jondreads

One of the categories I'm interested in when searching for family friendly hotels that has not yet been mentioned is if they have or can arrange evening child minding services (though I realise the answer is usually "no" in Japan even at the bigger hotels). On site kiddie play areas are also a bonus. Also travel time to nearest decent ski lift. I quite like the japanican web site for hotel search, especially the way that it instantly updates the number of matching hotels when you toggle requirements. it would be great if you could copy that ;-)

So you're the guy! I had heard about your adventure through a tour guide. Thank heavens that your phone had reception. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I'll bear it mind whenever I think about being adventurous.

If I had no dependents I wouldn't care but if I die it's not just my life that's affected it's my kids as well. In my mind there's a big difference between dying due to something beyond my control or dying whilst selfishly having fun. I believe the boarder who died last week had 3 young kids. Yet I still went out today and spent the day off piste on tree runs. Just can't stop..

I heard there was another recent death in the Niseko area when a female skier hit her head on a tree in Annupuri on 2nd Jan. Awful to get 2 deaths in a week. Got to admit that it's dampened my enthusiasm for going out today.

Sad news. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. According to our neighbours it was a bad landing from one of the jumps under the quad lift. It had a 8m ramp and was 1.5m high. Stay safe people.

At the top of Dynamic today I saw something that looks like an abandoned lift terminal, which would be somewhere to the right Dynamic on the Niseko map if it was on the map (which it isn't). Was the lift part of Niseko Weiss? Can anybody share some history on the area? Also are the cat-skiing trips that are advertised for the Weiss area any good?

Lasagne in the Italian Alps In Japan, gyuudon.

I'm certainly not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. You guys are doing a great job, I enjoy this site tremendously and I appreciate all the hard work that you put in. I only mentioned it because I'd hate to see you have to spend time and effort reworking it later. You're obviously comfortable with it, so I'll shut up now ;-)

Looks great but aren't a lot of people going to be put off by having to install Silverlight (or unable to due to work policies). I'm also kind of surprised to see you any new site roll out using Silverlight given that there have been rumours of its demise for a while now.

Just about started in Niseko as well with one chair lift and run open. A bit short but it's better than nothing!

Maybe the forecast was for snow, and maybe there was snow further down the road, but on the section that I drove on the conditions did not warrant chains. From what I understand, using snow chains when there is little or no snow leads to damaged road surfaces. On the way back 3 days later the police were not checking the cars yet to my eye the conditions were about the same. (but my GPS and the signs on the expressway still said snow chains were required). Anyway to avoid further bad luck I immediately ordered snow tyres. I can imagine that anybody who regularly drives in North or East

I used to live in Tokyo, and the first time I went to a ski resort I had normal tyres and snow chains. The police demanded I put the chains on when using the expressway on the way to Yuzawa even though there was no snow on the road... Then I had to take them off to go through a tunnel, then I had to put them back on again. When driving with the chains I was limited to 50 kph but everybody else was flying past at 100. Very dangerous and a waste of several hours (partly due to being so angry that it took me ages to get the chains on!). It was the usual Japanese application of rules without t

I'd rather just offer them a box of rice crackers and say "yorishiku onegaishimasu".

I got all excited when I saw the chair lifts in Hanazono moving yesterday, but I guess it was just a test run. Maybe I should have begged them to let me ride ;-) Today though it's 12 degrees and raining. Hardly any snow left at the bottom of the hill.

I guess I'd better add the Fish to the list of boards to try. Bit worried though that I'll look a bit like a Burton fan boy if a buy a second Burton board. When does snow get good enough to take a powder board out?

Split boards seem a bit too hardcore for my current needs. I've not done a tour yet. I'll take some guided tours this winter and see if I like it, so maybe next year And while the gentemstick does look good I can't justify spending that kind of cash. Something like the Salomon Powder Snake mentioned on the other thread seems like the way to go. The price isn't too bad and it looks easy to get hold of in Japan.

I see what you mean. $2,300 for the Impossible on Rakuten.

Cheers Ippy I'll try out the shop and read the threads.

The wife was peeved when I told her that pelican burger will be closed over the winter. She's threatening to cancel the whole Niseko trip.

Hey gang, a bit of advice please! I'm going to spend the whole winter in Niseko. I own a Burton Custom X, which I'm really happy with, but I'm thinking that maybe I'll need a board that's better in powder if I'm going to be in Niseko. I'd like to try some back country tours while I'm there. Or maybe a powder board will be a waste of money. (using the maxim "it's 90% rider, 10% board". And I ain't that good ) So ideally I'd like to find a shop where I can try / rent powder boards to see whether it's worthwhile for me. Are recommendations for such a shop around Niseko? I'm tall and

Pelican Burger in Kutchan was pretty tasty. My only gripe was that the burgers came with potato wedges instead of fries.

It's not cheap is it? A barmaid in Yuzuwa told me her off peak (monday - friday) season pass was something like 15,000 so I was expecting similar. I was a bit bloody shocked when I saw the price.

I plan to be there all season, but if mrs j. and the little j's decide they can't cope with the cold I may be prematurely dragged back to Tokyo.

For those people who are late to the party (like me) the 15% discount applies until October 31st. Big thanks to the OP for posting the info, guess I owe you a beer