*Better late than never. Posting this 9 months later 😀 *
After attempting my first snowsport activity back in 2019 (when I was in New Zealand for Working Holiday), I told myself that it wasn’t gonna be the last time but I needed to make sure that I had the money and fitness to continue skiing for a really long time. Then, covid hit and basically everything I learned was pretty much nonexistent when I did a 1.5 day ski in Australia 3 years later. Little did I know that it would take another 2.5 more years before I had another opportunity to go on a ski holiday and this time round – it was gonna be for 4 days – the longest I’ve ever skied consecutively in my life.
FYI: I will be writing about accommodation, food and expenses towards the end so do keep scrolling.
Why did I go to Zao?
The short answer is, I didn’t choose it. I was simply just an add-on to my friend’s trip so they have decided everything and I was just a +1. The longer answer was that my friend wanted to see the snow monsters (which I had not heard of before she told me) and that she had already been to Hakuba and Niseko in her previous trips so she wanted to try something new. Not having to take an additional flight to Hokkaido was a plus point for me as I have already visited Hokkaido twice (though not in the winter) but as I get older, I’m not a fan of airplane rides anymore.
Here’s an example of what snow monsters are. Basically, it is just trees with accumulated snow and they look kind of scary don’t they.
To be honest, on hindsight and after speaking to more experienced snowboarders/ski holiday go-ers, Zao is not exactly a good place to snowboard/ski, especially for beginners. There were a lot of flats (which we had to do a lot of walking cause I was simply too tired) and the terrains and ski lifts were not well connected at all. For beginners, there isn’t any ‘magic carpet’/conveyor belt (which was what I used to go on when I first started) and there isn’t any publicised group lessons in English. I had to book a private lesson and the instructor assigned to me was Japanese and his level of english was really basic, to the extent that he couldn’t really correct my bad habits or teach me new things. He was a nice chap and all but we were just lost in translation 80% of the time.
What I did not like about Zao
This was my first time skiing in Japan and the experience here was a far cry compared to my experience in New Zealand and Australia. In those western countries, the ski resorts were well organized and there was a ‘one stop’ service for everything you need. You are able to buy like an all-in-one pass which gives you access to clothes, equipment, ski lift passes and lessons but over here in Zao (or perhaps the majority of the places in Japan), you had to settle everything on your own. We had to pre-book our private lessons way in advance via email (walk-in usually won’t get you anything) and they were rather slow in their replies. There were multiple ‘schools’ you could schedule a lesson with and you just have to google and search until you find one that replies you and can accept English-speaking students. For rental, there were a few shops that you can choose from and the cheaper one (which provided our hotel guests with a promo) had a really long queue in the morning (about 45 mins wait) and there were only 3 to 4 staff managing it. The larger shop was more expensive, with shorter to no queues and newer equipment, but could not provide overnight storage – meaning if you were to rent multiple days from them, you’ll have to carry your equipment to and from the hotel. For the first day, we were running a little late so we had to make do with the more expensive shop and since our hotel was an elevated distance away (short walk but slopes), I opted for daily rental which was more expensive. Ski lift tickets – they are run independently so you don’t get any bundle discounts at all. The only discount you can get is if you purchase in advance from the hotel/ryokan concierge in cash. As I wasn’t sure how many days my body could take, I ended up buying 4 single-day passes (which was more expensive), but that’s a fault of mine.
Basically, it was madness (to me) just trying to sort out all these logistics.
Next, the maps and signage were quite horrendous compared to the other western ski resorts that I have been to. All the time, I’m just having to take out my crumbled map in the freezing cold to figure out where I was. The limited signage(s) around were not colour-coded which means you could find yourself going down a red slope when you’re probably only a green/blue level. To add on, they only had green, red and black arrows on the map which means that their greens were pretty much blue more than half the time. If I had been skiing for the very first time, I would have probably freak out and given up. In fact, a friend that was travelling with us decided to give up after the first 2 hours as it was too cold plus she was kind of feeling unwell too. But, there really wasn’t any gentle slopes that were good enough for true blue beginner practice.
In addition, we had snowy and gloomy weather 85% of the time. There were 2 occasions where it was almost a complete whiteout (where the ground and the sky and the trees look the same), and I have no idea where I was skiing to. Also, as I can’t see what’s ahead of me, how far how steep etc., I was cautious of falling so I had to pizza down some slopes (which is very taxing on my legs) and there were several times I had the idea of just crashing and calling for ski patrol cause I was simply too tired. Oops. Somehow, I did survive and make it back in one piece.
