agillgren
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Posts posted by agillgren
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The car thing was much easier than I thought. With the snow/ice you just had to be careful and adjust your speed - and more so start braking much earlier than normal and turn at very slow speeds. With that said it took us about 20min to realise that none of the Japanese stick to the 50km/h speed limits -- I would have thought they have speed cameras there but didn't seem like it as we had buses fly by (so we speed up a little too). The roads are cleared very well-- so we didn't have any problems there. Only time we had to dig our way out was from a parking sport in Niseko after the snow plow machine nicely hemmed us in--- note don't try ram your way through when this happens. That doesn't work.
The navigation was super easy with the english GPS. For most places (ski resorts, main hotels ect.) I could just type the name (in English) and it would find it. For smaller places you code use a "map code" or the local phone number. The only tricky part is in the cities when there are traffic lights every 50m it can be difficult to know which "right" turn they are talking about - but you get used to it.
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Very jealous-- enjoy. 35 degrees here. Major comedown.
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Thanks guys. Sadly the Chitose snow clearing army are too good and we managed to get out (did have fingers crossed for a cancellation till Saturday)
. Back home to 35 degrees today- not pleasant. It was pretty cool seeing 6 or more snow clearers speeding around the runway at a once though.We didn't end up getting to Moiwa this time round. We've had couple of awesome days there on previous trips so we know to keep it on the books for next time round (everyone else seemed to disappear out the gates leaving the inbound trees and groomers all alone). The morning was windy with no new snow so we opted to go through Sapporo and check the snow festival instead-- for the record looking at ice sculptures whilst in the snow is cold. A few funny ones but I must be getting less impressed with snow as I remember enjoying it more our first year here.
It was a fantastic trip - summary 13 days on the slopes at 10 different resorts. The friendliness and welcoming nature of the people we met made the trip a pleasure and a lot easier than I expected to find our way around - despite not speaking any Japanese. The GPS made getting around super easy too. Not sure of the exact plan for next trip -- but would definitely rent a car and keep exploring.
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Thanks... not a regret or an apology there. Just an observation. When we planned this trip we thought it would be nice to finish in Niseko. Back in the comfort zone and staying walking distance to lifts. But once we got into this trip we were loving freedom to choose our destination for the day and finding new routes and we didn't want to stop.
Niseko has served us very well in the past as our riding developed - and in my mind still has a purpose/place depending on what your looking for on a trip. It still served well as a nice base camp this time round--- and it was a change of scene having English conversations again after our first 10 days trying mime/bad Japanese/English.
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Fun day at Kiroro today. Snow was a little heavier and not as deep as yesterday but it was still nice out there-- and much more pleasant weather. The mountain had definitely been wind affected-- I'm not sure the technical term but you could see the ridges and shadows of snow carved by the wind. Our first expeditions into the trees in the most obvious spots were a little disappointing after yesterdays ventures as the snow changed from boot deep powder to ice rapidly. But as we found our way a little later we found some fun knee deep sections with plenty of fresh lines. We still had freshies on the last runs of the today with a few face shot worthy turns. Nice way to finish up
With despair we are still leaving tomorrow... although looking at the forecast we might well be stuck at the airport for a while. We'll try get a sneaky quick session at maybe Moiwa in the morning (another benefit of having a car and not being on the bus). I can't believe we haven't been there yet this trip--- a couple of epic days at this little place on previous trips was one of the motivators to start exploring more in the first place.
Actually it's a little weird finishing off a trip without really riding at Niseko either (only 2 hours at Hanazono on a windy day)--- we've been having so much fun exploring other places and with the weather we kind of ran out of time (despite staying here the past 4 nights). I suppose haven't spent quite a bit of time there in other years and this trip was about trying elsewhere - so thats where our motivation was.
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Classic---- prime bus viewing location!
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NIce vids. The gopro did it justice.
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Oh. And here is one snowy dog bus:
Got to love it.
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:D :D It's days like today that remind me why we love it so much here and keep coming back each year. It was a day you needed wiper blades for your goggles (after the face shots) and a defroster to unfreeze the smile on your face.
Seeing the avi report and weather reports it looked like Niseko top lifts might not run---- and definitely no high gates. But good news was at least 15cm overnight and still snowing. We made the call to head back to Rusutsu - as when I checked on Monday with similar winds most lifts ran that day and there a lot of runs in gullies where you can get out of the wind. We had to dig the car out to get there - but boy we were rewarded. Deep stashed on some runs --- and we were still finding freshies on our last runs of the day. It was cold out there so the ice left on after face shots were punishing once you were back in the open- but soooo worth it. Sorry no pics---- couldn't bring ourselves to stop and pull the camera out (and visibility wasn't great).
