Matt

Sakura blossoms out in full bloom here today!

Originally Posted By: gurgle Nice piccies guys....look at all the people in Zao - About as busy as Happo back country....!!! Where do you work Matt ? I Run a lodge in Hakuba Gurgle. been raining here most of the day btw. Should clear tomorrow..

Well...it's raining now but the morning was nice. I couldn't make it out but one of our staff plus a few mates took the camera up and did some easy lines of the back of Happo. Looks like Spring has arrived now so t-shirt weather, park days and corn lines in the backcountry to look forward too.

Congrats to the wee one Stemik! Thats quite an achievement when you consider the level of skill of the youngsters in this town. The elementary school actually has a "miniature" ski jump in the back yard thats actually pretty big and all the kids have to jump off it for P.E.! I think someone asked for some pics from yesterday (Tuesday)...Here are some plus a vid. good as it gets!

Today the morning started off almost bottomless and was dumping so hard it ended up bottomless by the end. Epic mid season-like conditions with deep dry powder and cold temps. Could have done with a face mask. It was still nuking when we left at the end of the day and is forecast to snow until about 6am and then the sun's supposed to come out so tomorrow is gonna be epic. Heres a vid from this afternoon.

Here are some shots from Saturday. Good in the trees. Bottomless on the top half, feeling the base underneath on the bottom half. The snow was getting heavier on the sunny sides by lunchtime. The fresh snow in the trees reminded me of cherry blossom season! Another 10cm in my car park & Cortina reporting another 20cm last night so it should be good today!

Great day today - Bluebird not a breath of wind and maybe 35-40cm fresh at Cortina. Seemed like every local from Hakuba was there today!

Went to Cortina. Much the same as TJ, 20cm of fresh. 20cm of fresh on a hard base = not so much fun. 20cm of fresh on a soft sludgy base = great! Could really let it rip in the trees without worrying about hitting a hard base. Surprisingly good. Gonna be 15 degrees (!:0)in the valley tomorrow but hopefully Sunday will bring us a stealth dump at the top end of the valley. Here are some pics from today. Can you spot Junko in the pic?

Try reading the archives here for an idea of how long stuff usually stays open. In Hakuba's case the last ten years I've been here every season apart from last season had full coverage with all runs open into early April. Some of the mountains close earlier than others. Iwatake closes in the first week of April as does Cortina (not for lack of snow!) Happo, Tsugaike and Goryu/47 all stay open until the end of Golden week.

Today (friday) was almost as good as yesterday. The north faces were still holding good powder down to about 1100m. Anything remotely in the sun was cooked very quickly though. Another stunning day with beutiful views! I don't think the powder will last tomorrow unfortunately... Some pics from today

Wednesday was nice but very very wet snow (about 25-30cm maybe) Today was much much better. Probably another 30cm of fresh on the mountain last night - much drier, proper powder - faceshots galore today at Tsugaike. Still can't seem to post video...

After the powder settles for a few days its not deep but you aren't hitting a hard base

Originally Posted By: Go Native Ok there appears to have been some confusion over the use of the term 'bottomless' when referring to skiing/boarding. I think it would be good if we all got on the same page in it's usage. First off bottomless does not refer to snow depth. It's an adjective to describe turns in unconsolidated powder snow where you can't feel the consolidated base at the bottom. If your edges are biting into the base on a turn then it is not bottomless. For me true bottomless turns are about the best feeling you can have skiing. The turns seem effortless as you just float d

Monday hiked up and hour and a half from the top lift of Happo to Mume-zawa did the north face and got great powder with no crust underneath for 800m vertical. Yesterday (tuesday) hiked half an hour up from the top of 47/Goryu and got about 400m of good north facing powder with no hard base underneath followed by 400m of crud. Today I suspect it will all be crud however far you walk as the freezing level going up will mean even north faces will be toast. Got a good video from Yesterday but haven't been able to post it yet on snowjapanTV...Can I embed youtube videos on here??

yeah Hakuba's a different dynamic from Niseko for sure. Niseko had an undersupply of properties to start with. Hakuba had an oversupply - Half of the properties that are left are empty and falling down. Wadano and to a lesser extent Echoland are two places that have started to see renewal which is good to see. Unless Hakuba goes sky high, Which it could if the mountains get together and offer an all mountain pass and start connecting resorts, speculation is probably not going to be an option. Anything bought is either going to be a lifestyle buy or is going to have to have a sol

There are always people who think they can beat the curve (and some that do) so there will always be bubbles. The people that jump on the bandwagon once it's going tend to be the ones who are more likely to lose out. The next one is probably only a couple of more years in the making. Niseko definitely looks like it's already started on the rollercoaster ride. Hakuba was just starting to rise and was (mercifully some would say) cut off by the GEC.

Another thing, I never said it would be bottomless in resort. That would need at least 30-40cm dump to cover tracked out high traffic areas. I was talking about the backcountry slackcountry. Its not such a far shot to say that it might be bottomless by today - I mean we only need another 10-15cm for that which is a light snowfall for the top of the mountains here. Also I don't see why that statement would then call into question my honesty which incidently I don't have any problems with and its irritating having to defend it to some random people who I dont know and who hide behind

Originally Posted By: best skier in hakuba You did say this though... Quote: I've been out most days since mid January and its only sucked since tuesday this week. Before that I was getting bottomless powder everyday As well as the unrealistic chance of it being bottomless by Tuesday as well. I know I am probably annoying one or two of you, but the mis-representation and just annoys me in turn. Sorry. Yeah, but apart from the 20th of January rain event day I did get bottomless powder every day since mid January (I'm not a lier - I just know where to go to get it!). I r

Hey, I didn't disagree with the conditions being crap since tuesday!

Happo looked like an anthill yesterday!

Originally Posted By: tripler From forecasts and comments it seems since mid-Jan Hakuba has been suffering the same problems as last season. Dumps are wiped out days later by heavy rain. Generally too warm. I've been out most days since mid January and its only sucked since tuesday this week. Before that I was getting bottomless powder everyday (albeit sometimes only in north facing slack country - I almost never ski on the runs) The rain on the 20th was quickly bottomless powder again by the next day followed by a beautiful week of sunny days and snowy nights. Last week was fanta

I would definitely go for the shell with layering underneath. Warmerif you do it right and also more versatile. You can still use it in Spring in Japan or in Australia plus insulated pants are way too hot if you do any hiking for backcountry.

Forecast's looking better and better - can't wait to get out there!

Originally Posted By: Oyuki kigan Um, i don't know about you, but two shitty winters in a row, along with 3 in the past 5 is disturbing to say the least. Hakuba still not open with no big dump in sight. Global warming is getting me down. As we speak, the talks in Copenhagen are deadlocked, and Japan has a chance to take the lead and do something to save the talks with the Hatoyama initiative. If you give a rat's ass, please go here and add your name to the petition http://www.avaaz.org/en/hatoyama_initiative/?cl=394049144&v=4801&signup=1 Thanks Last season wasn'

Originally Posted By: best skier in hakuba Phew that snowstorm from this morning seems to have subsided, unless it's still going on in Wadano. Looks like I'm not the only one who noticed it was snowing this morning.. Heres the snowjapan report for today below. Monday 7th December 2009, 1:17PM Weather conditions: Clear skies New snowfall: 0 Snow depth: 0 Light snow flurries this morning here in Hakuba, although not enough to even notice any accumulation. There were high winds last night and at higher elevations the colder temperatures allowed the snow to fall and stay. Slowly