Thursday was our first day skiing since leaving Canada so it had been about a year since we’d strapped on some skis. We took it easy in the morning, not heading out of the apartment until after ten. We decided to walk up to to the gondola but this nearly killed us and we vowed not to do it again.
We caught the gondola up and then spend a couple of hours going from down green slopes, then catching chair lifts back up. The visibility came and went (mostly went) as clouds and snow moved across the mountain. Not being familiar with the place it was a little nerve-wracking at times as we couldn’t always see where the trail led and if we were going to go over a sharp drop.
I was pleased to find that it didn’t take long for me to find my ski legs and was zooming down the hill just like old times. Glen took it slower so I got lots of little rests in at certain points down the slopes. I definitely was missing some technique though and my back, which I’d spent about half an hour stretching before we left, was playing up. I was worried I’d end up crippled and unable to move but this, thankfully, didn’t end up being the case.
We stopped off for lunch at one of the cafes up the mountain and then continued skiing. I did some reds (blues in Canada) but not many, keeping with Glen on the greens. We only two two sides of the mountain and then decided to call it at a day at about 3 or so as we really couldn’t see much and we figured we’d done enough for our first day.
Down the hill we decided to walk back to the accommodation. Again, bad move. It took bloody ages to get home. We dumped our stuff and then, because I was worried my back would completely seize if we stayed put, we headed to the onsen at the Vale Resort and soaked there for a while. We were the only ones in there until we left when another man showed up so it was nice to have the place to ourselves.
It’s done up very nicely on the inside, with an inside bathing area and an outside one as well, which was very nice to sit in and have snow fall on us. The mix between the cold of the snow and the 40°C heat of the water was great, and it felt good to stretch out my muscles. Once we were sufficiently relaxed, we got dressed and went via the supermarket to get supplies for soup.
Bec was back at the apartment when we got home; she’d gone to have a day of skiing lessons. Glen made soup, which was very nice for the weather, and then we played two more games of Contagion (Glen won both) and then went off to bed.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?