What I like about Zao
Throughout my four days, there were barely any queues for ski lifts (excluding the tourist ropeway). Somehow, it wasn’t super crowded or perhaps the mountains were big enough to accommodate us all. At lunch time, there was barely any queue too apart from my last day (when the snow/visibility was bad) and everyone probably went to the restaurant lodge to seek shelter. However, if you’re visiting as a tourist, wanting to take the ropeway up to see the snow monsters, social media posts have shown that you might queue for up to 3 hours. Furthermore, tickets are usually sold out very quickly and ‘priority passes’ to skip the queues are also not easy to purchase. For skiers, there’s no such problem if you want to see the snow monsters but you need to transfer about 4 ski lifts to get to that area – which comes with a lot of flats that you either have to work your arm muscles or get off your skis and walk (which is my preferred option).
If you stay within the onsen town, you don’t need to drive. Everything is pretty much within walking distance. Our ryokan provided transport from Yamagata Station which saved us the trouble of commuting via the public buses. Although I have a driving license, I do not wish to drive in the snow as it could be a really scary thing especially when it comes to black ice. I have never driven in snowy conditions and I wish I would never need to do so :/
Although I complain a lot about the snow and poor visibility, the snow at Zao was really good. It was so soft, so fluffy and you feel less pain when you fall. I had a lot of icy snow when I was in New Zealand (well the trade off was blue skies and pretty photos) and when I was trying to pick up snowboard, I fell so badly on the icy conditions that I think my butt was badly bruised. In most parts of Japan (if you visit at the right timing), you’ll get to enjoy the JAPOW (Japan Powder) where the snow is so fine and soft that it is the reason why people keep going back to Japan for their ski holidays.
**
Here are some random photos from my trip:
Morning walk from the accommodation to the ski field:
Sunset view while walking back from Ski field to Accom:
Where I stayed
The image on the left is what my accommodation looks like. The extreme left building is actually a public hot spring and the one behind (in biege) is the accomodation. It has some annoying slopes while going up and down so you got to be very careful with each step. As for the photo on the right, it is of the meiji shrine. The photo was taken using my half/half disposable camera.
^ What the hotel lobby looks like – fully tatami – which means you have to take off your shoes at the entrance.
It was a really good location and it takes about 6 to 10 minutes to reach the Jupeer Center (which is the main building for the skiers and where my ski lessons started from). The only annoying thing was that it had to be an upslope every morning which can be quite annoying especially when my muscles are not yet awake. However, being ‘lower’, it means that when you don’t have to ‘climb’ when you’re walking out to find dinner (which is usually much colder at night). The main food streets are at the bottom so if you do pick an accommodation which is of the same altitude of the Jupeer Center, you will have to brave the slopes at night to find food, which would have been more annoying in my opinion.
Another downside of this hotel is that there are no elevators which means that if you appear to be young and fit (like us, relative to the senior citizens), you may get allocated a room on the top floor. It is quite a complicated layout as we had to walk up 4 to 5 flights of stairs each day to our room. As there are no bathing facilities in the room (only toilets and sink), we had to climb the stairs at least twice/thrice each day, depending on whether we took a break in our room before dinner. My friend had to survive my whining each day as I climbed the stairs cause my muscles will be aching badly after each ski day and in fact, every morning as well.
^View from the second floor rest area
As there were no in-room shower facilities, we had to do the communal-style Japanese onsen ‘public’ bathing every night. Not sure about you, but I have to bathe at least once a day otherwise I’ll feel really weird. I come from a tropical/humid country and I sweat a lot so bathing everyday is pretty much a necessity for me. At first, I did feel really annoyed at this but after a while, I told myself that since I was in Japan, I should just embrace the culture and do what the Japanese do and as the days went by, I started to appreciate the experience, especially during the 10-15 mins soak in the boiling onsen. Apart from the first night where we were all trying to figure things out, I chose to bathe separately from my friend (yea cause communal bathing means you’re all naked). This meant that every night, I had a long period of self-reflection moment while my body and muscles got to relax in the hot tub. To be honest, my mind is not conditioned ‘to do nothing’ so it was very difficult to tide through that wait. With no phone in my hand and no friend to have a conversation with, it was truly a silent moment where I could focus on my inner thoughts and nothing else. It did get kind of therapeutic at times, where I felt like ‘ahh, I don’t get to do this often’, while other times I just kept starting at the clock wishing it moved faster. Of course, there isn’t a rule to state that you need to soak for a minimum of 10 minutes or more but it is just something I wanted to do – to be in that space where I could just stone and space out with absolutely no distractions at all. In case you’re wondering, the water at our onsen (and perhaps the entire mountain) was sulphuric and smellt like rotten eggs. It was annoying at first but you will get used to it eventually. I was also able to do my full set of after-shower care at the bathing area as well. This includes some of my facial routine and blowing my hair and stuff like that. By the time I leave the bathing area and enter my room, I would be almost ready to sleep (with the extra step of brushing my teeth).
