yamabushi

You should stay at Sukayu when there's 400cm base on the mountain, and the sun has been gone from sight for over a month. If you are trully blessed, you get out in the morning greeted by another two feet of fresh snow and a blue sky. How's that for cheese?

I agree, this is certainly not for a day trip. This is a backcountry experience where you end up in the heart of the north, a spec of warmth in a sea of endless snow. Soaking in the traditional Sukayu onsen will make you feel like you stepped all the way back to the Edo period. To top things off you should pick up "Death March on Mount Hakkoda " by Jiro Nitta. This is the account a military training mission gone horibly wrong. In the winter of 1902, 210 soldiers are ordered to cross the snowbound slopes of Mount Hakkoda to test their military strength in anticipation of a Russian invasion.

The Shinkansen makes it to Shin-Aomori in a matter of hours. There are three buses to Hakkoda per day from Shin-Aomori (8:20am, 12:20pm and 1:40pm) and from Aomori train station (7:55am, 11:55am and 1:15pm). From Shin-Aomori take the bus on the number one stop just outside the east exit. It takes from 60-90 minutes to get to Hakkoda. There are three buses per day from Hakkoda to Aomori and Shin-Aomori, all in the afternoon. Taxis can get tricky. Not all taxi drivers will want to take you to Hakkoda, particularly if the weather or road conditions are not ideal, which is the entire months of

You may want to look at the Never Summer Summit Split. I have the non-split version and this board meets my idea of what an All-Mountain board is supposed to be. On deep powder, not as good start-and-go flotation as a Burton Fish but oh boy; once you get going you can fly on this thing. It handles the crud like a champ, and the stiffness helps it a lot to achieve a decent cruising speed on groomers. The side cut radius is fairly mellow (as with most big nose powder boars) so it will handle as a regular board of the same size that is 8~10cm smaller. The top sheet is bullet proof, constr

My bad, when I said vertical I meant to say horizontal, or how long the two 'official' runs were. On the front of the mountain alone I can think of 7 named runs, not to mention the stashes inbetween and the weird shorcuts.

My favorite walk out last year was in Tomamu. My non back country buddy and I went after a dry spell, the snow condition left a lot to be desired. On the second run we went to the top, I took a look at the far right side of the resort, saw the most inviting slope on the entire mountain, and off into the yonder I went, friend in tow. The slope was worth it, but the long ravine at the bottom was a tad too much for my buddy. I don't know what he was complaining about, we even found raindeer trails to make the heavy knee deep snow trek easier (I could had done without all the deer shit they left a

Yes, but in a lot of cases the terrain is actually not conductive for proper skiing because it becomes a death trap, or it lacks uninterrupted verticals, or trees are two thick, or it launches you into ravines and valleys that takes you forever and a day to hike out. The mount of accessible and skiable terrain is quite significant there. On a good day the gondola keeps dumping people at the top of Sancho eki by the hundred every 15 minutes, most set out for the back country, and you can still hike out and not see another human being. Shit, without hiking any significant distance I can

Sorry, didin't mean to come across that way. It actually makes me smile every time I see a post about it being short and flat. Actually I was being generous. The 2 runs have a total of 2.4km vertical. Hakkoda is not a mountain but a mountain range with eight main peaks. Two have proper volcano craters and on a third one half the mountain blew off, creating a huge bowl.

Hakkoda has two patrolled trails, the direct and the forest course. Folks stick to them and then complaint that Hakkoda is flat and short and lame and whatnot. The reality is that those trails are less than 1% of what Hakkoda has to offer. Here are some pictures I found on my work computer. On a good day you can have half a mountain to yourself http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/gallery/album/199-hakkoda/

Good info Mike.The chin piece is removable. Did your mate ever try it with the chin piece removed for powder? I would assume it is the same as every other helmet/goggle combo when removed. I found them because I was looking for a helmet/visor combo. I imagine that without the face mask that it should still work as such and in fact a tad better, considering that it seals around your cheeks better than an open visor. Then again if you go face first in powder you'll probably will end up with snow up to your scalp. Like everything else in life it is a compromise.

I don't think she's gonna be jumping on the deep end from the get go, for example the nice fluffy stuff I was flying through on my avatar picture Most of the time January and February in Hakkoda is a perpetual blizzard. I don't think mom will be all that happy if she comes back with frostbite all over her face. My number one concern is how bad this thing would fog when you have to stop and dig yourself out of a hole.

