Kanazawa Seymour By Mark Music Let's face it. We all wish we lived at the base of Chamonix or Whistler, but the reality for most is a handful of forays per season to a name area.

Ski Magazine in the U.S. published the rather startling statistic that the average North American skier skis only 6 days per season. This leads to the bottom line necessary for excelling at our sport: physical and financial access.

Perhaps the luckiest of us are those who live near a smaller local area where one can stop by for a few runs before or after work, or call up ski partners for freshies on a big day (big snow, big skis, big grins!) at a price that won't leave you with your pockets bare for the occasional trip to destinations beyond prefectural boundaries. Imagine a reality just 40 minutes from your front door, where for 35,000 yen per season buy access to 700 meters of vertical, where snow comes in half-meter or better helpings at a shot, and the local ski patrol is not adverse to your desire to wander. Imagine an area that is small enough to avoid the tag, "destination area"... a stealth area well below the radar of the Japanese ski press, yet one that can boast some of the steepest in bounds terrain in Honshu. 

The reality is here and near your doorstep if you're living in Ishikawa or northern Fukui prefecture. Seymour is a skier's area just 40 minutes from downtown Kanazawa waiting in the back wings for those who are seeking to explore and push their limits.

First of all, there are a couple things that Seymour is not. It is not a snow boarders' paradise, matter of fact they're still not allowed though this may change on an experimental basis this season with full access for boarders coming in 2000-01. Nor does Seymour suffer un-athletic novices lightly. The terrain at Seymour is essentially a riser, tread, and a riser leading the summit that joins the area to the Oku-kuchi-sanpo ridge line north of Haku-san. Reminiscent of Squaw Valley, the area's center plateau is really the only appropriate terrain for novice skiers, with the trip to the bottom at the end of the day coming via a winding logging access road fraught with steep trail side drops to the river valley below... not something for a timid first timer to have to deal with. The logical solution would be to allow beginners to ride the high speed triple to the bottom at the end of the day, though there is no clear policy for doing so unless the lower half of the mountain is short of snow.

Despite this rather large flaw, Seymour is a very well designed area for intermediate and expert skiers with access to the mountain coming from one high speed detachable triple chair for the ride to mid-mountain, and three fixed doubles where most skiers will spend the day skiing at and above the central plateau.

Two fixed grip double chairs service novice and intermediate terrain at mid-mountain. This is where the demonstration ski crowd does most of their corduroy arcing in the season's newest latest gear and wear, but the real story is pair lift #2 which accesses the top of the mountain. After a quick ride up, you can follow the natural ridge line turning left at the top of the chair. Along the ridge and down, it's a 1.5k blue square groomer back to mid-mountain. This is excellent early season conditioning lap terrain. The course itself is rolling and pitches vary from 16 to 25 degrees with fall lines rarely occurring in single tense. From this ridge, skiers can access the three marked steeps: Symphony course, Rhapsody course, and the Bolero course, none of which are groomed.

The Symphony course is little more than a narrow swath cut through the brush that can be seen to the right as you're riding up the #2 lift. With it's scant width, multi-step pitch, and ever changing fall-line, this is one of the best introductions to chute skiing conditions that you can have without having to drop in. The Rhapsody course is a 300 meter vertical open bowl that tends to be heavily trafficked toward the center-right which makes bump crowd very happy. On the same slope to the skier's left, things are a bit steeper and less traveled making for fantastic practice laps for off-piste steep skiing and telemarking if your logging miles in expectation of trips to the back country later in the season. To the skier's right of Rhapsody is the Bolero course, a natural half-pipe that although not as steep as Rhapsody, may be more difficult to ski because of its' varying and multiple fall lines.

In a big snow year, most of the tight glades off the top of the mountain are ski able, as are lines directly under and to the right of the #2 lift. Be warned that the trees are tight, and if your confidence is lacking, take a rain check and come back when you've upgraded your skills. And were better to upgrade them? On the slopes adjacent to the glades!

Seymour is the red pill of local areas. Choose it and you can never return to your previous yo-yo reality. Ski it regularly and know that only trips to the back country will bring you as much variation in snow conditions. Venture to any other area and know that you have already skied terrain that matches any in-boundary skiing in the country. Find one of the few locals who knows the truth of this mountain, and on the right day, he/she might lead you to the extra-curricular goods that lay just a stones throw beyond good sense and out of bounds. Ungroomed steeps and double fall line pitches that make Seymour one of the best local areas for back country preparation on this side of the Pacific. Is it big? No. Is it long? About 2.5k top to bottom. Fancy? No. Cheap? Yes! Accessible? Yes! 40~45 minutes by car from either Kanazawa station, or the Kanazawa Nishi (west) interchange of the Hokuriku Expressway ( 35 minutes from my doorstep! If you're planning to be in the area, bring your kit along!) You won't be disappointed...and the icing on the brownie? 350 yen baths at the end of the day at the Seiryuu onsen just 40 meters from the base lodge before the trip home.

Day Tickets 3500yen +1000 yen refundable chit deposit
Two day 6500yen +1000 yen refundable chit deposit
Weekday season pass 25,000 yen
Unlimited season pass 35,000 yen

Ryokans 1 one night, two meals, 9,000 ~
Minshukus 2 one night, two meals, 8,000 ~
Pensions 6 one night, two meals, 8,000 ~

Local Lodging Information in Japanese: 07619-3-0331

Kyoto 2h30m
Osaka 3h
Tokyo 4h 30m
Kanazawa 40m