beowulf

I do not want to say this place, because people might actually start going there, but Hakkoda in Aomori is pretty good.

13, though I will head out again in May once or twice. The low attendance is down to only going night skiing twice the entire season. It has not been a very productive season for me with no Hokkaido or Aomori snowboarding too. Next year I must get back to Hokkaido.

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure you start at the top of the mountain (near the buddha) and then head down the Zangezaka - Juhyougen Course, which leads into Utopia. This is the only place for snowboarders, which might cause them to get off their board, but if you "gun it" from the top of Sailer Course you should be fine. From Utopia you just follow your nose as it connects to the Hyakumannin Slope, which leads onto the Omori Giant Course, which eventually leads you to Omori Slope or whatever course you want to take. As far as I know this is the 9/8 km course, which does not feel

I have been to Zao twice this year and it has been really good on each occasion. I put this down to only choosing to go when there has been practically no wind and a good dump of snow the night before. However, I have a question for Ilovezao. I have been going to Zao for the last nine years, so i know it pretty well, but I have only ridden "The Wall" once, about eight years ago when it was ice. Since that time it has never been open on subsequent visits. IloveZao, how often do they open it and when they do open it what are the conditions like? While I am at it...why do not they put

Can somebody tell me how dangerous Rusutsu is behind the ropes? Because if there is one place that does not seem to care where you go, it is Rusutsu. I am quite conservative when I go off-piste, because I do not want to die. But skiing/snowboarding off-piste to me is very similar to surfing (I have been surfing for nearly 25 years now). You have to be careful and appreciate that things can go wrong very quickly. I snowboard a lot by myself, so basically the one thing I keep in mind is, "where do I come out?" If I cannot see a clear way back to the resort or piste I do not go off-pist

Looks pretty good to me. It appears I will be heading to Nozawa in February for a weekend, so I hope the crowds are similar to what you experienced.

My local here in Yamagata had 20-30cms of fresh snow that fell on a 50cm base. I would like to say I had fun today, but the wind was up, so I packed it in after about two hours. It was fun though. It looks like for the next couple of days we should get a bit of snow. However, from Thursday it looks like it is going to warm up.

In my part of Yamagata the one place that does nighta probably ekes out its existence from its nighta regulars. I absolutely love nightas, because I have all day to decide whether I want to go or not. Last year I went so often at night that I started having problems seeing during the day while snowboarding.

It really depends on the snow and how motivated I am to go early in the season. But I daresay I will get to the mountains between 25 to 40 times this season.

No worries.

See you in Rusutsu Beowulf Did I meet you two years ago at Rusutsu with your brother? it was really cold, but the snow was amazing and very deep. If so, it would be really cool to meet up with you. Also I cannot remember either of your names. Obviously if you are not the person I am thinking of, please disregard this post.

Rusutsu - 4th of January to 8th of January (Four days is not enough, but I think I will hit Rusutsu and Niseko in March again, but this is heavily dependent on the weather). Naeba - At some point in February. Zao - From the start of the season until the end of the season. Aomori - I am still yet to hit Aomori in winter, but late January is looking on the cards.

There are a myriad of reasons why people go to Niseko, but I think it boils down to two: 1. It is very good. 2. Logistically it is relatively easy to get to. Get on a plane;land at Shin Chitose; take a shuttle bus to Niseko. Easy really.

Given that Tokyo gets very little snow except maybe well out in the Okutama area, I doubt Nino/Nina have much effect. What snow Tokyo does get tends to come in very late winter and melt away in 12 C sunshine the following day. Absolutely, Tokyo does not get that much snow, but I was thinking of ski resorts closer to Tokyo that might get a bit more snow because of "El Nino". The reason why Tokyo gets more snow in an "El Nino" year is due to the warm ocean water south of Tokyo caused by "El Nino". They were saying on NHK the other night that the snowfall misses Kansai, but hits Kanto, du

Traditionally in an "El Nino" year Tokyo gets a lot more snow than normal, so one can assume that some of the more southern lying ski resorts in Gunma and Tochigi will probably have some good dumps as well. The last genuine "El Nino" winter was back when they held the Nagano Olympics (1998), so if people are worried about snowfall for this coming winter I would check the winter of 1998 for an idea of what to expect at your local ski resort. It is always difficult to predict snowfall, but I will go out on a limb and say that the season will start early this year with some good dumps in late