Furano Day 5
We booked a snow mobiling trip for today. Ni, our local publican come snow mobile guide picked us up from htoel Furanui at 8am in his minivan. We dropped past another hotel and picked up 4 lads from Newcastle who were joining the tour.
We made our way to Kamui and did a stint of rock climbing on an indoor wall while our snow mobiles were being transported to the snow mobile course on a flat bed truck.
Once at the snow mobile course, Ni gave us a short briefing on general operation and safety procedures before we spe off down the snow covered track.
A short while down the track and my snow mobile conked out. Ni and Masa San were unable to fix it, so I hitched a ride with Ni to the next stop while Masa San went and picked up another snow mobile.
We entered a snow covered open field. The powder was about 50cm deep, and we had free reign to carve it up on the mobiles. What started out as a fresh powder field ended up as a tracked out paddock after 10-15 minutes of ripping it up at high speed on our snow mobiles.
Next we made our way up through a forest to an alpine ridge where some of the group slid down a ledge and almost caused an avalanche. After our hike the previous night we opted not to slide down the ledge as we knew how tough the climb back up would be. Masa San drove his arctic cat snow mobile off the ledge and then had a tough time getting it back up. 5 guys were required to pull the machine back up onto the ledge.
We wound our way up to the top of the ridge, before turing around and retracing our tracks to the start of the course.
After loading Ni’s snow mobile back onto the trailer, we headed to a famous eatery called Fortune Bagel. We enjoyed curry soup followed by freshly baked bagels with assorted fillings that really hit the spot.
After dropping our gear off back at Pension Furanui, Ni picked us up 30 minutes later for a trip out to Onsen Takachidake. This onsen was by far the best we have seen. After a scrub down and a quick dip in the indoor pool, we headed out into the fresh mountain air and submerged our aching muscles into the outdoor onsen surrounded by fresh snow.
After soaking our bodies the drying off, we sampled some of the hot food dispensed by a vending machine, then tried our luck on a lucky ball machine at the front desk on the way out. Iao won a beer, I got a red ball and got zip.
Thanks to Ni for an awesome day snowmobiling and sight seeing.
