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| Winter scene in Minakami |
The fifth tour in our "good things in Gunma" series took us to Minakami, in the northern part of Gunma prefecture for some snow-shoeing. In the summer of 2011 I took a tour to Minakami (and made a series of blogs... yeah), but this was my first time seeing the same place in winter. Also my first time snow-shoeing. Note to photo geeks: we were strongly encouraged not to bring any large camera equipment with us, so all my photos are taken with a point-and-shoot camera.
If you prefer pictures only, you can skip ahead to the photo gallery.
We started off our adventure in the alpine lodge, with a brief lecture by Mike, our guide from New Zealand. We then got fitted for snow wear and snow boots before starting our adventure. Since I'm a bit taller than Japanese standards, I ordered my own XL skiwear online. I was planning to go skiing this season anyway, so it would come in handy later. I also have (apparently) monstrously large feet (US 10.5) which meant I had to use snowboarding boots rather than the typical snow boots.
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| Geared up and ready for action |
From the lodge we headed out by bus up the mountain to the prime snow-shoeing area. I recognized this as the road that leads up to Tanigawa-dake (谷川岳), but we didn't go all the way up to the ropeway entrance.
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| Lovely snow-covered Minakami |
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| Part of the snowshoeing group |
From the initial departure point, we walked for a couple of hours deep into the snow-covered trails. It turned out that walking in show shoes isn't that hard, especially if you're following behind a group who packs down the snow in front of you. I ran into a problem however that the snowboard boots I was using were poorly suited for the snowshoes, and two separate shoes broke while I was walking. Fortunately the guides brought spares and I was back with the rest of the group in no time.
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| Lunch around a snowy table |
After a few hours of walking, we helped our guides stomp/dig out an artificial table and we stopped for lunch. Fortunately the weather was pleasant--a little cloudy but not too cold--so even sitting in the snow wasn't terribly uncomfortable. Our guides handed out tupperware with decent chicken sandwiches and some warm soup.
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| I try to slide down a slope |
After lunch we headed back to the start, but this time on a different path. Our guide sought out a couple of slopes and gave us a chance to slide down. One of the slides required scaling a separate and fairly difficult slope, but fortunately I was able to make it to the top and had a friend take the picture above.
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| Impromptu ice cream |
Just before heading back to the lodge, our guide made a special treat--fresh snow ice cream made from condensed milk, chocolate powder and fresh snow. Actually pretty tasty.
To wrap up this blog, snow shoeing was a very interesting experience. Before I left I thought that it would be difficult, like skiing through a light snowstorm. But I was surprised to find how easy it was. This is partly due to the weather and, perhaps, partly due to the fact that I was in pretty good shape (and had lost a lot of weight since the beginning of the summer). Snowshoeing offers a nice relaxed pace to help enjoy the natural scenery.
Links:
Tourism Minakami http://www.tourism-minakami.com/
Canyons (our guide's website) http://canyons.jp/