Beer now and after a hotpot tonight I'll be very contented--- it's amazing how one day like this makes the whole trip worthwhile.
Think tomorrow will be good also as the wind will die down and all the places closed today will be on.
I got as far as calling Cathay to try push our flights back-- no seats available doh! Ah well-- we should be able to manage a sneaky one Thursday morning on the way tot he airport.
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I'm trying not to look. We fly out Thurs arvo (seriously looking at pushing flights back a day or so).
Nice one with the gopro. Better than our effort though---- we were having too much fun to stop and pull our old fashioned camera out (and your had gets cold).
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Yeah... still got a grin from ear to ear. Waiting for the forecast snow to dump tonight... fingers crossed and tomorrow should be epic.
Sadly the bus isn't fluffy.... that would be even more awesome. I didn't pull the camera in time unfortunately.
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Yesterday the wind was howling-- but at least there was some fresh snow. We headed to Niseko- Hanazono to try find shelter in the trees. That there was (it was still cold out there though) but unfortunately not enough snow had gathered to cover the ice layer beneath. We gave it a shot for an hour or two before deciding a big lunch-- then beer/onsen was more appealing.
Today was another story
With the avi report saying some of the gates may not open or be delayed we decided to somewhere we could stay in bounds and still find untracked fun:Rusutsu
Honestly it was terrible.. don't bother going there
.Unfortunately I think it's a bit late to play that card as there were plenty of Westerns there today... but with so many tree patches to pick from at least it spread the crew out. Some areas were wind affected and very icy... others were awesome. Had a good day picking easy routes between the groomers in the trees. There are so many "legal" tree runs here-- and most pop out nicely onto a groomer to get back to a lift. With a bit of caution watching for creeks ect. at the bottom of some of the gully's ect it's a pretty easy place to explore.
We stayed at the resort a few years ago - and oh my is it quirky. It's not really our style- so it's nice coming here for a day trip now. I do like the addition of the dog shaped bus running between the carparks.
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Cheers- will do. And looking forward to Tues/Wed - looking like fun. Looks like 15cm or so overnight on top of the frozen crust. It's a start.
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Arrived in Niseko to rain... which has since been snap frozen - but at least the snow is falling again now. Hopefully tomorrow will be rideable somewhere.
We went to the right of nagamine... but stayed in sight of the trail as you said Gozaimaas and had some fun. Thanks for the tip Pete--- I could see it falling away there so we stayed quite close to the piste. We are relatively conservative- so unless we can scope the way out visually from hte lift or a scoping run we don't stray too far. The run I was actually talking about is to the right of the Gondola---- I imagine on a full powder day the flat spots would be a bit of a pain. But on Thursday there were enough ppl through there to make a track out. Might head your way sometime in the next few days Gozaimaas-- lets hope the snow/weather settles a bit.
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Thanks Mike good to know-- might see you out there this week sometime then
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We were at Kiroro same day as you Mike (Thursday).... we had some fun and could imagine this place on a proper powder day would be epic. Might try to make it back there later this week. How does the place handle the wind?
Thanks for the update on conditions at Niseko this morning. We heading to there today but think we'll take our time.
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Last two days have been somewhat warm without any new snow. Apparently it's raining out there now... so we're having a lazy morning. We leave Otaru and headed for Niseko way today.
Kiroro
Only one day after some light snow... so there were fresh tracks to be found but the snow was quite heavy and took some pushing through on the board. Was still a fun day but I can imagine this place would be epic with good powder. There are plenty of nicely spaced tree sections to find without the need to duck any ropes--- and a particularly nice run between the peaks if your willing to duck ropes (our first rope ducking for the trip--- no sight of ski patrol chasing after ppl though). The lift system is awesome with mostly hooded 4s (with feet rests) and a gondola. After freezing on slow open pairs the last few days it felt like luxury. Think we'll try make another day here before this trip is out. Can definitely tell we are getting closer to N.... There were quite a few bus loads form there on guided tours and plenty of people sniffing around trying to find powder.
Edit--- inserted picture
Teine Highland
Being the 2nd warm day -- and with no new snow we weren't expecting much else. Off-piste was very hard and bumpy. It had definitely seen some action in the last few days. I could imagine it would be quite good on a powder day with some runs with nice pitch and good tree spacing. We had a few good on-piste runs until I hit a super icy bit on one of the black runs and slid for quite a while... with the groomers getting pretty busy with school groups and the off piste hard work we decided to call an early day and have some rest.