^ Photo of the onsen entrance. FYI, it switches every half a day so be sure to enter the correct colour for your gender.
Food wise, our hotel did provide breakfast and dinner set menu but we only opted for one meal each as an experience. The spread was really amazing and value for money but I’m not sure if I would want to eat the same thing everyday so one each was a perfect choice. Please note that you have to book the food in advance.
Breakfast.
Dinner. The interesting thing about such dinner is that I find it as thoughtful as an omakase dinner whereby they make it a point to feature local ingredients plus have different modes of ‘cooking’ as part of your meal. For this dinner, we had both steam and grilled dishes. From meat to seafood to vegetables and tofu -> everything was well represented.
Although there are times.. I have no idea what I am eating:
Everything is a piece of art.
Where we ate for other days
[Lunch]
Fun fact: this is the emptiest restaurant I’ve ever seen in a ski resort. I’ve been to places in Aussie and NZ and the food area is always packed with people resting from the snow. I guess things are different in Japan because everyone wants to be in the snow and not just resting/hanging around.
蔵王の大ちゃん
Google: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TVpT7CnTXxgn9xo88
We had lunch here on day 2. This shop is famous for their homeade fruity alcohol drink. Suddenly can’t remember the name for it.
My friend’s instructor was telling us about this godlike udon which is up on the mountains. We made it a point to ski there to have our lunch on Day 3 and it was a really lovely experience to be eating hot udon when it is snowing outside.
This is what the shop looks like. Any hazi-er, I might have missed it. If I’m not wrong, they only accept cash so do bring cash along with you when you ski, if not you’ll grow hungry.
View this post on Instagram
Day 4 lunch: there was this log house looking thing in the half-mountains which serves the japanese-westen cuisine
[Dinner]
Day 1: I can’t seem to find it in google maps anymore. Maybe this place closed down but we were having some soup with fish. I don’t think there was an english menu in this place so it was.. pure luck.
Zao Stand MY
Google: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jNh46fxessXTVSZY9
This was a really small fusion food kind of place and the only reason we ended up here was because everywhere else was packed. Can’t remember much about the meal but I do remember they have quite a selection of sake.
Hachiman (Grilled Meat)
Google: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HRd3bMdnrFPs9hDYA
This was a place that needed reservations, so we went in the day before and made a booking for the next evening. To the best of your ability, do try to make reservations in advance or you might find yourself just walking around freezing door to door trying to find a restaurant that has space for you. Well, last resort, there’s one lawson convenience store where you can buy convenience store food.
Sushi Kiraku
Google: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hDBvjaK8aT2eXtb69
If I’m not wrong, this was the only sushi place within walking distance and we actually walked past a few times attempting to get a reservation slot. Thankfully we managed to get a later time slot and had our sushi fix on our second last night!
SKI things
So on my first day, we decided to get our equipment at a ski shop (opposite the ski lift), because our hotel gave us a 20% voucher, only for that place. As that shop was cheaper, there was a super long queue outside when we reached and we queued for about 30 mins before our turn. Me being me, I decided to opt for a 1-day option in case I wasn’t going to enjoy skiing. Long story short, I ended up renting at the more expensive shop for the remainder days as I didn’t want to go earlier to queue. Furthermore, they didn’t provide storage and I didn’t want to carry my equipment up and down the slope each day so I paid the daily rate which was definitely more expensive than my friend that committed a 4-day rate from the start.
I made the same mistake with the ski pass as well. If you buy multiple days, it would be cheaper but as I didn’t know who much I would like to ski, or whether the weather tomorrow would be good, and whether my body/stamina can take it.. I didn’t want to commit to a multi-day pass. Bought individual days and as you might have guess, I paid more again. That being said, I really have an issue with commitment so I’m not surprised at my decision as well.
This was what level 1 of the ‘base center’ looks like. Behnd this photo is the more expensive ski rental shop which does not provide overnight storage.
This was the ticket counter and area we met our instructors.
I only remembered the existence of this app on my last day.
What my map looked like at the end of 4 days:
**
Off to my next ski trip next month ^^