inspecting the smooth Spanish merlot.

Herminator & Hot Toddy

Dancing Queen & GQ

Kame is one of those gourmet restaurants where we eat the 5 course menu selected by the chef. The first was a trio of appetizers comprised of marinated octopus, yellowtail with salsa and conch in puff cream pastry.

The second course was a delectable maguro and avocado tartare with wasabi cream sauce.

Gardner joined the PHL today. He was a PIC Saipan Clubmate in 1995-96 and now owns Outdoor Japan.

The main course was a choice between fresh red snapper with scallops/shrimp....

or a beef fillet, perfectly cooked with spinach in a delicate wine sauce.

We then tried the Sienna Romanian merlot. Who knew there were good wineries in Romania? When I think of Romania, I think of Olympic gymnast Nadia Komanecci. The fourth course was the pepperocino and garlic spaghetti which was so flavorful and spicy!

And the final course was caramel tart with a double chocolate cake.

with soothing mint tea.

The last time we had a nice meal like this was in Italy. Thank you again, Kame, for such a gourmet dining experience to make our vacation even more memorable.

If the winds pick up and close the top lifts tomorrow, we may take Trooper, Polar Bear & Sleeping Beauty with us to lunch here. Kame is just THAT GOOD!

Skiing Annupuri, Niseko Village, Hanazono & Hirafu

This morning, I took Russ' all-mountain pass and decided to ski all four mountains in one morning. The top of Annupuri was a white blur and I couldn't see anything in front of me, but once I got to the mid-hill portion, visibility was good. I made it down to the Annupuri gondola station and then took it up to the Magic Carpet ride.

From there, I descended down to the bottom of Niseko Village and took the gondola up to the King 4.
Up at the top of King 4, it was eerie. I couldn't see anyone and the slope was marked "For Expert Skiers only" but I made it down to the top of Hanazono 3 and skied down to the bottom of Hanazono.

From Hanazono, I went down to Hirafu just past the King Bell...

...and down to the Alpen back to the Ace Family.

It took me about 4 hours with some stops and my legs were aching by the end. Tomorrow is another day. Tiny Nuts & Yoda have also arrived so we're looking forward to spending time with them starting tonight.

January 2nd & 3rd - so much snow!

We awoke yesterday morning to a pile of snow just outside our living room window. Approximately 80cm had fallen over the night and our entrance was blocked by 4 feet of it.

While the weather forecast called for high winds and upper lifts being shut down, the SWAT members played several games of hearts and entertained themselves with youtube videos.
Major Pain's new snowboard pants had a tear in the so he decided to repair them himself.

Only the lower lifts were open but it was prime time for GQ to offer snowboard lessons to Trooper and Trixie.

Molasses traded his snowboard with Trixie and skied for a bit on her trick skis!

Trooper was starting to get the hang of it with GQ instructing her to point to where she wanted to go.

After a few runs on the bunny hill, the gang went inside to the Hotel Alpen for the best hot cocoa ever! What presentation!

It was a nice way to get out of the cold and warm up inside.

Molasses tried on Trixie's new pink helmet. Doesn't he look cute?

Back at the Powder Hound Lodge, a massive snow war had erupted. The kids against the adults. Polar Bear was having the time of his life!

GQ was having fun as well. And... it continued to snow buckets!

For dinner, Herminator, Hot Toddy, GQ and I went to Raku for a casual izakaya meal. Fresh tofu ad grilled snow crab legs were on the menu!

We later took a stroll around the village and took a photo in front of the 12 foot high pile of fresh new snow. Unbelievable!

This was an interesting find... a car that was barely recognizable as it was mostly covered in snow.

We walked further into Middle Hirafu and just happened to run into a brand new Asian fusion restaurant called The Barn. They had seats and sushi counter downstairs and a bar upstairs. We ordered drinks and chocolate fondue with fresh fruit and pretzels!

All of the food in Niseko is great. It's hard to eat a bad meal here as the ingredients are so fresh and there's a large variety of restaurants to choose from.

The Barn looks like a barn, but with an atrium window.

After The Barn, we strolled up the street to the Ice Bar, which is a unique experience for anyone who visits the area.

Hot Toddy and Herminator enjoying their ice seats.

A look through to the bartenders.

This morning was full of sunshine and blue sky. It was sad to say goodbye to the Johnson's, Lamar's and Molasses as they would have loved to ski on a clear day like today.

The temperature at the top of Ace Hill read -4 degrees Celsius. Not too cold at all.

We skied amazing runs over on the Hanazono side in the morning and then ate crab ramen at the 308. The table next to ours had the beer tower... only $60.

The best view was Mt. Yotei from the top of the Swinging Monkey. I hadn't had a chance to see Yotei san since we arrived.

Major Pain, Hot Toddy, GQ and Herminator posing for a nice photo.

Hot Toddy is a good skier and she's fast down the hills! It's hard to keep up!

Trooper, Sleeping Beauty and Polar Bear met us over at Hanazono for lunch and afterwards, GQ gave Trooper more lessons, including instructions on how to tie the snowboard boot.

The Silver Dream run in Hanazono is 5 times as long as the bunny hill in Hirafu so Trooper kept to her name and agreed to board down this hill twice today. She did awesome on her second run.

Dancing Queen and Trooper

The group ate over at the Abucha 2 just across the street and had tons of food, including the YoseNabe (hot pot) with beef, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, vegetables, glass noodles in a soy/ginger soup.

We also ordered the Abucha's special nabe wit tofu, salmon, corn, potatoes, mushrooms, vegetables and later, udon noodles. Yummy! We've been eating so much on this trip, but all the food is so good!