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Thanks guys... the reason I wanted to post this was to help give people ideas. There are soooo many quiet resorts out there. Not just Hokkiado but other places too.
Awesome idea with the Koala's Pete... we've had a few ppl just mention Koalas after asking where we are from. I don't think I could go back to being locked into a resort again. I don't think we've had as awesome snow conditions as on previous years... but it feels that as we've had the car we've been able to make the most of things. Next trip I'd go a step further and not pre-book accommodation. They we can really go with the weather/mood.
This instalment is Otaru based. I was expecting another stock standard tiny Japanese hotel - but it seemed we lucked into a 4 star place for reasonable price ($100 per night for 2 ppl). We're on the water and right next to a big shopping centre with lots of different restaurants. Spoilt part is if we can't be bothered heading into the cold the hotel is linked to the centre so we can pick from lots of different food options (and a large supermarket) without getting cold.
Asarigawa Onsen
Another baby resort - this time just outside of Otaru (10minutes). It started snowing (albeit lightly) as we got close to Sapporo and didn't stop. Seeing a bit of wind we decided to stay low and try on the smaller places - being Asari. It's got 4 lifts - although it takes 3 to get to the top. There is a small gap between the lifts so this was slightly frustrating on snowboards - but our efforts were again rewarded. The resort was busy-- but everyone seemed to be school groups or with the ski club practising slalom. No one seemed to want "deep snow". So even the powder on the side of the groomers was untouched. We had a late start after the drive from Asahikawa, but spent a few hours cruising the sides of runs finding bits of untouched snow. Ocean views were quite the novelty too.
Visibility wasn't epic, and quite a few tree patches seemed to have either a dam, bad fall line or a creek around so we didn't head too far into the off piste areas. Didn't really have a need to either.
Another fun day.... for a bargain 2500 yen day ticket.
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Pippu
What a nice surprise. When we first arrived my first thoughts were this place was tiny....
Definitely more of a hill than a mountain. But what a fun one. It had been three days since fresh snow so we really came just to check the place out expecting the off-piste to be tracked out or sun affected. We splashed out a full 1600 Yen for a 3 hour pass (super cheap) and then set out to explore. At the top of the first lift we were greeted by a sign to saying "Deep Snow Course". Sounding too good to be true we ventured in slowly at first to find some fresh patches of snow over thigh deep! I was super surprised by both the depth and quality after the little dry spell we have had. We then tried the "strawberry" course to skiers left--- this has potential but was sun-affected. I think the temps stay very cold here (was -20 this morning) so despite the low altitude the snow was in good condition.
During the lunch break we provided some entertainment to the local kids---- who I don't think are that accustomed to seeing Westerners. They had fun trying to practise English with us. Quite a laugh. In the afternoon we explored some of the inbound trees (we were rewarded) and then hit the deep snow course a few more times. Big smile on my face by the end.
Well worth the trip and the 1600 yen. On a full powder day this place would be a private powder nirvana.
In the arvo we went to Asasiyama Zoo which was a good laugh. I've really enjoyed staying in Asahikawa. Loads of food options and feels quite authentic Japanese. On our last night we bravely ventured into a little restaurant which had no pictures or English menu/speaking staff. It was a bit of a mission to order but we were rewarded with fantastic food at a good price. The ladies there were so lovely to us that they even gave us a handmade present to thank us for persisting and eating there. Had to love it!
We had a change of plans and went 1 day early to Otaru to try find the snow. Report on Asari (today's venture) to come...
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Asahidake
We failed in our attempts to find a guide for Asahidake---- but when we woke to another bluebird day and no wind we decided to go look at Asahidake anyway. Even on the drive up the mountain we were rewarded with some spectacular views:
With the excellent visibility we decided it would be ok to ride. We did a few "scouting" runs down the cat tracks and looking out from the rope car to pick lines. There hadn't been snow for a few days so other peoples tracks were also there to give a guide. After checking things out we were able to head in a bit deeper off the side of the tracks and find some nice stashes. Was pretty good-- my main gripe was the very flat (and uphill sometimes) bottom half of the runs which meant having to go for speed on the cat track to get through on the board. The beautiful views helped ease the boredom.
It was different to what I expected there. It's defiantly a off piste resort--- the two cat tracks are only really there to get you out. In fact it seemed the whole place isn't really intended as a ski place-- that just by chance - the ropeway is there for the views/hiking in summer. It's obvious on the ropeway ride that most are there for some serious backcountry/hiking work. This was also the first place we've been so far where Westerners outnumbered Japanese. People spread out from the top but it wasn't "quiet" on the runs below the rope way.
