Kansaiash
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Posts posted by Kansaiash
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I'm heading to Hida Nagareha this weekend. If anyone else is going too let me know.
Also does anyone have any knowledge to drop on me about Nagareha? I'll be up there for Sat and Sun but it doesn't look very big so I will most likely end up exploring and looking for tree lines.
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I've had fogging issues this season too. Are your goggles dual layer and are they fogging up on the inside or between the layers. If it's between the layers I don't think spray or spit will help stop them fogging up. I have had mine fogging up between the layers this season and bought a cheap pair from America that are so much better. Nothing worse then not being able to see all the lovely pow you are shredding.
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Back to Hakuba for me this weekend. Arriving Friday leaving Monday. I will probably spend most of my time around Goryu & 47. Hopefully the weather isnt too bad for driving this time.
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If the traffic is normal I can do it in about 3 hours.
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Thanks Pete. I appreciate the advice. I got into a situation on the weekend where I had to walk through deep powder after exploring and getting myself into a situation I couldn't ride out of. Luckily I only had to climb about 20 metres to get back to a course. I can imagine hiking out of backcountry in such conditions would be quite challenging.
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Its from Totoro. They had Totoro too but I didnt get a good shot of that. Ill see if I can get it off one of my friends.
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Editing the original post worked. Thanks ippy.
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I've decided to make post more of my Gifu Pow sessions in this thread instead of making multiple thread of very similar stories. Is it possible to have the thread renamed?
Dynaland 19 January 2013
Resorts: Dynaland & Takasu Snow Park
Snow Condition: Packed groomed runs, day old slightly tracked powder off piste.
Weather: Overcast with snow for most of the day. The cloud level was higher than the resort so visibility was ok for most of the day. Towards the end of the day the clouds got lower and the light got very flat in places.
The day: All week I was looking forward to this trip and the snow that was forecast to fall on Friday and through the night ready for me to plow through on Saturday morning. This trip I was using a night bus as my car is out of action at the moment. I also decided to go to Dynaland because it has early morning riding, the main lift opens at 5am and the bus arrives at Dynaland at 4:30. When I arrived I was slightly disappointed to find that the weather forecast was out by a day. On Thursday night they got a decent amount of snow but Friday night had no new snow. I spent the early morning riding the main groomed run with many other people. Apparently early morning sliding is pretty popular. The main run under the lights was nearly a bit too crowded and some people were definitely boarding way too fast for conditions, I actually took multiple breaks before sunrise because there were too many ****heads on the slopes. One of my friends got collected 4 times and another 3 times. Once all the lift opened up around 8 the runs got a lot better as the people dispersed around the mountain. This was also around the time I stopped riding mainly on the groomers. Once the whole mountain opened we headed over to Takasu Snow Park, this place is fast becoming my favourtie place to ride. Its extremely busy on the weekends but its busy with beginners and people teaching their friends. If i guessed I would say only about 5-10% of the people go off-piste. This means the trees dont get tracked out very fast. Even though there was no new snowfall on Friday night I was still able to find fresh pow stashes all day. My tree/pow riding is still not very good but every time I go to Takasu Snow Park I find new lines. It is surprising how much terrain there is to ride. After having some fun in Takasu Snow Park we headed back to Dynaland for a few final runs before heaving to get on the bus and head home. On Dynaland side there was still some nice powder stashes in the tree park and I finished the day hitting some challenging(for me) tree runs and almost collecting big trees on the way down. Luckily I ended the day uninjured but its probably best I had to go and catch the bus. This was the second time I've been to Dynaland & Takasu Snow Park this year and it definitely won't be the last.
This is a sneak peak of some video I got on the day. This was my favourite run but I've since found better ones.
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So I headed back to Hakuba for the second time this season.
Hakuba January 12-14 2013
Saturday January 12 2013
Resort: Goryu and 47
Snow Condition: Groomed runs were hard packed and fast with some powder stashes on the sides of runs.
Weather: It was very cold on this day but the sky was clear and visibility was great.
