This past weekend Mizue, Dominikus (from Kansai IOC), and I lead a winter sports trip to Ontake-san. Saturday's weather was snowy and cold, and half of our big group went snowshoeing and backcountry skiing to see the frozen waterfalls KiyoTaki and ShinTaki. I lead the group, and they followed in file in the tracks of my skiis, reminding me of the way the Smurfs would follow Papa Smurf in file on their long treks through the forest, often touting "Are we there yet Papa Smurf?"!
Upon arriving Kisofukushima station before our snowy adventures, we were greeted by a bunch of snow sculptures, as this was the season of the town's snow festival. On the left is a sculpture of the express train Shinano, which stops at this small valley town hourly and connects it with the rest of the country.
The frozen Shio-Taki (fall of nice clean water), above, provided the backdrop for a popular shrine of dedicated to the mountain's diety.
Shin-Taki (New Waterfall), froze in front of a cave. The cave behind had an ice floor, where the pond at the base froze, and was decorated by classical pillars of ice, formed by water which had seeped through the rock and then froze.
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