栂池のクロスカントリースキーコースの圧雪状況を見がてら、運動不足解消も兼ねて、歩きとスキーを組み合わせたハクノリ⇔栂池の周回ループへ。

このルート、わりと道路を歩くので、ブーツは歩きやすさ優先。となると75mmのソフトブーツかXPLOREだが、今日は前者。歩く日はだいたいこれ。車を運転する日はXPLOREかNNN-BC、と自然に決まっている。

栂池のレストハウスで食べるポテトチップスとコーラは、この行程のお楽しみ。
「全部歩きなんだからビールでもいいよな……」などと考えつつ丸山を滑ったら、案の定しょぼい滑り。まあ、こんなもん。

もう少し滑りたい気がして、なぜかチャンピオンへ。なぜ急斜面なのかは自分でも不明。ただ、急なところをほぼMAXでこなしたあとの中斜面が、やたら楽に感じる瞬間がある。あれ、何かの法則だろうか。

そんなこんなで無事帰宅。往復2時間。

昼ごはんは、昨日のキムチ鍋の残りスープを春雨が全部吸ったやつ（笑）。これが予想外に美味しく、結局ビール。
答えは家にあった！
合掌〜。

I headed out on the Hakunori ー Tsugaike loop, mixing walking and skiing, partly to check the grooming on the Tsugaike cross-country course, and partly to do something about my lack of exercise.

There’s quite a bit of road walking on this route, so boot choice matters. You want something comfortable for walking. That narrows it down to either soft 75 mm boots or Xplore. Today it was the former. When there’s walking involved, I almost always choose those. If I’m driving, it’s usually Xplore or NNN-BC. Gear choices tend to make themselves.

Potato chips and a cola at the Tsugaike rest house are my small reward on this tour.
“Since I’m walking the whole way, a beer would be justified too…”
Thinking thoughts like that while skiing down Maruyama, my skiing immediately turned sloppy. Well, that’s about right.

Wanting to ski a bit better, I somehow ended up on Champion. Why a steep slope? I honestly don’t know. Still, after dealing with a steep pitch almost at max, the following moderate slope feels ridiculously easy. Maybe there’s a rule in there somewhere.

Anyway, I made it home safely. The whole round trip took about two hours.

Lunch was yesterday’s leftover kimchi hot-pot soup, completely soaked up by glass noodles (lol). Unexpectedly goodーand yes, it ended with a beer.
Turns out the answer was at home all along.