Gunma Boarder
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Posts posted by Gunma Boarder
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You have mentioned Senjojiki before, so ... ?
Yes I have and yes it is. I guess answering the "Is it a Skijo?" question may have been too good a hint
Over to you onehunga
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Is it a skijo?
Yes. And one that I am extremely interested in going to.
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Nice looking place! Would love to get up to Akita one of these days.
And here is the new one.
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I added a plus one for Kagura to my total. Really good conditions too!
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Kagura was getting heavy snow for some of the day yesterday. When I left at 4 it was snowing hard and even snowed a bit in Numata last night. Kagura is probably amazing this morning. There was about 30cm by the end of yesterday and I bet at least 15 cm more fell over night.
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2 days in togari, GinmaBoarder!!! whee! maybe a day and a half too many, but still, if the conditions were good, its an awesome little cheap ticket.
As for me, donut. Not a sausage.
Got kind of stuck there for a number of reasons. The runs are the definition of short and sweet. Ticket was 2,100 yen in connection with our hotel. Will probably stay there next year too but go to Noz or Myoko. Good place to avoid the crowds!
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I went 20-50 but probably closer to 20. New resorts in bold. I will still probably get out a few more days. Went to Kokusai on the first of April for some hiking and boarding. Really beautiful.
Kawaba 15 - 20 (But lots of half days).
White World Oze Iwakura 3
Togari Onsen 2
Yuzawa Nakazato 1
Muikamachi Ski Resort 1
Kusatsu Kokusai 1
Kagura 2
Naeba 1
Ryuoo 1
Okutone 1 (nighta)
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It is a bit girly isn't it.
We should be talking about beer.
The blossoms are partly (or maybe mostly) a great excuse to drink the elixir of life in public parks and the like
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Spring has come. Time for cherry blossoms and hiking
Might get out in the slush a couple more times though. -
Sun Meadows?
Get your picture ready Cal. I'm 99.99% sure you are correct.
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Sounds like a very good idea!
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Nice one Gunma Boarder.
How long did it take to get there from Numata?
Took just under 3 hours. I think it might be faster to go into Yuzawa and cross over the 353 but the 145 has less snow and is free.
Ippy it doesn't look so bad at all, of course I haven't skied there and can't really tell from the pic, but doesn't look so yabai?
It really is worse than it looks in that pic.
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About the yabai comment, I remember looking around when I was half way down myself - no-one, not one person, was getting down there smoothly. Everyone was either on their bottoms and shifting down bit by bit or rolling over and, well just trying to survive getting down. It must have been really annoying for anyone who was capable!
That part of the course is terrible! At least it is right of the bat so people realize they are not on the bunny slope. I just went straight for the trees skiers left.
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Just a couple more pics I liked.
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I should also mention how family friendly Ryuoo is! They have a 500 yen per kid that can walk super play area with great sledding runs of varies difficulties and a big wall to ride up. They also had an Anpanman jumper a circular merry-go-round thing that pulled inter tubes as well as many other little things. They also had a great relaxation hut for families to chill in.
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Setting out from my house in Gunma at 5:30 in the morning I wasn't sure exactly what to expect both from the drive and the conditions when I arrived at Ryuoo. I decided to take the toll free course up the 145 towards Kusatsu but with the 292 obviously being closed in winter headed over the pass towards Ueda then through Sugadaira and finally down through Suzaka and finally to Ryuoo. The drive was beautiful. Mt. Asama having been hit by the fresh snow looked like a gigantic pile of whipped cream. The views from Suzaka of Mt Myoko and the alps where also amazing and had me thinking "I could live here".
Looking at the weather forecast and seeing the weather in Gunma I wasn’t sure what to expect for snow conditions. Fresh snow had fallen on Friday but on Thursday heavy rains had fallen, destroying what was left of the previous weeks snow fall. As we approached the base of Ryuoo I started to have some hope. Things were looking fluffy! I new there would be an ice layer but would there be enough snow on top of it? It turned out to be much better than I was expecting The sky area which is above the ropeway was reporting 50 cm of fresh snow!
During my previous trip to Ryuoo I stayed for the most part in the sky area but riding down from the ropeway at the end of the day turned out to be my most interesting run by far. My plan was to spend the day riding up and down the ropeway from as many angles as possible.
The ropeway tends to be uncomfortably packed but on my first trip up I ended up by the window and was able to scope out the scenery a bit. My first ride down I went straight for the course I had enjoyed my previous trip the descending b course. Many riders were going over to to the course looking at it saying "yabai" and then walking away which after Muikabochi`s post gave me a laugh.
