20060315 - Kamui Ski Links then travel to Rusutsu

We headed back to Kamui for a half day of boarding. With the tickets at 2500yen, it was no problem to just go with a full day ticket! Pretty decent in the trees albet a little soft due to the warmth. The top of the mountain still had a lot of wind just blowing the snow away, but I still recon Kamui would be an excellent place to board mid season. This time round we have really pushed it a bit far into spring.

Then it was time to return the van to Asahikawa train station. The van was totally filthy, but they didn't seem to care. Wooo.

Next train to Saporro was in 20mins, so a quick bite to eat then on our way, then on getting there the next bus to Rusutsu was in 10mins, so straight on our way.

The Rusutsu Powder Lodge now run by skijapan.com had closed up for the season, so the race was on to find some other cheapish accomodation. Most people going to Rusutsu stay in the resort hotel, which has many different towers buildings, however it is just a tad pricy.

We had contacted the Lilla Huset pension at Rusutsu who said they had room for us, but we forgot to print any maps or take a kanji print out of the name to ask someone. Anyway there it was right behind the Powder Lodge. The day worked out perfect, which is quite a change from our attempt at getting from Tokyo to Hakuba.

The Lilla Huset Swedish House Pensione at Rusutsu has turned out to be excellent. The price is pretty similar to that we would have been paying at the Powder Lodge, but the place seems much nicer. The room we had had two western beds, and a Japanese style room that could sleep 3. It had two bathrooms, a kitchen/lounge and its own entry, so no bashing on windows late at night to get in. (Not that that is much of an issue at Rustutsu... there is very little night time activity going on, with just a few isakaya's that shut up around midnight.)