Today we traveled to the interior to the national forest in the Furano region of Hokkaido to get settled at our new home, the Barden, for the next three days of backcountry skiing. We piled in the bus and everyone got some well deserved rest, listened to music and ate. It was a long bus journey, about 7 hours with our driver getting lost more than once! We traveled along the sea of Japan which was a highlight and hit a Japanese version of Target. Our driver spoke no english and trying to stop for the bathroom was our most difficult part of the day. It was nice to see more of the cities and towns in Hokkaido, there were beautiful farmlands, several ski areas and small towns along the way. We arrived at the Barden, a small 12 room lodge in the middle of nowhere in the Tockicha-dake mountain range. The mountains were socked in and we were gearing up for powder the next morning. We were greeted by a traditional Japanese-style dinner, much like our accommodations in Niseko, lots of sashimi, soup, noodles and rice as well as some unindentified vegetables.

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