The day: We started this day early and were waiting in line for the gondola when it started. The first run on the freshly groomed runs without any new snow was very fast. As soon as the Alps pair Number 4 lift opened we took it up and hit up the powder stashes that could be found by heading as far skiers right as we could without going out of bounds. The snow condition here was great and very enjoyable. We enjoyed the powder until it started getting tracked out and then headed over to 47 to see if we could find some stashes in the trees over there. There were some stashes to be had on 47 but not as much as the morning at Goryu. After lunch the runs were getting pretty crowded and carved up but the snow condition was still ok. We enjoyed the rest of the day trying to get every last powder stash that was around the 2 ski resorts.
Sunday January 13 2013
Headed to Happo to use my free ticket. Thanks SnowJapan, report can be found here.
Monday January 14 2013
Resort: Goryu and 47
Snow Condition: 5-10cm of fresh powder on top of very hard/icy snow pack.
Weather: Snowing and cloudy/foggy, visibility was very low.
The day: We woke this day to find about 5-10cm of snow on the car so we headed straight up to the mountains to get some fresh tracks. To our surprise when arriving at the resort there were hardly any people. It was the compete opposite of the previous day, I guess many people must have left after the Sunday. I even had to check my calendar to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake about the days and it was in fact a public holiday. Needless to say there were plenty of fresh tracks to be had all morning. I was surprised and slightly disappointed the Alps pair number 4 lift wasn’t running so it made it hard to get to the stashes way out skiers right at the top of Goryu. The powder was nice but by the morning there was only about 10cm that had fallen up top which unfortunately wasn’t enough to be bottomless. The warmer weather the day before had made the base very hard and I found myself bottoming out quite easily. I'm sure by the afternoon it would have been much better. Unfortunately since I had a 6 hour drive back to Kansai and work on Tuesday we left around 1:30 and headed home. It was an enjoyable morning of boarding and it was very tempting to stay all day and call in sick the next day.
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Yesterday was great at meihou in Gifu. Waste deep if not more. Heading back to Gifu today, hitting up Takasu SP. Lots of snow on the highway so probably a late start by the time I get there.
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Its bloody cold where I am at the moment. After lunch the temps have dropped a fair bit. As for this weekend I'm going to try and brave the weather and head to Gifu.
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Myoko Kogen
Jan 6-8 2013
Sunday January 6th 2013
Resort: Suginohara
Snow Condition: Groomed but not hard on the runs and day old stashes off-piste.
Weather: On the way to the mountain in the morning we had glimpses of blue sky but once we arrived the weather was overcast all day. Luckily the cloud was quite high up so visibility was still good.
The day: Being the end of the New Years holidays I was a little concerned the resort would be very busy but I guess everyone had already gone home because we didn't really have to wait for a lift all day. This was the first time visiting Myoko Kogen so I wasn’t really sure about where to go. I remember reading about tree runs at Suginohara and terrain traps on the forums but couldn’t remember exactly so I was a little hesitant about straying too far off-piste. Also I was boarding with my girlfriend who is only a beginner so I stayed with her most of the day. We went pretty much everywhere except the top of the mountain. When my girlfriend had had enough for the day I got a few runs in by myself and had a lot of fun bombing down under the gondola.
Monday January 7th 2013
Resort: Suginohara
Snow Condition: Surprisingly still very good in the morning with the groomed runs still not being super hard packed and icy. By the end of the day one or 2 of the runs were starting to get icy. The off-piste (yes I was still finding stashes) had a slight crust but was still enjoyable. No new snowfall.
Weather: The weather was much clearer this day with clear blue skies.
The day: We didn’t get as early a start this day but it really didn’t matter. The place definitely wasn’t busy. In the morning I boarded with my girlfriend and in the afternoon she took a lesson so I went off exploring and looking for tree runs. By far my favourite run of the day was under the lower hooded quad avoiding the big drop skiers left. Although there wasn’t nice fresh powder I still had fun playing around in the trees and managed to find mostly untracked snow all day. Unfortunately about half way through the day my bindings started to give in, firstly my high backs started to become loose, I tried to tighten them but they continued to loosen. This was annoying but bearable. However soon after a second problem arose with my buckle not releasing so I was unable to get out of my bindings. The only way I was able to release it was with a screwdriver from the work bench. Thankfully the screwdrivers are attached to the workbenches so no one can steal them but this made it challenging to get my board off. If you saw anyone trying to stand on the work bench with one foot on his board during this time it was probably me.
