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rider69

SnowJapan Member
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Posts posted by rider69

  1. Sorry I don't know that board, I just met those guys at the false peak. I was pushing to get to the line because the weather was so warm.

     

    The beer was an issue. I got to Lawsons, bought lunch and wanted a beer for when I was going to load the mama chari for the ride home. I was considering my water problems and the heat at the time. So I decided it was better to buy more water and a cheap happoshu beer. I suffered but when I got home I had a Kirin gold in the bath!

  2. The time is ripe to bag those chutes you like to ski in Japan. With more high mountain passes opening up every weekend you can get out there and get some pretty good lines.

     

    Great weather let me ski off the top of Karamatsu into a nice chute just lookers left off the peak.

     

    Looking at the entrance

    fattwins_428.jpg

     

    Karamatsu and Kairazu chutes so many choices.

    fattwins_426.jpg

     

    The beast that is Tsurugi dake

    fattwins_429.jpg

     

    My run down with a dog leg lookers right

    fattwins_430.jpg

     

    A sweaty camera and a happoshu loving life

    fattwins_431.jpg

  3. The snow walls do not indicate snowfall. Snow walls are generally man made, depending on how the snow removal has to be done in an area. nozawa onsen has big snow walls mainly because it has nowhere to put the snow. Hakuba has wide open areas to throw the snow into. Also the drier the snow the easy it is on the snow machine. A machine throwing low dense water snow can really throw the snow far.

     

    The snow that falls in Yuzawa is more like Sierra cement.

     

    YuzawaNow_1144.JPG

     

    Not exactly nice looking snow for sliding.

    YuzawaNow_1120.JPG

     

    Hakuba tends to get good early season snowfalls when compared to other resorts in the general area. The interior range sucks in lots of storms.

    The Hakuba valley average is somewhere between 10 to 14 meters of snow fall depending on the location.

     

    Japan has gone down the road of snowfall many times in the end this wont win the resorts or areas any new customers. The resorts have to offer some type of modern vacation much like Niseko does. Daycare, Play areas, options other than snow sliding and warm places to stay with bare modern facilities at least. An unheated hallway is not enticing to guests.

  4. A bit harsh Griller considering the situation and context of the report.

     

    Life certainly isn;t back to the normal, not the normal that was post March 11th. It is not as bad as it may seem either. A Trip to Niseko then to Kyoto isnt really going into the effected areas now is it.

     

    You cant get into the Fukushima areas that have been effected by the power plant problems. The other areas effected by the Tsunami are not your average tourist hot spots either. I have some friends in the earthquake zone and although life is not back to normal, they are not dieing of hunger. You can directly ship them things that they need as well. We have done this for them. Mostly we have sent them fruit that they have a hard time getting.

     

    At this time of year the main tourist spots are Kyoto and southwest Honshu for the Sakura and spring colors. There is no reason to say that life isnt close to normal as normal can be there.

     

    This is the Canadian Embassy report.

    http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=140000

  5. Yuzawa gets a much wetter snow than hakuba which means less air and a much more solid snowpack.

     

    Happo faces east and gets baked for hours so the lower slopes just go away. Also they stop worrying about the lower slopes. The North faces of happo at the same elevations as 47 are holding over 1 meter of snow. You will be able to ski aspects of Happo until may even june.

     

    47 faces pure north and will hold snow for a long time. Iwatake has no snowmaking but the north slopes are holding snow. It doesnt matter cause it is closed.

  6. The twins are almost 3. The boy in center and girl to the right are twins. The girl on the left is 4 going on 5. Actually there were some fresh bear tracks around the area. They got a bit nervous after this picture, well actually papa was more nervous than them. Pretty good sized paw prints, maybe 7 cms in diameter. We turned back and went and played on an old train. Still a nice hour walk and warm.

  7. I beat the doom and gloom for 5 days straight. Now Im sitting at my desk doing almost nothing again. Oh well you cant win them all.

     

    For my last day I took my wife on a mini tour which included an natural onsen at the end. My Lady hasnt been in the BC since giving birth.

     

    fattwins_421.jpg

     

    Some nice corn snow

    fattwins_420.jpg

     

    Ah smiles

    fattwins_418.jpg

     

    Nothing beats for free.

    fattwins_419.jpg

     

    We even got the twins out for a slide and the their first gondola

    fattwins_416.jpg

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