Pine Ridge Resorts Kandatsu Review January 30th & 31st, 2005 By mogski and badmigraine

Who are we?

On the right there is Badmigraine. He is a mogul munching, powder-pillaging, speed fiend - an old guy on one plank. And that’s me on the left…my handle is “mogski” and I am much the same, except younger and on two planks. The other two are the '04-'05 season new arrivals.

Between us we have been riding for a while, and we can handle most of the conventional stuff, plus some of the non-conventional. We seek out powder stashes mainly “in-bounds” or just discreetly out-of-bounds, and we generally just enjoy ripping around a mountain and seeing what it has to offer.

In our time spent sliding here in Japan, the resort formerly known as Kandatsu Kogen, became our local - thanks to its proximity to Echigo-Yuzawa station and its steeps. I have forgotten when we christened Kandatsu our local, but in the days before SnowJapan.Com and my beloved wheels, and after one too many groomer-run type trips, we actually got serious enough to sit down with some beverages and go through a stack of ski resort brochures, scouring the trial maps for the steepest lift-accessed slopes at any of the resorts within striking distance of Echigo-Yuzawa station. Kandatsu was the clear winner.

What is it with Pine Ridge Resorts Kandatsu?

For us, the magic of Kandatsu is in its steeps, the ease of access and the great baths…and how all of this combines to give a great, getaway resort feel to even the briefest of day trips.

The slope is less steep after about the first 75 meters or so, but always offers some challenging turns at the top. Zoomy fast and surfy turns can be had on a powder day. It’s probably better to pass up this slope if it hasn’t snowed in a few days. At those times, you may wish you had a snow groomer on your feet to make it through the deep moguls that form. For those who like steep, deep moguls, you will not be disappointed.

Hercules

Both Orion and Hercules courses are definitely worth a visit after a couple of days of good snow (you need enough to fill in the ruts), but get there early because the lifts start running at 5:30am!  Be warned, though, the powder is heavy, so stay afloat and keep up your speeds before the runouts.

Not much to see here. It is a groomed, downhill-style course with not much room either side to do much really. If you like groomers and relatively long courses with the chance to see some good Yuzawa scenery, then you might like this course. There is about 60m+ of reasonable gradient at the end of the course, but don’t do too much fancy stuff here, because you will need the speed to get you through the flat runout back to the lift line.

They may sound like experimental laboratory residues, but these are the beginner's courses at Kandatsu. They all link together, so a beginner can safely (when everybody abides by the skiers’/snowboarders' mountain etiquette) slide from top of the mountain to the mid-station (Gallery House) onto the lower station (Resort Hall & Start House) and car park. Linking all the courses is definitely a nice ride for those who have a few lessons under their belt and want to expand their riding beyond the usual one-run restriction on offer at most places. The Pullox course is a nice, wide-open, tame-gradient slope free of any real natural obstruction. Off to skier’s left is the snow park on the Castor trail. They've got table tops, a spine, c-rail, coffins, a v-box (hope that is what they are called!) and an alley-oop style box, as well as other goodies. A pretty good park, but after all that, adding a pipe would make it perfect.

There is also a big kicker jump on the Andromeda course. When they say big, they mean BIG. It is a huge beast and not something I would like to tackle at this stage in my life. Maybe if I were 15 years younger…

The Vega course is the “home run” and is actually quite a tranquil setting as you slide on a very slight slope through a quiet pine forest.

We would love to see some of that impressive terrain within the resort boundaries and surrounding the resort boundaries opened up and made accessible. There seems to be plenty of potential to take some core business away from other ski hills up the road.

There is a nice cafe on the 2nd floor and the Chiroru Restaurant, resembling a snack station, near the lockers for the day-trippers covering all needs for the hungry ones on the 1st floor.

For the non-sliding parties - in our case our wives and kids - there is a nice, large, warm, almost too hot, Tatami room for just hanging in. It's a good place to get some rest during the day too if you need it.

For those travelling during the night and who want to rest up before the 5:30 a.m. start, there is an area available, at a charge, in which to do this if the car is not your chosen place of comfort.

In the Resort Hall are locker rooms for boys and girls (separate unfortunately) for the day-trippers. There are plenty of lockers, from small ones to big ones, available for a wee fee.

The Kurhaus Spa is a great facility for relaxing and removing the pains and strains left over from a hard day of sliding. If you enjoy Japanese-style bathing, then you really have to check this place out. Enjoy a nice view of the resort and surrounding mountains while soaking in the indoors Daiyoku-jyo. When you have had enough of this, there is a Roten outside, again looking out at the mountains. Back inside you can enjoy the Mizu-buro (cold water bath), a steam bath, a sauna and the large spa bath. The large spa bath is great for massaging calves, thighs, backs, shoulders or whatever it is you choose. Just exercise caution when selecting the pose required to massage the various areas, remembering that you are naked in a room full of naked men.

A word of warning to the cost-conscious: be sure to get a ticket for the Kurhaus Spa included in your package for Kandatsu, because buying it separately at 3,000-yen per person is a bit expensive.

More on this can be found on the website, but here’s my take on it:

If you come to Echigo-Yuzawa by train, you will find a free shuttle bus leaving from the station taking you to Kandatsu Resort Hall 1st floor - right where you want to be to access the locker rooms. This shuttle bus will also take you back to the station at the end of the day. There are many departures. Watch for the timetables. The buses aren’t really suited for large bags and long items, so be prepared to struggle inside.

If you are coming by car, get off the Yuzawa IC, hang a left, carry on up the hill for about 5 minutes and you are at the parking lot gate (on the left). On the weekends, parking costs 1,000-yen, but on weekdays it is free…so spend that 1,000-yen on some good food!

There are heaps of parking spaces available with a shuttle bus running between the parking lots to take you to the Resort Hall & Start House, so you needn’t worry about being a long walk away from the action.

All in all; YES. Just don’t go there expecting grand things. Be prepared to explore and just enjoy a different ride. Kandatsu has great facilities for a stand alone resort, nice runs for a days sliding, it has the added advantage of being not so overly popular in the region, so it rarely becomes too crowded. It is not as suited for families in terms of day-care as other resorts in the region perhaps (due to the lack of non-smoking areas and the fact that children would have to ride a chairlift to get to the kids’ relaxation room), but this should be no reason to leave them off your list. If you have a supportive, non-sliding partner willing to take care of the kids, Kandatsu do have facilities, and the staff we encountered were oozing with cooperation so one would imagine most things possible. We would like to see a way for non-sliding parties to get up to the Gallery House without having to ride a chairlift, to fully make use of restaurants and children’s room up there also.

A special shout to the folks at SnowJapan.Com for organising this for us and also to the folks at Kandatsu. A very special thank you to the parking lot attendant whom let us park up top on Sunday when we told him we were carrying two very small passengers.

Many thanks to mogski and badmigraine for the Review. 

(Check out the other Kandatsu Review here)