The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel

4. EAT YOUR FILL

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Eating and drinking costs are comparable to those in European ski resorts – on

there on our second ski day in Japan. A small queue builds before the lifts open, fat skis and off-piste gear looking out of place at a base that’s just a hut for tickets and stickers, with a hairdryer outside for clearing goggles of snow. Yes, a hairdryer.

We spend the next hour or so lapping the double chair, finding lines between trees, floating through deeps, occasional­ly hearing muffled shouts as everyone spreads out across the area’s two valleys. The lift provides drifting respite as it moves lazily through trees while we’re on it, and a landmark inside the ping-pong ball of this relentless­ly snowy day as we ski down.

Just as home-made noodles and veg-stuffed miso soup in Taube (the one place to eat on the mountain) are calling, there’s a commotion at the bottom of the single-seat lift. The ski patrol has finally dug it out – and we are among the first to ride it.

It edges up over a pristine steep powder field at a snail’s pace. As I near the top, the first skiers come down, barely visible in the deeps, their ecstasy evident from the pluming tails of snow and sounds of joy. I laugh with them, kicking my skis excitedly in barely contained anticipati­on of the over-my-head snow thrills to come. Lunch will have to wait.

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