Gunma Boarder
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Posts posted by Gunma Boarder
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I think I was thinking more along the lines of epic mountain views too, but I love the ocean views! I'll second Tenjindaira being amazing. I really need to get to Zao and Happo-one one of these years too
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No it isn't. Good point. But getting up there would be insanely hard without the skijo so Kagura is definitely playing a huge role in making the views possible. I'll add a "within reasonable walking distance" rule
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I love snowboarding. The thrill off riding fresh powder feels like that that dream when you are floating on the clouds which float around the mountains of heaven but riding is not the only reason I go to the mountains in winter. The views from many skijos create the inspiration from which the aforementioned dreams come. Let's get some pics of these skijos in one place! I'm going to go with a one picture per skijo per user plus links rule. Thank you Norcal and Muikabochi for the inspiration from the "Maybe it's just me...." thread.
I'll start things off with the Kagurgamine ridge line above Kagura.
http://www.snowjapan...__fromsearch__1
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I love the views at Kagura off the lift but nothing beats the walk from lift five to the top of Kaguragamine. That ridgeline is epic! I might give Tenjindaira on a bluebird day a tie though......... I think I just thought of a good topic
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I finally got something for this thread. A little Mozza at Naeba.
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I recently won a Yuzawa town lift ticket (thank you Yuzawa Town and Snow Japan!) and decided to use it as an opportunity for a little mini getaway with the family. There is a hot spring resort hotel in Naeba town close to Naeba Skijo that I had been wanting to stay at for a couple of years and my wife also liked the idea of going , so after work on Friday we packed the kids in the car and were on our way!
One of my favorite things about winter in Japan is sitting in a outdoor hot spring bath while staring out over a snow covered landscape and the Yuzawa area is a great place to experience this magnificent combination. On the high end of the price scale there are beautiful ryokans (Japanese style hotels) with outdoor baths overlooking the mountains and the town below but even for people on a budget, like me for example, there are nice places to be found.
We stayed at Naeba West which is a part of the Honjo Resort. I think the reason it is affordable is because you have to cross the 17 to get to the hot spring baths but I would say the positives outweigh the negatives. It has a wonderful outdoor hot spring bath that I had to myself for over an hour. The combination of the beautiful wooden beams which made up the roof of the bath as well as the view of the snow covered forest made for a wonderful relaxing moment.
In the morning I woke up early in hopes of getting a few runs in while my family was still sleeping. Our hotel was within walking distance of the resort but far enough that I decided to drive. I rode the Prince Gondola 2 an snapped these picture on the ride up.
The ride down with really nice! the snow was better than I was expecting and I was able to hit some untouched powder without leaving the course. I was a little tight on time so I only was able to ride one run before heading back to the hotel to get ready for checkout. We made the 10 am deadline and drove to the resort as a family.
One of the reasons I chose Naeba was due to the variety of things they have for small children. The only problem is the resort is so big that the people working there don’t seem to know where everything is! I got a lot of mixed messages while looking for the kids room which lead to a lot of unnecessary walking with lots of stuff. I would recommend doing more planning than I did if you want to bring the family.
We eventually made it to the kids play room which was equipped with lots of toys to entertain kids between 1 and 4. There was also a nursing and diaper changing room next door. The room was clean and organized like the picture on the website when we got there but after a full day of kidmania here is what it looked like.
With the family comfortable I decided to head for the top of the mountain to snap some pictures. I started with a little something for the cheese fans out there. That is the Takenokoyama Romance Lift.
There were some beautiful snowcovered trees uptop.
Here is a view straight down into the resort and town below. The area below were I took this photo was roped off, but there were plenty of lines in the snow.
For the most part I spent the day on the sides of the courses looking for untouched powder to ride. Considering the majority of my riding was done mid to late day on a Saturday there was plenty of powder to be had. Naeba really does encompass a large area. I did venture slightly of trail once and came face to face with a kamoshika! For those of you who don't know a kamoshika is an animal which I believe is only found in Japan and looks like a combination of a deer a goat and a wild boar. Here are some pictures I got after he ran away from me and was climbing a really steep hill. I felt kind of bad for frightening it but I was pretty surprised myself!
While stopping to watch the kamoshika I also got a few more tree shots.
Overall it was a great trip for the whole family!
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You sir are living the dream that a married man with kids like me can only dream of. I just have to wait a few years for the kids to get bigger so I can take them with me on my snow adventures!
Hire a camper and do the same with your kids. you'll be the coolest dad ever.
I'm cheap I'll probably be sleeping in the car like you! Just got to have an onsen near by
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You sir are living the dream that a married man with kids like me can only dream of. I just have to wait a few years for the kids to get bigger so I can take them with me on my snow adventures!
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Enjoy the trip, Rusutsu is great! Nice to see a fellow California member on here too
I'll second that! I'm from California too. Really northern; about an hour and 15 minutes from the Oregon border on the coast. Where are you guys from? I was just recently thinking about Kirkwood in California, specifically "The Wall" (run name). There has been some conversation on here about steeps recently and that run came to mind.
