Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 It may not get as much attention as the Hokkers, Hakkers and Nozzles of the world, but one thing Fukushima is getting is... snow! Gran Deco got 22 cm today, and has announced it is (partially) opening Wednesday, Dec. 1st. Minowa has also announced it will "pre-open" that day. Nekoma got 15 cm, and is currently planning to open Saturday, Dec. 4th. ALTS and Inawashiro have pretty pictures to show, but are not opening yet. Go Fukushima! Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Hope it keeps up - I wanna do a few days in Fukushima myself this season! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 webcam is looking good. I liked Gran Deco, a little short but a lot of fun and not so busy Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Me too. Link to post Share on other sites
nashiman 0 Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Don't really know much about that area yet but there looks to be some good places. On the list! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted December 1, 2010 Author Share Posted December 1, 2010 From Yamanashi, it would not be an easy trip crossing Tokyo to go north. But hey, you have Nagano in your backyard! Link to post Share on other sites
nashiman 0 Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Yes I was just looking at that. Shucks. Never mind, I suppose I'll have to make do with Nagano.... Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 you'd do fine. It's bottomless there. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 Looked grim going into the weekend with the big rain on Friday, but a Friday night dump let Gran Deco re-open the #1 quad on Saturday. Cold and windy, but a decent, if thin, layer of fresh snow made for some good, fast runs: Sunday warmed up above freezing, bringing spring skiing conditions -- and huge crowds. One of the employees said it had not been that crowded since the ski boom years. The gondola and #2 quad opened, which took some of the load off, but all the good skiing was off the #1 quad, so the lines there never shrank. The conditions off the #2 quad were distinctly Welsh-looking (I think I spotted MikePow there ), and the upper Akadeko Course was completely worn out by the end of the day. Upper Akadeko Course (#2 quad): Lower Center Course (#1 quad): Got two days of good thigh-burning action in, which will probably have to hold me until the new year. The Center Course was apparently still hanging in there by a hair on Monday, but could desperately use the next round of snow fall. Minowa was also open that weekend, though didn't visit. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Good to see you have been out there. Indeed that´s fresh snow, and looks ok. Thanks for the pics ! Crowded ! Link to post Share on other sites
cucumber-farmer 0 Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Good to get out there I'm sure, stubbly or not! Link to post Share on other sites
nashiman 0 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 You been out again since then Metabo-san? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Gran Deco seems to be faring up well on the web cams Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Haven't been out since then, but planning to hit Adatara Kogen tomorrow, which will be a new place for me. You been out yet, nashiman? Plan then to head back to the area in two weeks. Haven't decided where to go yet. The webcam does look good, Tubby, though I may also try somewhere new. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Was hoping to go to Urabandai Nekoma this weekend. Anybody been there? Powder? Trees? Did Alts last year, which was pretty nice, I heard Nekoma is smaller, but caters more to advanced riders. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 I went to Nekoma a couple of years ago, but it was in the middle of a late-season blizzard, windy and icy, and with a kid who had not at that point yet graduated much beyond the Family Gelaende, so did not get as much out of it as we could have. It does have a reputation for good quality powder, and I plan to give it another shot at some point. Don't know about the tree skiing there. Interesting that it has a season about two months longer than ALTS, on the opposite side of the same ridge. Funny the way micro-climates work. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Thanks for the info - looks like its locked in for this Sunday! (Weather permitting - potential for some stormy weather this weekend.....) Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 How was Nekoma, Gary? Any pics? Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I really enjoyed Nekoma! It took a little longer to get there than we hoped, and they closed all the lifts at 4, so we didnt really get to ski as much as we wanted, but what we did was really good! It snowed pretty much the entire day so we had a boot-knee deep everywhere. Very few people there, particularly on the upper slopes and by the end of the day, we had entire slopes to ourselves! Especially liked the lack of ropes and plenty of opportunities to ski in fairly well spaced trees on slopes with a decent angle. Nice food, good local beer and a very nice onsen nearby! Hope to go again before the seasons out. Pics: It was poor visibility and quite windy, so didnt really take any pics. I made one attempt while waiting for my friends stuck in the powder: this was the result, so I gave up and decided to wait for a sunny day! Maybe I should just leave the photography to Muikabochi! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Don't say that Gary! I'm keen to see all sorts of places that I don't know. Is this the place that is "connected" (?) to Alts Bandai? Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 They are not directly connected, but right next to each other on the opposite side of the same ridge. There is a bus connecting the two, and its not so far, but it takes about 60 minutes in the winter conditions. Lift ticket for Nekoma is a bit cheaper at 4000 yen and if you buy from a local conbini, you get a 500 yen lunch ticket. I think the parking was free, too. You cant see much in my picture, but hopefully you can just make out the open, empty space with few tracks in the powder, and the tempting trees in the background. I didnt go in there as it seemed a bit flat at the bottom and I didnt fancy getting stuck! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 I think your photo captures it very well, actually! Looks a lot like how I remember it, but with much more powder... Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks! Must try those places out. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Say Gary, just curious, where/how/what time did you get delayed by snow? I'm heading up into the region this weekend, and Fuyu Shogun is being shown riding a snowboard on the weather forecast... Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It was a bit of an unusual day in that the snow had come right across to the Pacifc coast - even had a cm or two in Tsukuba. Headed up the Joban expressway which was clear and then on to the Ban-Etsu expressway which was pretty clear but there had been about 10 cms snowfall in many areas. We changed to snow chains as we got off the expressway at Inawashiro and from there it took an hour or so as we had to go slow on the snowy roads - the back end of the car spun out 180 degrees at one point! We had to turn around and put one of the snow chains back on! Another car coming the opposite way did exactly the same at the same spot! Coming back was worse - it had snowed all day and we had to keep the snow chains on until 3/4 way down the Ban-Etsu - took a long time and couldnt really get the foot down until back on the Joban. It wasnt traffic that delayed us, just the snow on the roads meant we had to slow down an awful lot. We would've been a lot faster with snow tires and 4 wheel drive. Looks like this weekend could be similar conditions with heavy snow forecast even pushing across to the pacific coast side - allow some extra time for snow on the road. If you just have snow chains on the front tires, then be extra careful about back wheels slipping out on corners! Link to post Share on other sites
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