We picked up the rental camping car (in the USA we say ‘RV’) on Friday night at 8 PM in Mino.
But the staff’s explanation took 30-minutes! The RV’s battery system is very strong: it can power all the interior lights, heating, refrigerator, and stove for almost 24-hours before needing to be recharged!
We went back to Osaka, slept for three-hours, and then left Osaka Saturday morning at 1:45 AM!
The RV had three beds: one double-bed above the driver’s seat, a bunkbed in the back, and the dining room table could convert into a third double-bed.
We had four adults, one child, and one dog! With three drivers, the eight-hour trip to Nagano, with stops for food, etc., was easy!
On Saturday we arrived at Nozawa Onsen ski area around 9:45 AM. It was a beautiful day, very sunny, cold, and about 2-3m of snow.
Nozawa Onsen ski area allows dogs to run on some of the trails, so Raku the dog was having fun! After skiing we went to a public onsen in Nozawa, all of which are free!
After dinner in Nozawa, we drove about 1.5-hours to Hakuba where we parked in a large parking area for the night. Many people drive very far to come here, sleeping at night in their cars before skiing the next day. It’s much cheaper that way, no hotel fee!
It snowed Saturday night, about 10 cm, so we woke up to beautiful views of fresh snow.
We drove about 20-minutes to breakfast at The Rabbit Hole, an Australian-owned food spot with 100% Australian staff. All the customers were foreigners!
We then skied and snowboarded at Happo-One, the biggest ski area in Hakuba. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of snow. Conditions were powdery and soft on top but a little icy at the bottom of the mountain. Justin skied the great moguls on Usagidaira!
Sunday night we parked the RV again and had a great night sleep while it snowed another 10 cm! On Monday morning, the view was amazing, and the roads were white with snow!
We had a nice breakfast at the Head Café Sports Station, a ski rental shop + cafe:
And decided we would ski again at Happo-One, three days in a row! Monday was interesting weather, the top and bottom of the mountain were clear, but mid-mountain was almost a white out!
We left Hakuba on Monday around 5 PM, and arrived back in Osaka around 2 AM Tuesday morning.
Incredible weekend!
