Kansai Day 5: Skiing @ Rokkosan Snow Park

This was the main reason we were in Kobe - skiing! It was also another venue that had limited information. Google translate was my best friend during the research. We eventually managed to book a family package of 4hrs ski lessons for Y30,000. Daddy Lim and Zaky had actually wanted to learn snowboarding but the snowboard school wouldnt commence until the next day evening. The schools would never response to emails/ messages in English. Zzzzz. We knew that we just had to figure our way out as we go. Zaky had been super excited, he even watched youtube on skiing and was all ready to hit the ski park.

Candeo Hotel has free buffet bfast and we were all looking forward to it - they for the spread and I, so that I dont have to brave the cold to go buy bfast. Lol. The spread was seriously good! Daddy Lim and the kids were very happy and started lamenting our short stay at the hotel.

Yum, yum, chomp, chomp.

We estimated about 1.5hr to get to Rokkosan from our hotel. Our class starts at 12pm and we were asked to arrive 1 hour earlier. To get to Rokkosan, we needed to take a train, change to a bus, then the tram and finally another bus. Sounds complicated? At least this part of the information was readily available in English.

Daddy Lim and I also purchased (while in Osaka) the Rokkosan visitor pass for discounted transfer. Strangely the passes are not for sales at Rokkosan itself.

We caught the bus the moment we exited the train station. A short ride later, we saw the tram station. It was the final stop, no need to panic.

The tram left while we were trying to figure out the kids' tickets and we had time to meddle around. There were apparently many other things to do in Rokkosan but we didnt have time.

We also found coin lockers right at the tram station. Information on coin lockers is so hard to find in English; we see coin lockers generally in most train stations and in the main stations like Kyoto and Namba, there was no lack of such lockers.

The kids were too busy with their gadget, leaving Daddy Lim and I to monkey around. Haha.

The tram, the tram!

It was empty and we got the front row. I had Lil Shauna helped to take some pictures bcos I was too lazy. Lol.

It was similar to the HKG tram to the peak.

Finally at the top.

Then another bus R01 to the snow park. The snow park was quite mini with a learning slope, a beginner and immediate slope. There was also a separate slope for the sledges. Again, we didnt have time for that. The immediate slope was not set up yet when we arrived.

While we know that it would take us time to learn, we were all hoping that we would be proficient enough to ski down the beginner slope by the end of the day. The idea of taking the ski lift was thrilling mah.

There was a long wait at the snow park ticketing booth for the staff to figure out our booking. The kids, particularly Zaky, were overly excited and restless. Finally, we got our bibs and had to pay another Y22.8k for the entrance, the ski and ski wear rental.

From the point of entering the park, it was a mad frenzy to loan the ski wear, keep the bags in lockers, loan the ski shoes.... the instructor was already waiting for us and helped with the ski shoes and ski rental. I was already exhausted with the logistics even before the class commences. Lol. The only good thing was that the kids are now old enough to handle their own ski.

The rental was not the end of the hurdles. The training slope was at the end of the beginner slope. Instead of gloriously taking the ski lift down, we had to walk down this slippery slope in our ski shoes and carrying our skis. It was so slippery that we slipped a few times and of course Zaky fell. Lol. We looked like fat penguins with the ski clothes and waddling in the ski shoes. At one point, I lost my balance and had to use Lil Shauna, who happened to be in front of me, as my braker. I was literally pushing her and pulling her hoodie. Luckily she was a lot more stable than I was but I had her yelling and screaming at her poor mother to stay away. Lol.

By the time we made it to the training slope, we were already perspiring. The sun was also working very hard and so did the heatech that we had beneath the ski suits; it didnt at all feel like winter.

We started off with warmup and to learn how to wear the ski, moving around in 1 ski to get a feel of how it feels. Then, we learnt how to climb the slopes, moving horizontally and it was pure torture. The climbing took forever to ski down the mini slope in like less than a split second. That continued for a good hour. I could feel sweat running down my forehead and back. Zaky, who is as impatient and reckless as always, fell the most frequently. All the youtubes that he had watched didnt seem to help. Lol.

Only I had my pictures bcos we were all so engrossed with the class and Daddy Lim anyhow snapped a few when I requested.

We stopped for lunch at 1pm. It was a much needed break. By then, we had learnt how to ski off the training slope, stop and even do baby jumps. Hmmm... not sure what are the jumps for. Luckily I had booked the 4 hours class instead of the 2 hours class or we would have to stop after learning barely nothing much. We spent so much time climbing the slopes afterall. Lol.

This time, we left the skis at the slope and took the ski lift up to the top for lunch.

We were all hungry with all the hard work and I only remembered to take picture when all the eating was done. Haha.

Desserts after the meal.

Quick and only pictures before we rushed off for round 2.

Again, the instructor was waiting and again, we had to go down that slippery slope. The kids were a lot more agile than their old parents. They had to wait a long time for us to reach the bottom to join them. Lol.

Round 2 was to practice more skiing down and stopping. We went higher up the training slope and the adults took out the ski to climb, leaving the kids to climb slowly with their ski on. They were full of energy anyway and I was already half dead. The last part was to learn how to curve. Though not perfect, we got what were taught fairly quickly.

The instructor saw that we were ready and allowed us to attempt the beginner slope. We climbed the slope with the ski shoes. The slope was divided into 10 parts and we were at the lower 3rd part. It was so much more fun than skiing down the training slope. Hehehe. We did that a few times before the instructor allowed us to go higher up. This time, we took the ski lift. Hooray! Bcos we were carrying our ski, we took one lift each.

We didnt ski down from the top but the 6th cone from the bottom. The higher up, the steeper the gradient.

The instruction was simple - ski down slowly and stopped at the 3rd cone. Easy right? But other than the instructor and Lil Shauna, none of us managed to stop at the 3rd cone. We were too fast and it was too scary to try to stop. Lol.

We had our 2nd and last chance and took the ski lift again. Yeah!

This time, we started 1 cone lower. Lol. The instructor thought too highly of us lah.

Did we stop? We all did, just that Daddy Lim had to fall to stop. Hohoho. The instructor made skiing looks so easy.

By then, our 4 hours lesson had come to an end. We took the final ski lift back to the top. We could continue to ski on our own but the adults were exhausted, we needed to pay extra for the night ski entrance and there were threats of rain.

Despite protest, the skis were returned but the kids got to play a bit of snow and snow fight until we were stopped by the staff probably bcos we were a risk to the other skiers and snowboarders.

Then it was the bus, tram, bus, train combi back to our hotel.

Dinner was easy bcos we were all freaking tired. Hello, yellow man and yellow boy.

Nobody broke any bones, though Lil Shauna pulled a muscle near her hip when she fell and I got a blue back from the ski shoes.

It had been a great experience. We had so much laughter and the instructor had good words for our family about how sporty we were, learning really quickly and generally a loving family. Hehe. It is nice to hear such compliments.

The kids didnt have enough of skiing and I think we would head for more skiing and to learn how to snow board the next time. Hehe. Zaky said that we have to do 3 full days next time. Wow!

Mummy Lim