Gunma Boarder

I did go to Okutone last night and had a pretty good time. As I was driving up I got a little worried due to the lack of snow in comparrison to a couple weeks ago, but I was able to get some nice tree runs in before the sun set. Snow felt "different" than the amazing powder that has been spoiling many of us, but it was still fun As the sunset, the snow slowly turned to ice which wasn't bad at first, but towards the end of the night I had the bright idea to practice riding switch. At first it was OK, but as the runs hardened it got worse and worse. I took some falls that reminded my of wha

I had a feeling you would be the one answering my question. Thank you very much!

I was thinking of using one of these roads to get from my house to the ski resorts north of Nagano city and was wondering what they are like in the winter. I went to Madarao a couple of weekends ago, but having the fam with me, I decided to drive the long way around towards Tokyo and back up. I have a 4WD K-car with snow tires and am experienced in snow driving. Would these roads be crazilly slow going? or are they OK? Any info would be appreciated.

I think with the weather for this weekend being what it is, I'm going to try to get some Okutone nighta in tonight. I was thinking about it and decided good conditions at Okutone nighta beat slush at a larger resort. I wouldn't say this about all the nightas I've been to, it really puts in to focus for me how much I like the place.

I think it is a good weekend to spend with the fam for me. the weekend after next I will be going somewhere no matter what the weather is like.

Paper Kawaba, Gunma Tenjindaira, Gunma Houdaigi, Gunma Norn, Gunma Okutone, Gunma Palcall, Gunma Hotaka Bokujo, Gunma Madarao, Nagano Tangram, Nagano

Beautiful. That first tree shot looks like something out of snoeshoers magazine. I've been meaning to ask you for awhile now, what kind of camera do you have?

Madarao!!! great pics and review. I also recently went and also had a great time. Really nice place for all levels I think.

The weather forecast is making me wish I had taken today off and gone to Houdaigi or something. This weekend is looking like slush city. I feel I have been spoiled this year, lots of wonderful powder days and usually on the weekends! (is it just me or last year did it snow more mid week and this year more Friday Saturday?) I guess we can't have powder every weekend all the way into April

It was taken in early January. Kawaba is strange. It snows alot on the mountain, but below the mountain it doesn't snow enough to not melt on the sunny days. Now the other side of the mountain is another story. Crazy amounts of snow all year even at low elevations

Nice pics Ippy. That second one is almost giving me vertigo.

I had a feeling this might be easy. Yes it is Kawaba. Over to you Curt

Where is this?

Oh Niseko when will I be able to visit your epic glory. I've seen the Naeba nighta, but never gone for it. Might check it out during a heavy snow sometime

I just saw that in the SJ weather report Zao has a forecast of 95km/h winds at the top. That's messed up. I'm starting to think Saturday will be a nice with the family day and Sunday will be for riding.

OK. I just edited out the links.

Sorry about that. If the links are taken out and you just mention that you can get the deal off of the website is that OK?

They are both 2,100 yen. There is a coupon for Okutone for nighta + 850 yen meal for 2,400 yen. Definitetly doesn't beat your "won coin nighta" at Maiko, but that would be a long after work drive for me

I thought it might be nice to start a topic about Coupons for resorts. I'm not the richest person in the world and am always looking for deals. There is one on the Houdaigi website that makes your day pass 100 yen cheaper and you get a 1,000 yen meal ticket. Pretty good. There is also one for Tenjindaira which is a simple 500 yen discount.

I just had a pretty nice nighta session at Okutone in Minakami on Monday and wanted to get some opinions on Nighta in Japan. Okutone is not a very big resort, but almost all of it is open at night. A couple of areas aren't lit up, but have just enough light to make them fun and challenging, but not impossible. There are even some nice lit up tree runs that are short, but sweet. Though not really my thing, the park is also pretty nice looking. Some interesting rails and some nice sized jumps. There are also some awesome walls to ride. For the rider who likes a big open area, the majority of the

I missed the in Nagano part. Shiga Kogen?

Katashina Kogen

How is Charmant? I noticed it while looking at the Niigata resorts as being the snow resort with the most snow. When I saw where it was, it made a lot of sense why it would get so much.

I had an interesting weekend. An amazing day followed by a crazy not so good day. I'll start with the good. I went to Houdaigi (or Hodaigi never sure how to spell that long "o") on Saturday for the first time. Overall I was pretty impressed with the place. They do a good job of marking which areas are off-piste versus out of bounds. The off-piste signs were great. They didn't tell you not to go there, just to be careful. I spent most of the day in these areas. The runs were really fun, lots of open forest to explore. I found some great runs where almost the whole run was in the forest. The po

Definitely recommend Madarao on a nice day. Yes, Mt. Myogi is near Karuizawa, but on the Gunma side of the mountain ridge. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. One of the craziest mountains I have ever hiked around. Lots of steep cliffs and chains though. The bottom is pretty safe but the ridge has some very sketchy areas.