Japan: February 2026: Day 9: Shiga-Kogen

Japan

Feb 2026: Day 9: Shiga-Kogen

Second to last breakfast at Yudanaka Yumoto.

Fried fish, eggplant, pumpkin.

Scrambled eggs.

Cream soup and fresh fruit.

Lizzy, Phil, guide Chris.

Mark and Steve.

Tons more fresh snow.

Green gondola at Yakebitaiyama.

Not much open due to heavy snow and winds = long lines.

Green gondola at Yakebitaiyama.

Better photo of the stuffed animals.

Gorgeous day, at least when the sun came out.

Phil and Liz carving through fresh pow.

Mark and the rest of the group enjoying the powder.

Back at the first day's ramen restaurant for lunch.

Look at how many layers Phil is wearing-- it's damned cold outside.

Lifts running between snow-covered birch trees.

One more selfie.

Easy run or not, it's beautiful.

Ending the day with vending machine hot milk tea.

Fake chicken mcnuggets.

Casualties. Not as bad as Chris (or Chris' camera).

Nabe pot for dinner at Yudanaka Yumoto.

Root veggies.

Salmon, shrimp, veggies. Beef.

Beef.

Toro and.... hamachi? Or is it madai?

Colin joined us from Tokyo.

Chicken yakitori was excellent.

The spread.

Soup with egg.

Berry cake.

Yudanaka Yumoto's breakfast remains a great way to start the day, then it was off to the last day of skiing for the trip with mostly the same group as before-- Lizzy, Phil, Steve, Mark, and the rest, along with guide Chris (a different Chris). The final day on the mountain was considerably warmer than the day before-- instead of -15 degrees C / 5 degrees F, it was more like -10 degrees C / 14 degrees F. Being one of the older staff members, Chris' more relaxed and careful demeanor was a solid fit with the group, who were mostly, uhh, shall we say, no longer described as young and dumb.

With thw weather starting to clear, had some incredibly beautiful runs through the trees at Yakebitaiyama, although high winds (by Shiga-Kogen standards) kept many of the lifts closed, and kept us and the rest of the crowds largely confined to Yakebitaiyama and Ichinose. Probably ate entirely too much ramen this trip, but with such cold weather, I wasn't complaing-- and it was pretty damned good. Lunch today was actually at the exact same ramen place as the first day on the mountain, Mt. Yakebitai's combined ramen/Chinese restaurant building.

Like the day before, even some of the groomed trails were glorious, snow-capped trees on all sides, and not too much dust-over-crust to worry about, although you still had to pay attention. Also, unlike the day before, managed to keep up with the group instead of getting lost while taking pictures (sorry Brett). While the rest of the group skiied and snowboarded the full day, I opted to end a bit early, both to end on a high note as well as to avoid any possibility of ending up a casualty like Chris.

Chris' friend Colin joined us today in Yudanaka, and due to Chris' injury, we opted to have dinner at the hotel again-- which to be fair was not a hardship on anyone. They did a seafood sukiyaki pot instead of a waygu one for our third dinner with them, and the whole experience was a delicious one, especially with chicken yakitori and a berry cake to finish the meal.