In a last-ditch attempt to experience Winter before it - and I - leave Japan I revisited Fukiage onsen, the small mountain onsen I went to last year for a short weekend of snowshoeing and outdoor adventures with outdoorsy, like-minded friends. Last year consisted of an epic snowshoe hike up Maetokachi-dake in gale-force blizzard weather (ok, not quite) and an amazing snowboard through untouched, back-country powder to the onsen. This year was, well, quite a bit tamer than last year. But by choice. One of the other activities we did last year was build a snow cave for the hell of it. This time, we set out to purposely build a snow cave, and not just any snow cave, a Snow Grotto! Muahaha!

Armed to the teeth with three snow shovels and the knowledge of snow cave-building from YouTube videos, we departed the onsen with snowshoes strapped to our feet and hiked up a small nearby hill. Staking out a good place to build our snow cave, we chose to conveniently use the same spot as last year. Buckling down against the heavy falling snow and occasional patch of sunlight in the cloudy sky, we carefully engineered the cave’s layout and then started digging, and digging… and digging. That's all there really is to building a snow cave. After a few hours of cold, hard work we finally had enough room to fit seven people in the newly dubbed “Yuki Grotto”. Not a group to be satisfied with just having enough room... we built seats and a table too. And a nice sloping roof. After chilling inside the snow grotto for a bit (literally), admiring our work and having pretend nabe (all the while wishing we’d actually brought real nabe) we headed back down to the warm, inviting onsen, secretly hoping a bear would find the snow cave and take up residence. Next project: Snow Love Hotel!