When I booked they actually were full and I was like 'oh no!' thinking I'd have to change plans again. But the manager said they can accommodate me in a nearby hotel that they have an 'overspill' agreement with.
The hotel was run by a little old couple who were fantastic chefs and made a delicious feast of a breakfast every morning. I had my own room overlooking the mountain and it was much quieter than the hostels I've been staying in. So lucky!
They use the hot onsen water to defrost the snow off the roads. The whole village always sounds like it's raining with all the water moving around everywhere.
500m Travellator up to one of the other skilifts. Was incredible!
Soooo long!
I caught a snow-cat tour for $5 to take me to some backcountry and it showed me a frozen lake & pointed out a few of the other mountains.
Panorama from the snowcat tour.
The village has about 13 free onsen you can use and lots of free foot baths too. All varying degrees of scalding hot. Awesome after a hard days skiing
They even have an area of cooking-onsen where the water is like 98 degrees & people cook all sorts of foods like boiled eggs and vegetables
Cooking area.
Water everywhere.
Snow temple!
I'm not kidding, water everywhere! This was a handrail next to stairs somewhere in the village.
Sunsets created such a unique atmosphere in this village.
One of the many free onsen buildings.
Main street
Lots of steamed foods as you could imagine. These were some sort of dumpling with pickled veggies inside.
