Image above: Just one of the many beautiful snowscapes from the train ride up to Minakami. [Tuesday 26 January] | [View all photos]
Doing something completely different on Day 4, I headed to Minakami to go snow shoeing for the first time.
In the spirit of wanting to do something novel on this trip, I hauled myself out of my toasty warm bed at 05:00 to catch the my first train to Omiya. Then a lightening fast shinkansen to Takashi with breakfast courtesy of Raina, before a sedate commuter train past some amazing scenery the rest of the way to Minakami.
There, my guide for the day was Yuji and my fellow hiker was David from New Zealand. The plan, to hike up to Ooyu Cave. So after a short drive through the mountains we got started with Yuji leading the way.
Walking through all the powdered snow, which came up my knees whilst more snow gently floated down around us, was a superb experience. Hard work but a lot of fun. It was so tranquil making our way through the forest passing beautiful vistas with each corner we turned.
Two hours later, we could see the cave above us and in this steep final section Yuji gave us novices a hand by kicking out steps in the snow. And on reaching the cave, we were greeting by the wondrous sight of massive icicles and this icicle “waterfall“. But the highlight was within the cave and seeing ice stalagmites for the first time. Really did feel as if someone had turned the cave upside-down!
Food always tastes so good after a hard workout and the warm houtou udon we lugged up with us really hit the spot before we got a group photo and started our descent. And when I say descent, we did walk down part of the way but we also slid down too! On one slope I flew down only to flip up at the end and catapult myself face (and camera!) first into the snow … absolutely hilarious and, alas, no HD video of that to share with you!
By the time we got back to base, I was exhausted but exhilarated by the experience. Then, before I knew it I was back on the train towards Raina’s with a quick stop off at Omiya to satisfy my tempura craving.
My thanks to Yuji for getting me bitten by the winter sports bug. So who’s up for skiing next season? :)
Coming up next … a very very quiet day back in Tokyo after all the exercise I got on this day!
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