The course was already a bit mangled up top so I went straight for the trees on the left of the course. They were stunning to board through and the snow was feeling pretty good! If I didn't turn too sharply I wasn't digging into the ice layer at all.
My first run I pretty much rode beside the descending b course all the way down. The top trees mentioned earlier aren't that steep but as the trail turns that changes. On the steeps I encountered the problem of ice boulders that had formed from the previous days rain. They definitely tripped my up a few times. I also was digging into the ice layer much harder in the steeps but despite the minor difficulties was still having a great time! You can make out much of my run in the picture below.
After coming out into the "Valley Area" I decided to see if I could catch the next car up the ropeway. They are every 20 minutes so missing one slows things down. Not being overly interested in hitting jumps I burned down the groomers and came to the ropeway as it was loading. I ended up being one of the last people on but made it One advantage of being the last person on is you end up by the window.
I also got this shot of where courses b and e merge from the ropeway.
The next run I was planning to hit the other side of the ropeway using course c but this area was closed until 12:30 so I went back for another go at course b. This time I dropped into the trees before the turn in the course. Another fun run but I noticed I was enjoying the less steep areas maybe slightly more than the steeps due to the conditions. On the third and fourth run I followed the ridge line beside course b even farther and found new lines to hit on the steeps.
After this I moved to the c course on the other side of the ropeway. My first run I dropped into the trees soon after starting the course. The top was amazing! I didn't really bottom out at all despite the steepness. After this I inadvertently ended up under the line for the ropeway. This area is a nice run but looked ready to slide at any moment, I even ended up having to hop a little glide crack. This was not the fun I was looking for so I rode back in to the trees and towards course b.
My second run on the "e" side of the ropeway I decided to go down the ridge line after course e turns and check out that area. The traverse was beautiful with no bottoming out and nice frosty trees but I started to lose speed at the wrong time and turned into an area that didn't look the best for descending into. It was very steep and I saw some big holes. Being alone was starting to feel like a very bad idea. I took it slow and made it down but it was more of a slow careful adventure than good riding. Below this there were also many of the previously mentioned ice boulders which made the whole ride down a workout. This turned out to be the only run where I was not able to catch the next ropeway car. If I go back to Ryuoo I would prefer to ride with other people.
My third run I dropped into the trees just before the turn in the trail and then went back into the trees after crossing course e. The top was great but the bottom was more ice boulders.
After riding the ropeway back up I decided to spend a little time in the "Sky Area". This is a great place for beginners but had me pretty bored after one run. I did try some other angles riding down but after descending from the ropeway the whole area just didn't seem that fun to ride. though it was pretty
Highly recommend this area to beginners! great place to learn.
After this I decided to take some pictures. The trees were lookin nice
These were the kind of trees I was riding through on many of my ridge line traverses.
After this I went for one more run using course e. It turned out to be a good one! I went into the trees about half way between the beginning of the course and the big turn and rode down to where courses b and e come together. This photo from the valley area shows the trees I rode to the left of the ropreway.
Overall a great day of riding at Ryuoo!
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I voted bottomless because I will be doing a naked dance to the snow gods to make sure it happens!
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Are the runs on the bottom left hand corner of the trail map part of the resort? Looks like it has some ok terrain as well.
I think it is Katashina Kogen.
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Good times. Thank you guys for coming! It was definitely one of my best days of the season. We'll have to do it again sometime.
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That's good to hear.
Generally how busy was it?
It wasn't that bad. The descending courses were for the most part pretty empty. Even the valley wasn't that bad. I think you may have hit the blackbox (5,900 yen for room two meals and lift ticket), ladies day, college school holiday trifecta.
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Just went to Ryuoo this Saturday. I was able to ride from the top of the ropeway down into the valley and hope back on the next tram up 7 times. Only one time did I miss it and it wasn't due to the crowds I just had some technical difficulties in the trees
I wasn't rushing the descent but I was burning down the groomers. The snow was also better than I was expecting. Maybe around 30 -45 cm of fresh on top of a pretty bad ice layer on the descent. The only thing that was messing me up was the ice boulders that had formed from the rainfall which took me a couple of runs to get used to. Overall had a great time!
Senjojiki: I kind of want to check this place out!
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Here is the link for this place.
http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resorts/nagano/komagane/senjojiki
Has anyone been? If so, how was it? It looks like an epic location. It looks like the lift is a "T-bar" which I have no experience with (is it kind of like a bunny hill rope tow?). I've also seen people climbing the surrounding peaks from here which is also intriguing to me. Boarding down from the ridge line could be amazing too! Any info would be appreciated.