Wow- what an incredible weekend. I spent the weekend skiing in Hakuba, base for the ski events of the 1998 Winter Olympics. I finally tryed out Happo-one, the ski resort that hosted the downhill events. As I'd predicted, it was amazing and pretty much kicked my butt. Saturday was really windy, and the Happo runs are at a pretty high elevation, so there were a few scary moments spent dangling from the lifts as they were paused due to the gusts. That was a new feeling that doesn't need to be repeated soon. It was also seriously cold!

Sunday we headed to the combined resorts Hakuba 47 & Goryu... which are a tad easier and felt great after the fear inducing Happo runs on Saturday. Both days we enjoyed soft piles of snow- more than I'm used to- which made it a bit less intimidating to fall.

We stayed at an inn right down the street from one of the Happo lifts, turns out at the same inn that hosted the Swiss Olympic team. It was a very cosy little bed and breakfast surrounded by similar places, all of which hosted teams for the Olympics- there are still Olympic street signs up and loads of other left overs to satisfy even Olympic geeks like me.

All this just an hour and a half from home- I can't believe I've decided to leave Nagano!