Buy a Ski Lodge in Japan
Thanks to all the fantastic people who donated to get our ski lodge dream off the ground.
We have bought the lodge and will be opening the doors in December 2017.
Come check us out at www.snowballchalet.com or find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/snowballchalet/
We are so excited to start the next phase of the adventure.
Lots a love
Dan, Andy and Akira :)
Dan and Andy Solo a couple with adventure hard wired in want to share their experience and sense of adventure with the world...
20 years ago we spent a season in Japan managing a ski lodge and guiding skiiers and boarders all over the snow covered mountains ensuring lucky people found the very best, deepest and driest snow.
Japan is awesome!
This kicked off a 20 year love affair with Japan... The snow, culture, food, people, sumo and the onsens (hot springs) are now a part of us.
Being a responsible adult...
Life happened & we got real jobs & had a kid (Akira) & took out a mortgage and did other sad adult things.
We have just realised 20 years have gone by and it is time to pursue the dream again... Buy a ski lodge in Japan and share our joy of snow and the Japanese culture with a world of people all winter long.
We have been saving for a lodge and have a plan to get over the line but it will be years if we keep going like this and a friend of ours suggested we run a GoFundMe campaign to bring the dream a little closer.
The plan
The great thing about this campaign is that we can give something back to the donators (you)... Think of it like pre booking your ski accomodation - Granted you don't know exactly which ski resort you will be at or even which lodge you will be staying in but hey it will be like a mystery bag (not like a sausage... more like a lucky dip with powder covered tree runs inside).
If you donate more than 6 days worth of bookings then you get really generous lifetime discounts for your future bookings. This is because you have been instrumental in bringing the dream to life and we couldn't have done it without you. Check out the reward levels for details.
Where is the lodge?
The money from the GoFundMe campaign will be used to buy a ski lodge in Honshu's Niigata, Nagano or Gunma Prefecture in a ski resort that has great snow, excellent beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain, spectacular tree runs, amazing onsens for soaking weary bones in and incredible local restaurants. All this just a hop skip and a jump on a Bullet Train from Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. We like this area better than anywhere else in Japan (We've been everywhere) because it is better for advanced snow bunnies and it is really easy to get to. Crowds are still almost unheard of and the proximity to other amazing cultural treasures is excellent... (Think snow monkeys bathing in hot springs and Sumo tournaments)
When will we buy and when can you visit?We have 3-5 months to raise the money because we are heading to Japan in January on a mission to see as many ski lodges as possible and pick the perfect one to buy.
We are sure we will be set up to accept our first guests for the season of 2017/2018 and if we raise the money sooner we will buy before the start of the 2016 season. Fingers crossed!
How much do we need?
The more money we raise the better the better the lodge will be. We have our eye on a lodge for araound 500k that is freaking awesome but there are also some great ones at around 300k. We have some savings and are going to plow it in as well.
For the ambitious ski bunnies in the house if we raise more than the initial cost we will use the additional clams to renovate the lodge making it the best place in the whole wide world so share this with literally everyone you have ever spoken to so you can have access to the best Japanese experience ever.
Thanks from the Solos!!!
