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5th February 2001
In Niseko when more mornings than not greet you with bottomless
freshies, "No friends on a powder day" would be like
taking a vow of solitude.
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It is a difficult call - what do you do if the lifts are starting to move,
and one of your riding mates hasn't arrived? Having a mobile phone can help,
but if there's no answer or just a machine's voice at the other end, do you
wait another couple of minutes, or do you go on ahead?
In Hirafu there are two quick ways to reach the steep and deep - the Kogen
gondola or the Alpen quad. For windless 30cm+ mornings, the Alpen
"center-four" quad chair is my choice. It starts moving around
8:20am, and provides access to Alpen's Supercourse - one of the most
amazing runs within Hirafu limits. The Supercourse is a steep valley with walls
like a huge half-pipe, and offers some of the biggest air obtainable on the
mountain. Hurling yourself off 5 metre drops at top speed into steep and soft
powder is an amazing way to start the day! It sort of puts everything into
perspective, or maybe out-of-perspective depending on which way up you
land... The Supercourse is, however, not a fun place to be without good powder
cushioning. Unless it is still snowing pretty seriously, it gets tracked out
quickly and turns into a steep mogul field, so is really only ride-able for the
first half-hour. This adds to the dilemma. Will your friend turn up in time?
Do you wait an extra minute or two? Do you go ahead and do one quick run and
hope he or she is waiting at the bottom?
Putting the absent friend problem aside, for the days with less snow or when
the wind has been shifting the powder elsewhere, an 8:25am start at the gondola
can be a wise choice. The gondola gives you first tracks on go-kabe
(fifth-face) - the ungroomed run back down beneath the gondola. (Skier's left
to the main groomed run.) Combining tree run and open powder face, Go-kabe
is also better with a bit of powder cover. There are a number of little hits to
launch off - it's steep and lots of fun! One go-kabe circuit gives the
lifties at 6C enough time to get everything up and running, and access to the
top of the mountain awaits.
The sheltered confines of the Kogen gondolas offer another advantage. Trying
to make a call again to your absent friend's unanswering mobile is a lot more
pleasant from within a gondola, rather than from the fully exposed Alpen
center-four. Pushing little buttons with exposed fingers in wind at minus 10șC
is a painful experience. Tears appear in the corners of even the toughest eyes
after holding a mobile up to your ear for a couple of minutes.
Wiping tears away, by the time you reach Kogen's 6C lift an interesting
thing starts to happen. Maybe it's the higher altitude, or dropping adrenalin
levels, or maybe it's powder starting to work some magic charm, but suddenly
everyone starts to relax. Having got the first run out of the way, a longing to
have that absent friend along for the ride starts to take over.
Should I
have waited... Maybe he's only a couple of lifts behind... It's his fault
anyway - he shouldn't have been late... But...
6C is a hooded lift providing good protection from the wind, so out comes
the phone again. Maybe he's left it at home...
From the top of 6C there is an annoying flat traverse - especially
frustrating on heel-side for regular boarders. On hard and fast days you can
strap both feet in and make it, but when there's powder and the snow is a bit
sticky (the majority of the time) it's a pretty nasty one-footed skating
ordeal. Don't give up! The 50 metres are worth the effort because Hanazono 3
run (skier's left) lies waiting. On the days that the wind is stealing the
Supercourse's snow, Hana 3 is where much of it lands. Powder depth usually
doubles to 50cm or more - it's deep! An instant powder smile appears, and all
one-footed traversing memories disappear. Bottomless powder - what a feeling!
Two or three face-shots, a powder wheelie, aahhhhhhhhh!
If only that friend
was here to wage a powder-spray war with, or to compare rooster-tail sizes.
Following the fall line to the left, and then down through the trees the
base of the Hana 3 lift appears. Here you have a choice. If conditions are
really good, I go up for another Hana 3 hit (it's a warm hooded lift). If they
are only kinda ok, it's worth continuing on down towards Hanazono 1 and the
famous Strawberry Fields.
Getting to Hana 1 means covering the flat Hana 2 run. Who designed this
resort?!? Didn't they realize that flat and snow just isn't much fun? Hana 2 is
definitely worth avoiding if it hasn't been groomed. You stop, and there's
unpleasant powder peddling required. On most days there is a well maintained
path and the fun awaiting in Hana 1 more than compensates for Hana 2's lack of
gradient.
Divulging all takes away a lot of the fun, but it's safe to say that Hana 1
offers some of the best tree run terrain to be found within resort limits in
Japan. Most of Niseko's powder footage seen in videos is filmed here. It's
fantastic. But the Alpen ridge, Kogen 7, Alpen 4, Rob Roy's, the peak run,
Miharashi, Matty's course, Tetsu's course... the lists goes on, are all
fantastic!
Untouched powder waits patiently in these places for days, so it's probably
ok to control that initial rush and wait for your mate to arrive. Sure if
you've only got one day, go for it! Often picking a second meeting place and
time can be the answer. Riding powder is a beautiful addiction, made even
better when shared with friends.
* Alpen Centre-four (#2 lift) now boasts a really good table-top jump. With
two take-off gradients, it's safe and you don't land on the flat if going big.
The table-top is complemented by a good spine-jump. Full praise to the new
Alpen shaper/patroller "Hiro".
* Toyota Big Air competition is being held in Makomanai Open Stadium,
Sapporo from 5:30PM Feb 17. Entrance fee is 2500 yen (3000 yen on the day), and
with $100,000 of prize-money up for grabs, it pulls in the superstars of the
boarding world. Last year's competition was won by Jonas Emery, '98 and '99 by
Michi Albin and '97 by Fabien Rohrer. A number of the guys can be seen playing
in the powder around Niseko during the days following the event. Jim Rippey is
predicted to repeat last year's Big Air no-show performance and once again will
probably come directly to Niseko.
* The 52nd Sapporo Snow Festival runs Feb 6-12. Drawing crowds from around
the world it is an experience recommended to all. The sheer number of entries
and the size of some of the ice statues is breathtaking. Under lights at night
it is very beautiful. It is also very cold (same goes for the Big Air), so best
to rug up well.
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