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Does Tenjindaira have music? I can't seem to remember.
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Ran into John Jackson (from the start of the film, yellow and brown jacket) in the gondola over at anapuri yesterday, the burton guys are in Japan filming off pist due to a lack of snow at mamoth. Really nice guy.
I want to see that video
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Anyone know what kind of radio he was using? Sounds like he was on his own and calling for help on the radio saved him.
I used my Smart Phone. I was lucky I had it with me and it had signal. I rang ski patrol but they were useless as no-one spoke english. I then messaged my daughter back at the hotel on FB telling her of my situation and sent her an image of my location. She relayed this info to the hotel owners. I then just had to wait it out to be rescued.
Big thank you to Myoko Police who rescued me. Going back in Feb 2014 with gifts for them and the hotel owners.
Please elaborate! I'm sure many people would be interested in the story. Welcome to Snow Japan!
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Looking at their website they seem really reasonably priced if you can get together a group of 6 people. If I'm ever in Niseko I'll have to get some other snow Japan peeps to come with me
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I don't usually watch snowboard videos very much, but this one is different. It is beautifully filmed; I would watch it without the snowboarders. The fact that the boarding is amazing is a big bonus though. The philosophical speech playing in the background also would be worth listening to on it's own. The whole thing combines together to form the best snowboarding video I have ever seen. This is part of what got my winter stoke going this year.
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Ya, it was pretty fun
Just maybe not the safest choice for my afternoon. I may have been using the crowds as an excuse.........I concur "Freshies is the besties"!
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Niseko looks awesome and I want to go someday, but our area is not so bad for consistent snowfall either
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Do you like White World Oze, Gunma Boarder?
I've actually never been, but have heard good things. It is on the "to do" list for this year.
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Mt. Tanigawa is in the center of the picture while Naeba is the flat topped mountain in the left center and farther back. On the right is Mt. Asahi which is across a valley from Mt. Tanigawa. On the far left are the mountains above Shiga Kogen.
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Gunma also has some nice places. I especially like Kawaba and Houdaigi. If you see a gaijin it will probably be me or the New Zealanders who live in Minakami and do backcountry tours (definitely not many tourists). That said the Niigata area is also a good bet, but both can be done on the same trip from Tokyo.
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The signs for all of Tokyo being there were present from the start. A stalled out BMW in the middle of the road on the drive up. 4 of the 6 floors of the parking garage full before the hill even opened. When I got in line for one of the first lifts things weren't crazy yet, but you could feel it coming. From my first ride on the lift you could see lines all over the places were usually only a few people venture. I rode the quad lift and had a nice conversation with some Tokyoites who were up for the long weekend.
I decided to walk up my mini mountain and get some views and at least a little fresh powder. The walk up was deep with beautiful light fluffy powder. Even with snowshoes I was sinking up to a meter in snow with every step. The trees going up were amazing (sorry camera battery was dead
) Icicles, frost and chunks of snow were shaped by natures paint brush to create beautiful masterpieces. The view from the top was as beautiful as it always is on a crystal clear day.Some examples from a previous post http://www.snowjapan...on-a-clear-day/
Looking at the untouched snow in the next valley over seemed to be acting on my body like magnetism while the sounds of the robotic Japanese voice telling people to lift the safety bars on the quad lift was nudging me over the edge. I had been in the valley twice before once by accident my first year in Japan with a friend who has since returned to Canada. This is one of the two times I have been "lost" in Japan. From this experience I knew I could get back to the skijo. The second time I went knowing what I was getting into and prepared with snowshoes!
The drop in is steep, but only for a short time. After that you are left with a long powder cruize to the valley below.
The white foreground of this photo is the run I took from just above where you can see
After this area you are left with a long technical forest run into the valley below. I decided to take the "safe" route and walk over the ridgeline back into the skijo before entering the valley and possible holes but this made things more difficult and more interesting. There are multiple valleys draining into one large one at the bottom and by not going farther down, I ended up walking over one and traversed to the top of another before snowboarding down to a low point in the ridgeline bordering the skijo. I saw the tracks of a backcountry skier in this valley who had taken a different route down but was taking a similar route out. I climbed the ridgeline and then boarded down back into the skijo at almost the very bottom. The combination of my tired legs and the long lines led me to my car to call it a day.
( Caution: A lot can go wrong in this area! Don't go unless you are prepared. I have since vowed to myself to never go into this area alone again!)
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It's been eight days. I don't think anyone would complain if you posted something onehunga. Or Ippy. You did know the last one
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What an amazing day! I only got to look at the clear up from the window at work but I recently pulled a muscle in my back so that might be a good thing
Beautiful photos. I have to get to a Minamiuonuma resort this year!
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Don't forget that you can also get to some pretty good snow from Kyoto.
Gifu?
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Winners should be required to write amazingly detailed reports with photos/videos for me to enjoy
Skijos with epic views
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I can vouch for the Madarao / Tangram view