Tuesday January 8th 2013
Resort: Ikenotaira
Snow Condition: Soft groomed runs, slightly crusty/heavy snow off-piste.
Weather: The morning was very clear again in the morning but became very overcast in the afternoon.
The day: This trip was booked through a website where you are not able to choose the hotel you stay in and although I requested to stay near Suginohara I was put in a hotel that was at the bottom of the Ikenotaira resort. This wasn't a big deal and was the reason why we decided to go to Ikenotaira on the 3rd day of our trip. I was very surprised at how few people there were at this resort, I know it was a week day but I had to ask myself how does this resort make any money. As the day went on it started to get a bit more crowded but nothing like the crowds I have seen at other places this year. I spent the day boarding with my girlfriend with her now confidently linking turns down the groomed runs and me ducking off into the trees where ever I could to see what was around. I would love to go back to this resort after a bit of a dump as there looks to be some serious potential in the trees. Another thing that I liked about this place was the craft beer factory where we had dinner twice during the trip. They offer 90 minutes all you can drink local craft beer for a small price. Ikenotaira turned out to be a great place to stay and I want to get back there again in late Feb or early March.
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Wow!! Gifu's got the goods
3rd January 2013
Resort: Dynaland & Takasu Snow Park
Snow condition: Powder and lots of it. About 50cm on the ungroomed runs, even more in some of the off piste areas that hadn’t been hit the day before.
Weather: The visibility wasn’t the best, that was partly because of my failing goggles I haven’t replaced yet. It was overcast all day with snow showers from time to time but the cloud level was above the mountain so that helped with the visibility.
The day: We left Kyoto for Gifu at around 3 am and it was a good run up until just after Gifu city when the snow started and the traffic slowed. At this time we were slightly concerned by the number of people that were heading up to the area with skis/boards on their cars. It turned out to be a super busy day on the slopes but a majority of the people were beginners. The main slopes in Takasu and Dynaland were extremely busy with big groups of boarders. At one point the main Takasu groomed run was about 5 boarders wide and its not an overly wide run to start with. Even if it wasn’t a powder day I think I still would have been heading in to the trees to avoid the crowds. We started the day by hitting up the ungroomed runs at the top of Dynaland until it was pretty tracked out then we headed over to Takasu for some of the lovely off piste action it has to offer and finished the day off back at Dynaland seeking out what ever powder stashes that were remaining. This was probably the best snow I have experienced so far this year the only problem was digging myself out whenever I fell over. I'm heading back to Dynaland at least 2 more times this year so if its half as good as it was on January 3rd I'll be a very happy boarder.
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This report is a little late but I've been busy boarding and now only starting to get through the backlog of trip reports.
Hakuba 27-29 December 2012
27th December 2012
Resort: Hakuba Goryu and 47
Snow condition: Compacted snow on groomed runs. About 20cm or more of powder on the sides of the groomed runs. The overall snow condition was very nice. The temperature was very low which kept the snow light and fresh.
Weather: As I said the temperature was very low. On the drive up I saw a -12 on one of the signs on the side of the road so up the top of the mountain it was very cold. The weather was very clear. I've lived in Japan for more than 5 years and I don’t think I have ever seen as clear skies.
