marku
-
Content Count
30 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by marku
-
-
On topic: You can see plenty of tree runs from the top lifts at Akakan and Suginohara as BM said. I'd say Akakan is probably the better of the two for tree runs. At Akakan, if you are a bit more adventurous, I've seen people go far skiers left from the top chair and come out on the other side of the ridge (comes out near the champion 3 lift top station). Also under and around that lift are many lines. You can see most of these areas from lifts and on course, so I'm sure you can find some good runs easily.
Thanks RedLotus, would 'champion 3 lift' be in the next resort along? I cant see it on the Akakan resort course map...???
-
Nah its cool,
yeah my ridiculously cheap kashima pass gets me day tickets at cortina for 1000yen, plus a few other resorts that Ive not been too.
The weekend is obviously busier but nothing compared to Cortina (which Im kinda over this season btw). Its generally alot of beginners and families.
Which leaves all the good stuff, if you know where to go, untouched.
-
Ive got nearly 2 seasons worth of exploring to share. Dont think I can PM yet. Just let me know the next time youre heading up
and I'll gladly show what Kashima has to offer.
-
Yeah I got lucky with the pow at Norikura, but the wind up there scours things so quickly. I also heard that the snow level is relatively low for this time of year...
Man thats a shame youre considering Kashima on one of the only weekends Im not there! would love to show you around.
If you know Aokiko quite well then youre already onto a winner! Closed = Fresh tracks! Thats all Im going to say!
-
I know them both well, my season pass is at Kashimayari and I often head up to Mt.Norikura for a change of scenary.
Actually had a powder day up at Norikura earlier in the season, but the northstar crew are quite the powder munchers as I found out.
Gotta be quick!
-
mmmmm Ive had my lot of terrain traps this season so I'll be avoiding that! just might give the ramen a go though.
Where you off to this weekend??
-
Go to the top of the resorts and you'll find them. Whatever you do, don't go into the area behind the Etoru restaurant at Akakan.
Black Mountain, I knew the mention of tree runs might get you involved! haha!
Thanks for that, whats there? a terrain trap??
-
Hey all,
We're heading up to Myoko for the first time this weekend and was hoping to tap into some of the enormous
amount of knowledge here on the forum.
We're planning on visiting Suginohara and Akakan Resort.
Im not expecting you to reveal any of your hidden gems just some helpful pointers of where the good tree runs are.
Ive heard theyre are lots but any advice would be very much appreciated.
Cheers!
-
Hey great vid, last sunday at Cortina was definitely deep! We also had an amazing day there.
Next time I see you I'll shout abit louder and get your name right this time. (-:
Would love to join you on some of those tree runs!
-
Not it is not.
It generally is not on the resorts. It is the extreme example of Cortina.
And as millisent said, the vast maj. of people going to 'Hakuba' will see nowhere near like 150cm of new snow and will not be experiencing 'super dangerous conditions'.
Hakuba 47 has reported a total of 75cm since last Friday.
Goryu has reported a total of 50cm since last Friday.
So let's not get too carried away now, shall we.
Who's getting carried away? I will be at Cortina (if the lifts aren't still closed) and they have had 150cms (with a lot more to come). The original warning was for the Otari ski fields anyway, not Hakuba. Untwist your panties dude, no one was trying to misrepresent anything
Hey Black Mountain, Im pretty sure I saw you riding the deep stuff at Cortina on Sunday holding a pole cam. If it was you Im looking forward to seeing your footage.
LOL. Was that you guys yelling at me from the lifts? Yeah, I've got quite a bit of footage but not sure how much time I'll have this week to get it together. I'll be sure to post it on SJ when I have a chance.
Yep that was us! (-: I recognised you from one of your vids but couldnt remember your SJ name.... so I shouted 'black diamond!!!' and a random 'snow japan!' at you. Sounds daft now I write it! haha.
We were riding pretty much the same lines, but not sure I could do it holding a pole!!
How often are you at Cortina?
-
Not it is not.
It generally is not on the resorts. It is the extreme example of Cortina.
And as millisent said, the vast maj. of people going to 'Hakuba' will see nowhere near like 150cm of new snow and will not be experiencing 'super dangerous conditions'.
Hakuba 47 has reported a total of 75cm since last Friday.
Goryu has reported a total of 50cm since last Friday.
So let's not get too carried away now, shall we.
Who's getting carried away? I will be at Cortina (if the lifts aren't still closed) and they have had 150cms (with a lot more to come). The original warning was for the Otari ski fields anyway, not Hakuba. Untwist your panties dude, no one was trying to misrepresent anything
Hey Black Mountain, Im pretty sure I saw you riding the deep stuff at Cortina on Sunday holding a pole cam. If it was you Im looking forward to seeing your footage.
-
whens 47 opening? They were reasonably early getting the top open a few years back when i lived here last, so i reckons after the first dump ill probably be there that weekend
47 is scheduled to open from 1st Dec, a few cms fell this week on the top slopes. More forecast sunday. Fingers crossed.
