Along the Venus line DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE

Right in the center of Nagano, between the Utsukushigahara plateau overlooking Matsumoto, and Shirakabako runs the Venus Line. This apparent allusion to a classical goddess actually has more native roots - the road is named after a pottery statuette of a woman found in the Tateshina area and dating from Japan's Jomon period before 300 B.C., the 'Jomon Venus'. She’s a big-hipped lass, but winsome. Once a shockingly expensive toll road crawling with tourist buses, the Venus Line can now be traveled freely, and it offers some amazing views of the Japan Alps, the Yatsugatake range, and Fuji. It also happens to give access to lots of not very well known but perfectly passable ski resorts.
  

  
From east to west the resorts around the Venus Line include the following resorts or fields;

Some way off the Venus Line but close enough to get lumped in are;

Although not at all well known in the sense that many people could name them as major Japanese resorts, these places get a lot of customers, and not just locals although plenty of them go too. The laughably bad Kirigamine 'resort' draws people from Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nagoya and even Osaka. On the long weekend in February when I took my boy up there for sledding, the car park, which I think is almost as big as the gelende itself, was packed with so-called 'one box' vehicles from the above named places. Maybe they all sit around the map and try to find the smallest, poxiest resort in the hope that nobody else will be there, and they all found Kirigamine. I had my first snowboarding lesson from a friend there, and that’s about all it's good for.

Now that the Venus Line is no longer a toll road, not enough effort is made to keep it clear of snow, of which it gets lots. There are gates for shutting off sections and when a cornice builds up and then falls onto the road as often happens, the gates are closed. If for example you drive up to the middle of the Venus Line at Kirigamine hoping to drive east to Shirakabako for some sliding, you may find the gate at Kirigamine closed and then have to drive all the way into Chino and back up to the Venus Line from there.
  

  
This would be a drag under ideal circumstances as it’s a long way. But the road curves about all over the place and has a layer of snow or ice on it for most of the winter. You have to drive very cautiously - much more so than I normally do as I discovered recently. My car went skidding so far I lost all track of which direction my front wheels were pointing and only avoided the banks of snow at the side of the road through the force of prayer and a certain amount of elan. But to compensate, the views are excellent, breathtaking, awesome, all the usual cliches, but really they are.
  

   
So what about the resorts? Next along from Kirigamine in a westerly direction is the late Wada Toge. This little gem, which enjoys the 'kokuritsu' status of being mismanaged by the nation, has not closed altogether although its one lift no longer runs because it got few visitors. This is a shame because it really is far better than Kirigamine, with a range of runs, good if short steeps, and real, deep powder. If you have snowshoes and a shovel, Wada Toge is the place to go and build a kicker. I haven’t been all the way to Utsukushigahara in the winter as I'm sure I’d crash my car. I'd get bored of driving cautiously, progress to elegant slides while grinning all over my face, then lose it completely and skid off the mountain. Some of these resorts have nighters, and a neighbour told me that going to them when it’s actually snowing is 'jisatsu koui' - suicidal behaviour. 'Out of town' visitors come with the wrong tyres, bury their vehicles in the snow banks, and block up the road, so that rather than going to enjoy a nighter you end up seeing the sun come up over the Venus Line. As my neighbour reminded me, it is cold.

Kurumayama is semi-famous for its imperial patronage. Apparently Japan's princes and princesses go there, of course with all their security in tow. Why they don't go heli-skiing instead is quite beyond my understanding, as Kurumayama is not brilliant even by Venus Line standards. I'm told Kurumayama was the first resort in Japan to master the reliable creation of artificial snow, which for a snow resort is a dubious recommendation. Their technicians are much in demand across the nation’s resorts for lectures and demonstrations. Not only do the royals sometimes get inferior snow, they are also exposed to lese-majesty - someone who works a concession there informed me with that dismissive Japanese wave of the hand in front of the face that Masako is ugly but that the other one is probably doable.
  

   
2 in 1 is dominated by the great mound of Tateshina Yama, a big dome of a mountain that has been mistaken for Fuji (albeit by persons with more imagination than geographical smarts). From the top of the ridge of Kirigamine there is a stunning view of the real Fuji. Royal Hill looks down on Shirakabako and indeed you could almost believe that your run will end with a splash. As the area boasts 80% clear days, you can expect to get good views at any time. As the snow quality over the area as a whole isn’t bad, I can only suppose it snows mainly at night or that I have just picked my days right.
  

2 in 1 - plus a bit more

  
I've had good days at the modest resorts on the Venus Line, enjoying a little bit of everything - good powder snow, steep and varied runs, good park furniture - in sufficient quantities to make it enjoyable, but not on a spectacular scale. I think this is why so many people come here and shun the bigger and better known resorts. There are many pensions dotted about the whole area and a family could lodge somewhere and visit a handful of resorts over a long weekend, taking in a nighter or two and riding at places with quite different views and atmosphere. They're good places for teaching a child while offering something for parents. For someone trying to nail a trick Royal Hill is a good choice. My neighbours regularly take their 3 and 6 year old to Kurumayama for the free 'warm-up hour' from 7:30. It’s with little touches like that his that these places draw people in.
  

Back country with Tateshina Yama beyond

  
Besides the resorts, there's hundreds of square miles of unpopulated back country with riding of all sorts. Unpopulated that is except for rabbits, deer, kamoshika and the occasional bear. With snowshoes or skins you can travel for miles over amazingly varied terrain, or just park your vehicle and build a few kickers wherever looks good. The roads in the area give good access, and if you can get somebody to drop you off, you can pretty much ride and snowshoe into town, whether it be Chino, Suwa or Matsumoto.

When the spring does finally arrive, you’ll find me getting my kicks along the Venus Line, in glorious sunshine amidst the soaring peaks, then skittering and splashing my way home through the sparkling rivers of snowmelt.
  

Kicker country

  
* The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. Nor can the X-trail at Royal Hill.