Today was to be our last full day in Yuzawa. Dean was still sick, Zoe was still injured, and Paul was not going out again. This was hampering my enthusiasm, but I wanted to go snowboarding for our last day. The plan was to go to Kagura and Naeba, as I had told Tim and Kerry. After taking in a large breakfast, I got dropped at the station hoping to see them near by. It was only when I went to take a picture with my phone, that I got Tim's email saying they were going to Gala again, and they'd meet us there if we were. By this time I was already on the bus, and in hindsight, I probably should have turned around and gone back.
I arrived at Mitsumata ropeway around 10am, and the slopes were looking quite white. The ropeway goes from the carpark to the top of the Mitsumata where you can either play around on the beginner slope or get another lift up towards the area between Mitsumata and Kagura. I did the latter, and after a mid sized lift I was soon looking around what to do next. I saw a sign saying Kagura gondola that way-> so I went there. A short downslope later and I was at the base of the gondola. I caught the gondola up alone, but it seemed like it went for an eternity. When I eventually made it to the top, it looked as though there was only more lifts to go on. After a brief trip to the loo, I strapped in and headed down to the small lift about 100m away. After getting to the top, I started on the run down towards where I had just come from. The piste was a mixture between icy groomer, thin powder and clumped powder. With the light conditions it was actually hard to see what was where, even with yellow/rose lenses. I was near the bottom when I took a tumble, hurting my already injured ankle. By now, I had the sneaking suspicion that I wasn't going to be a confident on my feet.
I made it down the slope, but it wasn't nice. I was stiff and sore, but having bought a day ticket, thought I should do more than one run. So I grabbed the lift up again, and was intending to head to Tashiro, when I started talking to the girl that was sitting on the lift with me. She tld me she was heading for the tree run, so wanting to play a bit more, I followed her around. She was cute but a little crazy. We took the top pair lift to the very top of Kagura, and after strapping in, she heads straight for the ropes and ducks them. I follow as best as I could, but there was a lot of powder, and with my ankle being twisted, I didn't have the control needed. After a couple of wash outs, I couldn't see her anywhere. I didn't want to be lost, off-piste in an unfamiliar terrain, so I started toboganning back towards the run. After a lot of snow in the face, I made it and just rested for a while on the slope. The girl had made it down to the lift and and rushed down again before catching me. Because of the copious amount of snow in the face, my goggles were now full of snow, so I couldn't see out of them. I cleaned them as best I could, but with them fogging up, I couldn't see where I was going, let alone what to avoid.
We made it down the bottom of run and after cleaning the lenses a bit more, we got the lift back up to do it again. I decided to stay on the main run and just go around a few trees, so she did the same, floating powder banks and going around trees with the greatest of ease. After making it down the bottom again, it was close to 12, so I headed in for some food. She was still wanting to go more, so she said goodbye and thanked me for riding with her, and headed off. After a "small" curry and beer, the snow had started to fall moderately, so I made the decision to head back to Yuzawa.
It ended up being the correct decision, as after I came out from the restaurant, I already had about 1cm of snow on my board (from 15mins). I started down the run and was moving okay, but probably half way down, I came over a bump and my board went up and across, making me land full force on my tailbone. I was really hurting now, and I don't particularly like boarding solo, as if I get injured there's no one to help. I made it to the Mitsumata ropeway, but was still in quite a bit of pain, so messaged Whitney to book me a massage. I got the ropeway down, (I could have boarded back to the carpark but was too sore), and checked the time. It was just past 1 and the next bus back to Yuzawa wasn't until 1.33, so I grabbed a crepe from the mobile van, as well as a can of hot coffee. By this time, the temperature started dropping, and the snow really started chucking it down. While I waited for the bus, I was getting covered by snow.
I eventually made it back to Yuzawa and the hotel, and decided to have an onsen to see if I could loosen up my ankle and knee. It helped a slight bit for the muscular tension, but getting hurt is getting hurt, there's no magical cure other than time.
I sat around blogging for a little while but with a dead phone, a dead video camera, and a forgotten point and shoot, I couldn't upload any pics from the day. At 4.30, it was time for my massage, and I went in not fully knowing what to expect, as it was supposed to be a Thai massage. The lady was nice and started off with my legs. My left leg was fine, and I could move quite freely, but my right leg was so stiff from stacking it, that she thought I was really tense and should relax.
She then got me to go onto my back, where she started to work the muscles on my back. Lower back was ok, but my buttocks hure from landing hard on my tail bone. Right middle back was ok, but left middle was knotted severe, and with this lady seemingly able to crack coconuts with her hands, I soon was being kneaded to get the muscles back to some working order. It was a fairly good massage, though I might have to get another in Osaka, after carrying baggage all day.
Originally, we had planned to just have nibblys in our rooms, but Dean said nibblies wouldn't help him get better, so all of us except Zoe decided to head out for dinner. We got the shuttle to the station and decided to keep it simple and just go to a ramen place down the end, near the italian cafe we ate at earlier on in the week. Paul and I ended up getting a ramen set (Big bowl of ramen, some rice and gyouza) for 980Y, while Dean, Mum and Whitney got different things, but still basically ramen and gyouza. We finished it quickly and after heading back towards the exit, saw the van from the hotel. Oyama-san told us that it was full, but he'd be back in about 8mins to pick us up. Mum really needed to get some dosh out, so Whitney asked him to pick us up from the 7-11, so we headed there and waited.
The snow was still falling at this stage, so we stayed in the alcove waiting for the van, while the small flakes fell around us. The snow was a little wet, with it nearly melting on impact. Oyama-san eventually returned and we made the quick jaunt back to the hotel.
We had planned on packing up, but by this stage we were all tired, so we spent a little time eating and drinking in Paul and Zoe's room, before turning in for the night. I watched an episode of something on my phone, while Dean watched Prometheus. I was tired by the end of it though so I quickly fell asleep, dead to the world.
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