-
I remember them, I didn't use em though
Think it was fly anywhere in Japan on yor birthday for 10,000 yen.....I think it was return.Yeah thats right apart from that they were single tickets for ichi-man. Still they were an absolute bargain plus the fact you could take 3 friends on the same deal.
Used them on a couple of trips to Sapporo and Okinawa. A shame they are no more.....
-
If you decide on not taking a flight to hokkaido you should def sort yourself out with a 5day flexi east japan rail pass.
They save you a fortune on the trains and you can use it for Yuzawa, Nagano, Niigata etc.
Easy enough to buy online before you get here.
-
probably more useful if you live near Matsumoto. I use to be 20 mins walk from the airport and I walked from my house to get to Sapporo, sending the luggage via takubin. But that was one-way; on the way back I hitchhiked to Otaru and took an 18 hour ferry to Niigata, then a 9 hour local train to Matsumoto for 190 yen.
A return trip even if you live in Matsumoto (which i do) still seems expensive to me. But Ive only ever flown on the old ichi-man birthday tickets in Japan that i think no longer exists which is a real shame.
Im impressed tripler with your return trip though! 9hrs on a local train, that is something i def couldnt do! Nice effort.
Where are you skiing/boarding this season btw??
Still living in matsumoto?
-
Yeah but how much are the flights tickets??
-
I like it there. If you don't have wheels it is a pain to get there. Also, the lifts higher up open later than the bottom ones... and on big snow days not at all. If you go all the way out there and the top lifts are not running its not really all that fun. Unfortunately, because they open at different times you are unlikely to find out if they are closed until you get there. The tree policy is pretty relaxed. It might get a little more snow than other places but that is debatable. On weekends, once all the lifts are running it'll be mostly tracked out by lunch time. It's also really busy on long weekends (like everywhere else). TBH, if I didn't have my own car I probably won't go out there too often because it's such a trek.
Hey thanks Black Mountain for all your valuable info, appreciate it.
Maybe I should have mentioned that I'll be driving by car from Matsumoto most weekends, with cortina being the furthest away I was wondering if it was worth the extra driving. Sounds like its worth making the trip a few times at least.
Im pretty used to waiting around for the top lifts to open in Japan. Its common in most resorts and and invariably due to the lifts stations having to be dug out from under all the fresh snow to make it safe for skiers getting on and off.
Most resorts are also so understaffed and they often only have a couple of old guys sent up to shovel snow, which can take awhile..........thats when snowshoes come in handy if youre really keen.
-
So ive heard lots of good things about cortina but I really wanna know what its all about and whether its worth the extra travelling time.
Whats the tree skiing policy like these days?
How much more snowfall does it actually get compared to other hakuba resorts?
How long do you have at the weekends before its all tracked out?
Cheers.
-
Mr.Singh, you obviously know your way around Hakkoda pretty well,
Is it the kind of place you need local knowledge to find the good stuff or can you poke around and find it yourself.
Just wondering as I may be heading up there at some point.
Cheers
-
It is................ Hakuba.
I really really hope so! Pray to the snow gods!
-
November 18th at 2.43pm is the official time and date at which you may switch to your snow tires.
Heavy penalties are imposed on those who flaunt the law and switch earlier.
haha! Brilliant post, you made me laugh lots andylaurel! Thankyou!
-
Also Igaya is a tiny slope down the road from the main Norikura resort with nothing much there to write home about.
-
Nice, was just looking through the Evo catalog last night and saw the Powder Snake, a good looking board. I've got a Jones Hovercraft 160 on order.
But I'm like you, haven't had the chance to get out there and use one yet.
Same same, I picked up a jones hovercraft 2010/11 in the sales at the end of last season. Probably one of the only shops that hadnt sold out but it was a shop
in England...
From what Ive read and researched the hovercraft is well suited to riding powder in tight trees, but Ive yet to put it to the test.
i also noticed that Jeremy Jones rode his hovercraft during his last trip to Hakuba and he was hitting all sorts of crazy steep lines with it too.
Im pretty confident it will will rip but Id be interested to hear how you get on with it too.
-
Yeah I agree, 80,000 is alot of money even though it covers 3 resorts.
There are so many slopes to go and investigate that I wouldnt go restricting yourself to just the main ones on that pass.
Just think of all the different resorts you can go and check out during the course of the long season and Im sure you wont spend
80,00yen.
If you are though planning on hitting the slopes 2/3 times a week, get a cheaper pass for a local resort and pick and choose the others.
Thats my advice anyhow. Good luck
Myoko (Suginohara & Akakan Resort) Tree run hints please...
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Ippy - thanks for the info. youve kinda freaked me out abit about going too far off-piste. But thats probably a good thing. Best to err on the side of caution.
Jumping over fissures away from avalanches!!! I think Id rather avoid that!! Maybe it was a good thing you didnt ride with your former boss. (-: