D6 Shin Hotaka & Hirayu Onsen

As the weather forecastpredicted, today was indeed the perfect day to visit Shin Hotaka.
The bus ride took almost 2 hours, the view along the roads was again amazing.

Ski resort near Hirayu

Passing a ski resort on bus

The ropeway took us over 800m higher; at elevation of 2km.

Arriving peak

Unique double decker ropeway

Scenery at the top was breathtaking.

At the observation deck

Through an telescope

Jon made a proper snow ball here!

And together we made a snowman! The snow was so fluffy it was hard to make a snowball.

Scenery in the ropeway

We took short break at Hirayu onsen on the way back. Our first hot spring in the different outdoor spa. They have a total of 7 outdoor baths for men and 9 for women. It was a perfect setting to bath while enjoying the sunsets over the peaks. I could not stay in the water too long; it was getting hot and I was getting palpitations.

We had an ice cream each afterwards to cool ourselves down. By the time we got out it's completely dark outside. It's only 5pm!