We have always been skiing only in Switzerland. Even after moving to London in 2016, we went back to ski in the February break (2017) to Engadin (St Moritz) and Davos. That was a lovely trip as we stayed together with friends in a hotel in Davos and all of us had a lovely time skiing and spending time together. Funnily enough, we bumped into A's friends in St Moritz so she got to spend time catching up with them for dinner, ice skating etc. Strangely enough we ended up taking an Air BnB next to A's friend L, much to A's delight.
In 2018 we went back to Switzerland in the February break, this time the whole week at St Moritz.
We got to catch up with a few friends (A met her best friends L and P) and S met her good friend N, and I got to meet some of the moms I sent so much time with in Zurich (really miss those days). In the St Moritz mountains it was just us though. We took a lovely Air BnB with a view of the mountains, rented the skis at Signal (like we always do) and skied on the various St Moritz slopes.
In 2019 we decided to bite the bullet and try skiing in Japan. WE had heard so much about the amazing slopes and snow conditions. Well it turned out to be quite the disappointment. The journey itself was quite involved. We flew to Sapporro (about a 6 hour flight from Singapore) and then hired a car to drive 2 hours to Niseko. Looks like Niseko is the destination for international schools from Singapore. In our flight there were more than 6 families from the girls school, with 2 families from A's class itself. The drive from Sapoorro to Niseko was scary to say the least. WE set off around 4 pm when visibility started to be low, and got caught in a severe snowstorm. The hubby was super stressed while driving in the blizzard, the car kept sliding and he couldn't see anything. I prayed furiously to all the Gods and somehow we made it to Niseko. I mad him promise we would make the journey back in the daylight.
The skiing itself was disappointing. There were snow blizzards on many days and two of the days the slopes were shut. The other days it was sunny for about 1-2 days and the other days it kept snowing, so it was very uncomfortable and cold to ski. We had to take many 'warm up' breaks and I never ventured beyond the blue slopes, didn't want to take any risks in low visibility.
We tried some non skiing stuff too - the hubby tried snowboarding the girls did snow moiling and snow tubing. S and A had their birthdays in the Japan break. On S birthday we called her friend B who was also skiing with her family in Niseko) and the girls did some indoor rock climbing. A's birthday we were in Sapporo. It was the snow sculpture festival there- we walked around Sapporro watching highlights of the snow sculpture but it was too freezing so we quickly dashed to an Italian restaurant where the girls had their pizza dan then went to a local Japanese restaurant where the hubby and I had some local Japanese food. I was disappointed that there wasn't much non skiing stuff to do- like ice skating, or movies, or other stuff, so when we were not at the ski slopes we were either relaxing in our Air BNB (which was also good fun, we watched the Terminator series with the girls) or else eating pizza in the restaurants (no one wanted to try to local stuff to the hubby's disappointment).
I think we won't go back to Japan for skiing.Much prefer the weather conditions in Switzerland. Have to figure out the ski trip next year though -the CNY holiday is in January itself, too early to go on holiday again after the winter Xmas break.
In 2018 we went back to Switzerland in the February break, this time the whole week at St Moritz.
We got to catch up with a few friends (A met her best friends L and P) and S met her good friend N, and I got to meet some of the moms I sent so much time with in Zurich (really miss those days). In the St Moritz mountains it was just us though. We took a lovely Air BnB with a view of the mountains, rented the skis at Signal (like we always do) and skied on the various St Moritz slopes.
In 2019 we decided to bite the bullet and try skiing in Japan. WE had heard so much about the amazing slopes and snow conditions. Well it turned out to be quite the disappointment. The journey itself was quite involved. We flew to Sapporro (about a 6 hour flight from Singapore) and then hired a car to drive 2 hours to Niseko. Looks like Niseko is the destination for international schools from Singapore. In our flight there were more than 6 families from the girls school, with 2 families from A's class itself. The drive from Sapoorro to Niseko was scary to say the least. WE set off around 4 pm when visibility started to be low, and got caught in a severe snowstorm. The hubby was super stressed while driving in the blizzard, the car kept sliding and he couldn't see anything. I prayed furiously to all the Gods and somehow we made it to Niseko. I mad him promise we would make the journey back in the daylight.
The skiing itself was disappointing. There were snow blizzards on many days and two of the days the slopes were shut. The other days it was sunny for about 1-2 days and the other days it kept snowing, so it was very uncomfortable and cold to ski. We had to take many 'warm up' breaks and I never ventured beyond the blue slopes, didn't want to take any risks in low visibility.
We tried some non skiing stuff too - the hubby tried snowboarding the girls did snow moiling and snow tubing. S and A had their birthdays in the Japan break. On S birthday we called her friend B who was also skiing with her family in Niseko) and the girls did some indoor rock climbing. A's birthday we were in Sapporo. It was the snow sculpture festival there- we walked around Sapporro watching highlights of the snow sculpture but it was too freezing so we quickly dashed to an Italian restaurant where the girls had their pizza dan then went to a local Japanese restaurant where the hubby and I had some local Japanese food. I was disappointed that there wasn't much non skiing stuff to do- like ice skating, or movies, or other stuff, so when we were not at the ski slopes we were either relaxing in our Air BNB (which was also good fun, we watched the Terminator series with the girls) or else eating pizza in the restaurants (no one wanted to try to local stuff to the hubby's disappointment).
I think we won't go back to Japan for skiing.Much prefer the weather conditions in Switzerland. Have to figure out the ski trip next year though -the CNY holiday is in January itself, too early to go on holiday again after the winter Xmas break.
