Hakkoda Snow

Chris and I were getting a touch of cabin fever over Christmas break. We would have loved to go skiing together but I've been told by multiple doctors (multiple because I kept hoping one of them would give me permission to ski:)) that skiing and pregnancy don't go together. Our back up was snow shoeing, so one fine winter morning we set out for the Hakkodas.

We've never seen so much snow in our lives..

... and this was only December! There will be three more months of snow accumulation on the Hakkodas before winter is over!

Most of the way up the mountain the snow walls on either side of the road were taller than our vehicle. 

At the base of the Hakkodas, there's a ski resort and ropeway. Our plan was to take the ropeway to the top and snowshoe around some of the peaks. 

It was a complete white out at the top; and the snow was so deep that even in snowshoes we were sinking to our knees. Without snowshoes, people were sinking to their waists.

Hakkoda is famous for juhyo (snow monsters) at the top. These are trees that have become completely buried and covered by snow. They were hard to see in the white oblivion that we were in.... 

...But on a clear day this is what you would see (Thanks, Google image search).

 It wasn't completely impossible to snowshoe in that kind of snow... but we couldn't see for more than about 10 feet in front of us, and the wind was quick to wipe away our tracks, so we decided not to venture too far from the ropeway. 

This was the ropeway at the top, as we were getting ready to go back down the mountain.  Everything was completely coated in snow on all surfaces.

We still had a little time before they closed the road down for the night, so we spent a little time at Sukayu Onsen warming up in the natural hot spring baths. 

We assumed when we went in the onsen that these cars were from overnight guests... but when we came out about an hour later, there was 4+ inches of fresh powder covering our car as well.