Day 6 - Niseko
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We went for an earlier start today on 1st lift as we were finishing early at 2.30pm in order to get our private transfer coach to Furano. Yet another good day of skiing and a day for errors also. I think tired legs and heads were to blame. The prize wipe out of the day went to John who whilst skiing very neatly and confidently, didn’t appear to be looking where he was going. Or perhaps it was a blind dip that saw him disappear totally from view on his video run! One turn he was there, the next he was gone. Warren moved the camera around the area scanning for John. It was hilarious! The rest of the group above him were intending to follow his line, but decided against it.
After another good day of powder, we headed back to the hotel to get the transfer to Furano. The transfer was approximately 4 and a half hours. It was a great journey and gave everybody a chance to see all the local towns and villages on the way. It was amazing how many ski resorts we passed. Apparently there are somewhere in the region of 700 ski resorts in Japan!
Warren, Rob and Tom made good use of the time on the coach by assessing each person in their groups individually through a one to one video analysis session. We stopped off at a service station half way where everybody delighted in a new button on the toilets. There was some interesting food selections, most of which created a childish behaviour! We arrived at the new Prince Furano hotel in Furano in time for dinner. We were met by hotel Manager Scottie who provided us with numerous free drink coupons, and made everybody feel at home. James from Furano Tourism joined us for a drink after dinner and filled everybody with excitement as he talked about the exclusive access to the off piste terrain in Furano that was granted by the resort for the Warren Smith Ski Academy. Felix Milns, freelance ski journalist and expert skier, had arrived to join us for the latter part of our trip. Watch out for his and Neil’s articles in the near future!