Please note that all
reviews in this section of Snow Japan are those send
in by our readers, and not the views of Snow Japan.
DETAILED SEARCH ON ALL REVIEWS SINCE OCTOBER 2002:
| RESORT
NAME : |
Akakura Onsen, Niigata |
Snowboarder |
| READERS
NAME : |
Brett Dennis
|
| DATE VISITED: |
23rd - 27th January 2010 |
| SNOW CONDITIONS: |
Generally good - fresh to heavy powder. |
| PROS : |
Catches & maintains snow well, scenic little base village, hidden powder stashes. |
| CONS : |
Plagued by flat areas, lack of combined Kanko / Onsen lift ticket. |
| REVIEW: |
Whilst based closer to Akakura Kanko, rode here a few times, mainly by default when riding the main Kanko area.
The area certainly doesn't struggle for snow with a 3m+ base in the village in January & the locals constantly waging war on the snow attempting to bury their little town!! The actual ski area maintains snow in significantly better condition than Kanko due to it's more northerly aspect & substantial areas of dense evergreen conifer forest which create a cool shaded micro-climate. This combined with a distinct lack of competent riders meant plenty of fun little power stashes, banks & huckable features could be found days after snowfall.
That said, all that good snow carpets trails & terrain that is on the most part, more suited to cross country skiing! Short steep pitches exist in the upper section with a few moderate areas tucked away far skiers left lower down, but on the whole beginners will enjoy this ski area.
Lifts get you up the hill but they are generally short & slow affairs, meaning you will be riding a few different lifts to gain any vertical. Onsen displays that fine Japanese ski area tradition of scattering a plethora of adhoc lifts across the mountainside, with many now hanging idle.
Night skiing is on the main quad lift & covers a semi-decent area with reasonable fall line, a few hours with heavy snow falling is not a bad evening.
The reasonably compact base village is pleasant with only moderate sizes hotels & a number of pensions. Tucked into the hillside with more of a village feel, I would prefer to stay here than lower down at the base of Kanko. Some pleasant onsens, good food, quiet nightlife & few saucy local girlies complete the picture. |
| OTHER REVIEWS of Akakura Onsen Resort (11 in total) |
| READER JOURNALS submitted about Akakura Onsen Resort (18 in total) |
| READER PHOTOS submitted of Akakura Onsen Resort (31 in total) |
| This Resort Review was submitted : Tuesday 16th March 2010, 1:54am |
| |
| AKAKURA ONSEN - READER RANKINGS (Vote Here) |
| GENERAL SCORE |
SNOW CONDITIONS |
COURSES TERRAIN |
LIFT SYSTEM |
APRES SKI |
76
( 14 votes)
|
74
( 14 votes) |
72
( 15 votes) |
75
( 14 votes) |
69
( 13 votes) |
|
|
| RESORT
NAME : |
Nozawa Onsen, Nagano |
Skier |
| READERS
NAME : |
sake demons
|
| DATE VISITED: |
28 feb 2010 |
| SNOW CONDITIONS: |
Today it snowed!!!!!! |
| PROS : |
Big mountain, long runs, hot springs, awesome food |
| CONS : |
Last few days weather real bad |
| REVIEW: |
Four days of really mixed weather.
Tropical conditions last Thursday, rain Friday, soft snow Saturday then Sunday, a nice morning of new snow. Crazy.
Given the poor weather, today gave me good reason to hand out a few nice comments. Having been warned about the weekend crowds in Japan I was surprised to see how well this resort handled it.
While areas were crowded there seemed always to be places to escape. At 10am still managed to put some esses in powder at the Karasawa valley. Lots of other areas had fresh on the side of runs.
So with the poor weather had to look for some options on Friday, the range of onsens (spa)kept most people happy.
There is a good shrine and temple area to walk around, nice at dusk.
If you like food then try the range around here sushi, next door to ramen just 30 metres from soba noodles in the little lane off the main street.
Repeated again up the next lane with further selections from other Japanese resturants and yakitoris.
Guys from the lodge showed the option to roving dinners with up three courses in one evening. Oh did I mention each course with drinks was around 1200 yen.
If you want variety then there are a few bars to finish with as well. Gotta go will update again soon :-)
Lets hope it will be a favorable snow review. |
| OTHER REVIEWS of Nozawa Onsen Resort (55 in total) |
| READER JOURNALS submitted about Nozawa Onsen Resort (130 in total) |
| READER PHOTOS submitted of Nozawa Onsen Resort (557 in total) |
| This Resort Review was submitted : Sunday 28th February 2010, 8:21pm |
| |
| NOZAWA ONSEN - READER RANKINGS (Vote Here) |
| GENERAL SCORE |
SNOW CONDITIONS |
COURSES TERRAIN |
LIFT SYSTEM |
APRES SKI |
80
( 68 votes)
|
75
( 65 votes) |
78
( 64 votes) |
76
( 60 votes) |
73
( 61 votes) |
|
|
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Please
note that all reviews in this section of Snow Japan
are sent in by our readers, and not necessarily the
views of Snow Japan.
|