Sleeping Beauty actually stayed awake for her first meal as we ate early. What a fun, delicious meal. When we returned to the PHL, we played a game of liar's dice before retiring to bed.

Polar Bear ordered the cheesecake, which was accompanied by a scoop of ice cream. We admired the plate which was shaped as the island of Hokkaido.

Good night! Oyasuminasai!

Our Niseko Family

On this trip, we are blessed with two great kids: Molasses & Trooper. Parenting is so easy when you start at age 12 & 13! No potting training necessary and they even kind of like us!

January 1, 2010

Never have we seen this much snow in all the years we've come to Niseko. The snowstorm closed most of the top lifts in Hirafu and Hanazono so we (Greenpants, GQ, Hawkeye & Dancing Queen) ventured over to Niseko Village via the shuttle bus. We skied the "Mori no Chair" lift which was unspoiled.

On my first Namara run, I didn't see one other person. The wind was blowing so hard and the snow swept up to my face that I got temporarily disoriented. It felt like vertigo. I didn't know if I was skiing downhill or uphill. Somehow, I made it to the bottom and by the second run, the run cleared so that I could distinguish up from down.
Herminator, Hot Toddy, Polar Bear, Sleeping Beauty, Freebird, Chrome Dome & Circus met us for lunch at the Ezo pub and unfortunately, the Mori no Chair lift had just closed due to higher winds. We took the shuttle back to Hirafu and I skied the Ace Quad down. Hawkeye and GQ skied more runs that evening. When we returned to the Powder Hound, Trixie had made two adorable snowmen! Later, when I grabbed my camera, one of the snowmen had been decapitated!

The snow never stopped and continues this morning. The Powder Hound's perimeters were piling high with meters of fresh snow! The snow clearer's job never ceases.

We walked to the Hirafu-tei onsen to clean up and on our way down back to the house, Hot Toddy, Polar Bear, Freebird and GQ slipped on the ice.

Hot Toddy's cute Aussie Ugg boots were drenched so Herminator gave her a nice piggy back ride out of the hotel parking lot.

Dinner was late - about 9pm so Sleeping Beauty slept through her dinner....again. In fact, she's missed all the meals since arriving on Wed night.

Trooper had a nice chicken katsu don for dinner....

I tried the Hokkaido ginghis khan ramen (lamb), which was delicious!

Polar Bear had his own big bowl of shoyu ramen.

Hot Toddy had the pirukara (spicy) ramen. Why can't Saipan have just one good ramen restaurant? Wouldn't that be great?

In Niseko, food is as much of a past time and everything is wonderful!!

2009 S.W.A.T. Party!

The S.W.A.T. party officially commenced @ 9:38pm (Japan Standard Time) with old and new members alike descending upon the Powder Hound Lodge for the 2009 celebration in Niseko. The commissioner, Green Pants and his Assistant, GQ started the ceremonies with a little dance.

The first award was for Hawkeye's Amazing Adventure Scavenger Hunt. Team Yellow Snow El Diablo, Six-Eights & Snuffy) placed third, with a strong effort by going down to Hanazono after the lift closed. As such, they had to take the bus back to Hirafu and come up to the Ace Hill to complete. Unfortunately, Team Yellow Snow had an incomplete finish with the missing grinding and air attempts.
Team Snow Foxes had the quick finish with a time 2 hours but placed 2nd overall since Trixie's photo failed to clearly display a big air attempt. Otherwise, the ladies took detailed photos of the magic carpet ride even though it was closed and even the rail grind! Strong work!

And, the first place team was the Three Amigos: Major Pain (new name for Spidey), Scooby and Molasses won but not without penalty as Scooby called Hawkeye before heading down to Hanazono as the lifts had closed. Hawkeye advised the young lads to stay in the Hirafu area and so.. they won! The original prize money was JPY6000, but since there was no distinct winner, the Hanazono downhill slalom race will conclude "the great race"!

SWAT members listening intently to the Commissioner & GQ

Trixie performed the scribely duties as she took minutes of the event.

The Big E (formerly known as Sven) took ski lessons yesterday morning and then went up the Ace Quad & Ace 3! Greenpants witnessed the Big E making continuous crashes down to the Alpen Hotel. The Big E won the Best Crash Award!!!

Molasses had to defend himself about his "Biggest Dork Award". Of course, he didn't tell us about it. The Suzuki's had to confess this tale. As told by Mrs. Claus, Molasses was ascending on the Ace #3 with a big handful of snow, reading to throw snow bombs on unsuspecting skiers below. When he got onto the lift, the he fell off and the chair swiped over his helmet and Molasses escaped a near head injury. Luckily, those helmets work well and he was unscathed. The lift operator was angry with Molasses and scolded him in Japanese, "...it was because you were carrying that thing!"

Later on, Hot Toddy (new SWAT member) recounted the tales from the onsen. As we were quietly sitting in the outdoor bath the other night, Freebird (Roxie) scared away the rest of the bathers by throwing snowballs over to the men's side.

The SWAT ceremonies ended prior to midnight before the countdown. While the kids were throwing snowballs at each other outside and at the drunk pedestrians, the adults played another game of liar's dice. Ice Man (Ted) won the New Year's round.

New SWAT members:

Tim: Herminator (one of the greatest skiers of all time)

Tina: Hot Toddy (makes the best hot toddys ever)

Steven: Polar Bear (able to climb the Yukoro onsen's peak)

Mylan: Sleeping Beauty (sleeps through all meals & parties)

Mimi: Trooper (able to overcome all fears and obstacles)

Chris: El Diablo (likes his name)

Ted: Ice Man (former vietnam pilot)

Welcome to all and Happy New Year!

明けましておめでとうございます！