たまには違う場所へ出かけるのも、やはり新鮮でいいものだなあ――。先日の松之山温泉スキー場行を振り返ってそんなことを思っていた。

というわけで今日はタイミングも重なり、杏さんを誘って隣の白馬コルチナスキー場へ。ハクノリとはリフト券が共通、つまり地続きだ。それなのになぜか二人ともほとんど行くことがない。だから今朝はちょっとした開拓気分。今さらながら初めて乗るリフトがあったりするわけで・・（笑）。

さて土曜日。混んでいる・・のかな？
どことなくいつもと違う感じあり。あ！そうか。外国人が少ないのかも。割合でね。晴れ続き、パウダーがないからかなあー、と勝手に想像。まぁ、あながち的外れでもないのだろう。なるほど・・そういう層に人気のスキー場だったのね、と改めて。

見るとリフト待ち整理のロープが何重にも。雪が降ればきっと何百人もの長蛇の列になるのだろう。でも今朝は誰も並んでいない。ただの迷路。今は外してもよいんじゃない？と思ったり。

そんなこんなで、滑って帰ってきて3時間あまり。
彼女がぽつりと一言。

「明日、アルペンスキーで撮ってほしい」

おや？ なにか思うところがあったみたいね。
出かけてよかった。。

It really is nice to head somewhere different once in a while - it feels fresh. That’s what I was thinking after our recent outing to Matsunoyama Onsen Ski Resort.

So today, An and I went next door to Hakuba Cortina. It shares the same lift ticket as Hakunori - basically connected terrain. And yet, somehow, neither of us ever really goes there. Which made this morning feel like a little field trip. I even ended up riding a lift for the first time - imagine that (lol).

It’s Saturday, so you’d expect it to be crowded… maybe? But something felt a bit different. Ah - that’s it. Fewer foreigners. Proportionally, at least. Probably because there’s been no powder after all these sunny days. Just a guess, but maybe not entirely wrong. It reminded me that this place is especially popular with that crowd.

There are multiple layers of ropes set up to manage long lift lines. I’m sure when it snows, hundreds of people queue up. But this morning, no one was waiting. The ropes just formed a maze - almost in the way. Maybe they could take them down for now.

Anyway, three hours later we were back home. And she said, casually:

“Tomorrow, I want you to film me on alpine skis.”

Oh? Seems like something clicked for her.
Glad we went. Really glad.