The day: We arrived around 9am after leaving home around 2:30 to pick up friends and drive up from Kyoto. When we arrived I was itching to get on the slopes but one of my friends forgot his boots so we lost another 30 minutes or so while we waited for him to sort out rentals. Around 10am we were finally on our way up the gondola. The slopes were not as crowded as I thought they would be and the longest we had to wait in line all day was about 10 minutes. As we were riding the lift up to the top of Goryu we noticed that many people were climbing up the the top of the resort just above the top lift in 47. They were all climbing up to take a photo of the Hakuba range behind the resorts. This also gave access to the top skiers right side of Goryu that wasn’t open. I made my friends climb up to the top for a photo and also made them bring their boards so we could drop into the top of Goryu for some fresh tracks. It was definitely worth bringing the boards as the run down from the top although short was great fun. We did this a couple more times and spent the rest of the day hunting for any remaining powder stashes and having a genuinely enjoyable day.
28th December 2012
Resort: Hakuba Goryu and 47
Snow condition: Compacted snow and a little icy early in the day. From about 2pm it started snowing and by the end of the day there was a nice layer of fresh snow on most of the runs. Its hard to tell but I would guess that about 2-5cm fell in the afternoon until closing.
Weather: The weather wasn’t a repeat of the perfect weather the day before. The morning was a little overcast with high level cloud cover. As the day went on the clouds got lower and it started snowing. Visibility wasn’t an issue if you had goggles that worked. Unfortunately for me my goggles failed again.
The day: This day we also had a bit of a late start. Which wasn't such a big deal as the best part of the day was at end once it started snowing. Looking back on this day it would have been worth while to get the nighta pass too but unfortunately we didn’t.
29th December 2012
Resort: Hakuba Cortina
Snow condition: Slightly disappointing, with the amount and quality of the snow that was falling at the end of the previous day we had high hopes for Cortina. The snow wasn’t bad and there was about 20-30cm of new snow up high but the snow was a little heavy and turned to crud pretty quickly.
Weather: This day was a mixture of the previous 2 days. The morning was overcast and cloudy with visibility up high quite bad. In the afternoon the cloud lifted and we had some beautiful clear skies in the afternoon.
The day: This was my first time at Cortina and I didn’t really know what to expect. I had heard many stories about Cortina and everyone of them was about tree runs and deep powder. The tree runs looked very fun but I think they are a little outside my ability. On a powder day I could see myself getting stuck or hitting a tree quite easily. The "back country" side of Cortina also looked really fun but I didn’t really know where it goes or what was down there so I thought it would be best to do it another day with someone who has done it before or at least do some research on here about that run first. The day was still an enjoyable day, I could hit some (heavy) powder in the morning then some tree runs later in the day. I think this resort has plenty to offer and is very affordable with a discount coupon. I definitely want to get back there again before the end of this season but not until late Feb or March so I have some time to improve my tree skills a little more.
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I was really lucky coming back from Hakuba. Isaw that the highway was closed from the bottom of escal plaza at goryu. Luckly the hokuriku was still open so I could get back home to Kansai in about over 6 hours. I will definitely be checking the roads before leaving next time. It was only by chance that I saw the highway report at goryu otherwise I would have been sitting in the traffic with everyone else.
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Not a fan of gondolas or ropeways myself. Especially if they are old and sketchy looking like the one at happo. Biwako Valley has a big fancy ropeway but its not included in the lift ticket so it makes a day there well overpriced in my opinion.
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Dynaland on Saturday for me. Hope the weather forecast is true with snow every night this week.
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I'll be in Hakuba sat, sun and mon. Hoping for some fresh snow but its not looking too promising at the moment.
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Yea, from the top of Goryu
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My first contribution to this thread.
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I'll be in Hakuba this weekend. Been here since yesterday and leaving Sunday night. Tomorrow I will be at happoone or cortina. Today it started snowing from about 2pm and hopefully it will continue through the night.
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Nice photos. Were these taken yesterday? Dec 27? I'm in Hakuba at the moment too and the weather yesterday was amazing.
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This is a short video I put together from the second day December 19th. I really didn't take much footage because I forgot my GoPro mounts but this will give you a better idea of what the snow condition was like. Its all filmed by just holding the camera in my hand, so I'm sorry if it causes you motion sickness.
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Out and about - 9th / 10th March
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I'm off to Ryuo this weekend too. Going up with a big group. They are expecting between 300-400 people. Not sure if that will make it any busier than usual.