Hachimantai

One early Monday morning (6:30 am), we got up, packed our snow gear and took off for Hachimantai. It was President’s Day—perfect day for skiing since most Japanese were at work and our ski resort was empty.

Hachimantai is a wonderful ski resort, geared towards families and beginners. It’s situated about 2 hours south of Misawa, on Mt. Iwate slopes.

The plan was to put Alex into skiing lessons, while Katya and Robert ski for two hours and I hang out with Mark at the play area outside. That morning, Alex was whining and crying until we got into our car that he didn’t want to go skiing at all—our church friends were having a Wii Olympics activity and he wanted to do that instead. Anyway, we were not going to stay home just because he wanted to, so we told him he just had to give a try and see what he thinks.

When we arrived at the resort, we quickly found a place to sign up for Ski School. Because it was Monday, Alex got a private lesson for a price of a group lesson. The instructor spent two hours with him, even took him on the ski lift during the second hour. 

This is the view of the bunny slope. Alex is on the right, then Robert to the left of him and Katya is the bright green dot on the left.

So while Katya and Robert were conquering the intermediate slopes and Alex was learning how to ski, Mark and I were having a blast! I think Mark was just happy to have me all to himself more than anything.

Here is Mark in the bouncy house (no roof, so watch out for snow).

He rode a train..

Then a street car (or “tramvai”)…

His favorite activity of all was shoveling…

The most hilarious part was that Mark just loved this gorilla and kept wanting to cover its back with snow.

Basically, I had one happy kid the entire time we were outside (more than 2 hours)!

We also went sledding on the hill next to the kids’ area, enjoying this beautiful view of the mountains around us. It  was a perfect sunny frosty day!

After Alex was finished with his lessons, we found some yummy curry, ramen and steak for lunch.  Robert and the big kids headed up the mountains again for more skiing with renewed energy.

Robert took these pictures to show you the view and how empty the ski lift was. 

Katya was skiing like a pro, daring to go on some of the harder slopes (not this one, obviously), although this is her third time skiing.

 

From about one o’clock till four o’clock Mark spent playing inside in a small area with toys and watching a movie on a portable DVD player while I was reading my book. He did such a fantastic job behaving all day!

And what could be better after a long day of skiing than a visit to an onsen?  On the way out of the Hachimantai area, we stopped by one of the onsens. Kids loved it again! Robert said that the boys’ favorite part of that onsen was a pool with cold water (crazy!). Katya and I liked the outside steaming hot pool.  In the changing room, I put some mens’ hair repair treatment on my face thinking it was a face lotion (they usually provide some toiletries at nice onsens)….I survived I also saw a gross designated place for people to clip their nails/toenails…I guess that’s better than just doing it in the washing area, but still:)

It was a perfect day for all of us—the kids loved skiing. I love seeing how they gain confidence in what they do and how they see that sports are really fun to do. This would have never happened if one of us were teaching them how to ski…something about having a teacher to show them how do that makes a huge difference.

We definitely recommend Hachimantai as your beginner ski resort especially if you have kids who are learning how to ski.

Skiing season is not going to be over probably till the end of April. I am thinking we can squeeze in one more skiing half day in the middle of March. Hopefully.