My girl is getting into the backcountry bit. She wear glasses. One of the options is the Ruroc helmet: Anybody got one? I wonder how bad condensation will get when you are moving slow trying to dig yourseld out of a tree well. For those who wear glasses, what other options are there?

I would think that you can stay at most resort parking lots just fine. If you make it to Hakkoda you can park next to the guy that spends two months out of the year camping there on his minivan. If you make it to Hakkoda on your way to Hokkaido send me a PM. I'm up there about twice a week, I'll be happy to show you around.

Looks sweet! I would crank up the stiffness. With that huge setback and the big nose, you may get an ungodly amount of vibration while carving on hardpack. If you are a big guy, you should not have much problems flexing a stiffer board.

Denial, anger, depression and acceptance are not just the four stages of grief, but the four stages for buying expensive gear. Right now you are in denial. The sooner you get over being angry at the cost and depress for all the money you will pay, the sooner you'll accept it and enjoy them

August is my time of the year to stock up for the upcoming season. So far I got: A set of Hestra Heater gloves (discounted from Geartrade.com) to replace my 180s. While the 180s were nice, I'm hoping that the heated Hestras will be better at keeping the hakkoda winter at bay. A new Gopro. I gave my old one to my nephew, now I get to upgrade to the Gopro2 :} I need to pick a new lens for my Smith I/O goggles. Last year branches were not kind to them. What are you getting?

Not really. It was settled a bit ago and beyond any reasonable doubt that the answer was Hakkoda

Damn that sucks! I got lucky on the 20-foot drop. I kept my knees bent and took it as best as I could. Had I straighten my legs (what most people do when they panic and are looking for solid ground) chances are I would have ended with two broken legs. Still, I banged my chest something fierce. If it would have been my face...

The thing is, I know how to take a fall and how to properly crash into a tree (on a snowboard if you panic and hit the brakes, all you will do is T bone the tree at full speed and crush your skull, the trick is to make it as much a gracing blow as possible). This year it has been the split-second situations where it goes from Wheee! to F*k! in no time flat.

F'ing twice this season. The first on a no visibility day, going around tree wells. One part was about four feet lower that what I tought I saw, slammed hard and busted my mouth with my knee. I spent the rest of that run spitting blood everywhere. The second time, went flying blind off a cornice and what I expected to be 10 foot drop into either an incline or soft powder was a 20 foot drop into a windblown hole (I say 15, buddy says 20 so I'm going with that). Haven't knocked the air out of my lungs like that since I was a kid. I probably cracked something. Have you had any party poope

On the height of winter, on a clear blue day, driving from Otaru to Niseko will give you a snowgasm.

Just about all prefectures would have ski terrain, what they may lack is first a ski resort, and then the proper weather. I'm not trying to be a smart ass (at least this time). On particularly cold and snowy winters you would get accumulations on places that would not usually get any. Shit, the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii is tall enough that you get snow there. You can bet your skis that I would do that if only for a hundred feet

The river crossing was in Tomamu, Furano doesn't require a river crossing. I would say it depends: if you are near the exit, you can afford to get wet. If you are not, it can cost you a toe or two... On my back country pack I have two large trash bags; they are small, light weight, and on a pinch you can build a tent, snow anchors, and now that I think of it river crossing condoms That day the river was fairly shallow, the biggest problem was the snow banks on each side. We had to traverse a bit before we found the best spot.

One more thing about Furano; according to the guy at the place I was staying, you can indeed get a permit to hit the back country from the resort. What they really seem to mind is people jumping ropes inside of the resort itself. They didn't seem to care less if you were truly heading off. For instance, the track to the southern face were clearly marked, so was the return point by the beginer slope. If they really cared they could easily block access or simply park a person at the exit to confiscate the passes.

Ok, time to report back! Did Asahidake yesterday. Visibility was crappy with very few breaks in the clouds. I took a hike to the fumaroles so I could melt a frozen Redbull I was carrying. Funny thing, because of low visibility a gigantic crater was all but invisible until you walked right up to it. I can just imagine the surprise of coming down the mountain at a good clip and dropping about 25 feet into it... The Furano bowl to the left of the resort... The face had huge cracks, it is screaming avalanche like few things I have ever seen, and I dropped it four times. There were qui