just to pass the time: Winter Holiday in Tohoku Region - 2nd January 2012 (Yamagata 山形)

We took bus from Yamagata Station 山形駅 to Yamagata Zao Onsen 山形蔵王温泉. The place was famous for onsen and ski. The main reason we came here was to see Zao Snow Monsters, secondly was to ski.

Ski slope of Zao Onsen

First, we went to check in into the hotel 堺屋旅館, we entered though the back door, and we wondered why there was no people around, so funny. Then, we went to the ski wear shop to rent the ski wear and snowboard. Then, we bought tickets for the ski lift which includes the cable car to the snow monsters station. The tickets were magnetic type and we had to pay something like deposits, when the day finished and tickets were returned to the vending machine, the deposits would be returned. There was many routes, for me, of course the beginner course.

bell at the snow monsters area

the snow monsters (not clear due to bad weather)

a lot of people came here just for the snow monsters

at the zao onsen cable station

This was the second snowboarding section for me, so it became easier although I still couldn't got down from the ski lift properly. After that, we walked a very long way to the cable car area where it leads to the snow monsters. Actually, one can ski down from there. With all the ski attires, I was really tired and my legs and feet hurt. Finally, reached there. There was a lot of people came just for the snow monsters 樹氷. So, the cable car was packed like sardine can. It make the body warmer though!

After reaching the station on top, what we could see was cloudy, windy, foggy conditions outside. We braced the bad weather and went outside. It was so cold until my teeth hurt. Since the visibility was bad, we could not see the snow monsters clearly. There was a restaurant. So, we went to the restaurant. We all bought ice cream. I wanted to try eating ice cream outside under the cold -6 degree Celsius weather. So, I went outside, but the temperature was so low that the ice cream became hard and it was difficult to eat, not to even mention the winds kept blowing, it was so cold! Finally, I went back to the restaurant to finish the ice cream.

After that, me and another friend of mine walked back to the beginner course. While, the more adventurous one decided to snowboard down from there to the beginner course. While we walked back, I kept voicing out my concern for them until my friend that walked with me complained that I talked too much! Hahaha!

the cable car station

streets in Zao onsen 蔵王温泉

Then, we just snowboarded at the beginner course. There were a lot of parents teaching their children how to ski or snowboard at the area. We played there until around 4pm and all my adventurous friends went back already. So, we returned the ski wear and snowboard and went back to the hotel.

luggages thrown around the hotel front lobby

After dinner, we decided to go to see the snow monsters again because during the day, we couldn't get a good look at it. This time around, we had to buy another ticket for the cable car because the ski lift ticket we bought in the morning was only until 5pm. The wind was still strong and cold. So even after we went back to the snow monsters area, the view was still quite cloudy. The wind was still cold, and the weather dropped to -10 degree Celsius. When we were inside the cable car, we could feel the swinging, quite scary, really! We stayed there for quite some time until we were afraid that the bad weather would stop the cable car services. So, we went back to the hotel and have a good night sleep, after all we had a very busy day!