After a full day at work (or it could be after a full day hitting the slopes if you are here on holidays) two of the Explore Niseko staff geared up and got ready to go on a night snowshoe tour with one of our suppliers NAC.
A group of 9 eager locals piled into two vans and were driven to the picturesque lake Hangetsu (half moon lake) located at the bottom of Mt Yotei. The walk started with a brief hiked up the to the ridge and we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the mountain and lower lake. Then it was down, down, down to the lake.
Having never done snowshoeing before I was surprised how easy and fun the activity was. There was a snow shoot (or slide) that went about 250 meters down to the lake. All us brave and also the nervous gave the slide a go, it was steep, bumpy, thrilling and exciting (a few people unintentionally summersaulted their way down, but all ended up laughing at the bottom).
The hike was broken up by a break on top the frozen lake itself with tea and scones. They even provide food that catered for my ridiculous amount of allergies (diary, gluten, shellfish - I picked the wrong country to work in). The hike back to the ridge was good fun and even challenging at times.
On the walk back to the cars we all became kids again, running (as much as you can in snowshoes) through the trees and trying to hit each other with snow. This fantastic walk was capped with a lovely 4 course meal at JoJo’s, with good food, drinks, laughs and conversations.
The guides were fantastic fun, knowledgable, real, playful and down to earth. It was so nice getting out of the ‘urban’ area and hiking through a pristine snow covered forest (that definitely inspired a feeling of being Elsa walking through the mountain singing ‘let it go’ - if that’s your jam).
This is a great product for families, groups or anyone wanting to experience the mountain and forest in a whole different light.