All in all I think we could have gotten more out of it with a guide and some hiking. But it was still a fun experience- and worthwhile just for the views. If the visibility was poor I wouldn't have gone out or felt game enough to go off piste at all without a guide-- this place does feel more rugged than any other place I'd been.
We finished the day at one of the spa hotels in the nicest onsen I've ever had---- luxury with couch shaped comfy onsens to soak out the sore muscles.
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Thanks WVS... apologies for the Niseko comment. I was just trying to contextualise. These resorts are so quiet I don't think it's a bad thing if they get a few more international visitors.
Tomamu and Sahoro were both better than I expected. I think we were very lucky to get some good snow... but then we had few ppl to share it with so it lasted a long time. We spent some time at Furano last year and I got a bit frustrated with ropes everywhere. So it's a nice change where they not only acknowledge off piste--- but give some guidance.
We are staying in Asahikawa at the moment (5 nights in total). So far it's been quite a nice change to stay in the city instead of at one of the resorts. Feels more authentic Japanese experience compared to the more controlled/created feel at resorts such as Rusutsu or Tomamu. Plus it's cheap for hotels and food.... so thats a nice bonus.
Last four days have been four different resorts with powder at each... the sun has been out for the last couple of days so hopefully we get a top up tomorrow so we can continue exploring:
Kamui Ski Links:
I really like this little place. We came last year on a snowy day on a day trip from Furano and had a ball - especially after being hemmed in over there. This year we were met with a gorgeous blue bird day. There had been 5-10cm the night before, not quite enough to fill in old tracks but enough to refresh things a bit. The day started great as a local we met no the first gondola ride saw us get our map out and then proceeded to show us were we good find all the good powder. This was quite amusing... as he didn't speak English-- and we don't speak Japanese. But it's easy to sign thigh deep powder and point at a map:). We've met so many friendly and welcoming Japanese so far--- its been lovely. Probably as so far we've been some what of a standout as westerners on the mountain.
Kamui also has an awesome off piste policy. Ropes are there when needed only- and they even mark arrows in the "out of bounds" areas to show were you need to start heading back. Even into the afternoon we found pockets of powder in the trees to attack:
The day was so lovely even the paragliders were out:
Today we went to Asahidake for another bluebird day... I've had a beer or two many to continue typing though. Tomorrow we might have a bit of a lazy day to rest tired legs... so I'll helpfully do some more typing then.
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Sahoro
Well. I think we've had a pretty lucky run weather wise. We spent all Saturday at Sahoro in sunshine and low wind (sounds like Niseko got blizzard conditions). From the state of the runs they must have been closed when they got the snow the day before at Tomamu. All the "advanced" runs hadn't been groomed and had a nice shin high coating on them -- that stayed pretty untouched for the first few hours:
In the afternoon we scouted out the many tree areas that aren't roped off where we could find some thigh high stashes (ok I have short legs). There was quite a bit of choice as ropes seemed to be only where needed. Even better most people at the "resort" seemed to be either beginners or on lessons so most people there were sticking to the groomed runs. Even on a Saturday there were no lift lines in sight and we had easy fresh tracks all day (no hiking, rope ducking or traversing required). Pretty dammed awesome really. For the Niseko crew... imagine having your strawberry fields x 5 in size with only 5-10 ppl to share it with.
Apologies for the photos--- we are pretty bad at stopping for pics when we see a clean line to attack.
I'd definitely head back there again if there has been fresh snow in the area.
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Onehunga--- the GPS has an English screen (little bits of Japanese) and English instructions:
I can't see a make anywhere... it looks like it comes as an option in the car (Toyota). Model is NSCT-W61
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Hmmm.. The video works if you click the box. Not quite sure how to imbed it.
Going with the snow
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Last year we had an awesome trip making our way round with the car. We enjoyed boarding lots of different places with the only thing really keeping us in one area was were we had our accommodation booked (staying Tomamu, Asahikawa, Otaru, Niseko)
This trip I was thinking it would be nice to free style it-- ie not book accommodation until there. With the thougtht being we could follow the weather pattern more. I don't think this would be a problem for most places as they seemed pretty quiet with lots of accommodation options -- was but was nervous that Niseko/Kutchan way may get booked out or very pricey.
So the question is:
If we go early Feb do you think we would find reasonable accommodation available in Kutchan/Niseko area without a prior booking? Or will we get stuck with a run down place for stupid $? Or sleeping in the car (we aren't as crazy as some SJers)?