Our first encounter with a ski slope, ever

In Koriyama the inhabitants have two favourite sports; during summer (and many times winter) they play golf, and during winter they ski. We have never tried either, but when some of Henriks colleagues invited us to join them on their yearly ski trip, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.

It takes less than an hour to drive to the resort by car, so to go there and back in one day is pretty normal, but we were introduced to a way better way of ending the ski trip as we will tell you about later.

The trip up to the Gran Deco resort was a nice ride through the hills of sleeping rice fields, and passing a beautiful lake with many groups of Mute swans that probably had found their way to Japan from Denmark, just like us. The snow fell gently outside, but only until we arrived. Perfect; Fresh snow, still wind and a clear sky. It was the perfect day for a skiing-challenge, for both us, and the Japanese-only-speaking-instructor. "How do we close our boots?", "How do we click on the skies?" The rest of the group went to seek greater challenges on the ski slopes while we moved on learning simple manoeuvres like how to break, how to turn and how to do both in one time. For a newbie that can be really difficult!














Just before lunch, the group came to check our progress, hoping we would be ready to join them on the real slope. We looked at the instructor. He meant we were up for the challenge, so we just needed to go the 30 meters down the beginner’s slope once more and we would be by the lift. On the way down the beginner’s slope, Barbara completely lost control. She luckily succeeded to lift up a 5-year-old Japanese boy in her arms on the way, before her skies would have knocked him to the ground. He got a huge chock and wept for several minutes afterwards. Barbara felt like doing the same, having all Henriks colleagues watching her stunt. They pretty quickly agreed that it might be better we stayed on the beginners slope a little more, before we joined them on the lift to the top of the mountain, so we went on a long lunch break, for Barbara to find the courage to hit the beginners slope once more…

Practice does pay of, and in the afternoon, when we got a new invitation to join the rest of the group, we went for it. The trip up, on the lift, revealed a beautiful view of the slope and the surrounding mountains.

The slope we were about to ski was two kilometres long.


We were told it would be flat – but that was only half the truth. Barbara’s effective self-developed skill of throwing herself in the snow whenever speed had gone beyond her breaking abilities became handy whenever the slope got too steep.

Some how it did get better, and the last kilometre down the slope went quite well for both of us. Starting the day without even knowing how to click on the skies, to actually being able to control both speed and turns in the curves, make us pretty confident that during the next three years with easy accessible ski resorts open from late November to early May, we will master the sport to a degree where we actually relax while doing it.
We hope.

So, what is the best way of dealing with the weariness and pain in your body after a long day of skiing?
Our suggestion must without a doubt be to take a bath in a hot spring (onsen) and afterwards enjoy a wholesome meal accompanied with cold beer and sake in the company of friendly people.
After driving 45 minutes down the mountain towards Koriyama, we arrived at the onsen, Hakkeien, located only 13km. from Koriyama.
We were all really tired and could feel the pain in the knees and legs, so before going to dinner, we entered the revitalizing onsen: http://www.hakkeien.com/bath/index.html
In this case, the onsen was public, which means that we went to the lady’s and men’s onsen respectively and shared the onsen with Henriks colleagues. This was yet a challenge that day, since the Adam and Eve costume is not what we usually wear in public.
Actually, it really doesn’t matter; When you enter the bath and immediately start feeling the healing effects of the water on your tired body that is all that counts.
Within 15 minutes, you feel so revitalized that you almost are ready to return to the ski slopes. Almost.
After the bath, dinner was set in traditional Japanese surroundings. The dinner consisted of an uncountable number of plates and included delicacies such as miniature steaks, fried mackerel, whole marinated mini-octopus, sashimi of tuna and white fish, cubes of smoked salmon and cucumber, different types of unknown Japanese vegetables and pickles, fresh tofu, crab tales salad, miso soup, deep-fried shrimps and asparagus, boiled egg, rice, pudding, and several undefined things. A colleague supplemented the feast with his mothers home made Mochi.
Mochi is a kind of sticky rice balls, very popular to eat on New Years Eve. They can be quite difficult to chew and several people loose their life every year as they choke on the rice ball. (A 70-year-old man, was once saved by his daughter, who used a vacuum cleaner to remove the Mochi from his throat.)
Anyway, the dinner was great, and in the companionship of Henriks friendly colleagues, an ice-cold beer (one of the best in our lives) and warm sake, life seemed perfect. The only insignificant hassle was to sit on the floor, with sore legs after the day’s activity, but that's part of the deal.

That night we gladly slept on the futons on the tatami floor in the simple, yet aesthetic decorated Japanese room, and the next morning we gladly had another dip in the onsen before our fish-rich breakfast was served in the evocative atmosphere of the restaurant. The Japanese hotel (Ryokan) really oozed of a down-to-earth and friendly staff that even served coffee for us, after we had paid our bill. With this level of hospitality in Japan, we can only encourage you to come and try!
See you soon.