olivermauss

A little apres ski anyone? Planning on making some mulled wine(Glueh Wein, Hot Wine, Spiced wine) at the Niseko J-First Cafe deck(outside) on Saturday from approx 4:30 pm. Feel free to drop by after a day or boardin or to warm up before the naita. Let me know if youre interested!!

We were there on the 2nd and it was great, if you know where to go. But with the current conditions I would be a little more careful and only venture in with a full kit(beacon, shovel, probe, snowshoes, etc for all involved).

Day was fantastic, crowds were totally manageable. Glad we went on the 2nd and not 3rd. Presume that the avalanche was inbounds not out of bounds?

Thinking of heading up to Naeba tomorrow for a higaeri, anyone up there over the last few days to let me know what kind of crowds I can expect? I seem to recall that its a mob over the new years break, but every year is different. Thanks.

I went last weekend and had two epic day in DEC!!! Mid Feb conditions thi early in the season are quite rare, so I agree with Bushpig... Luck of the draw, however, your odds in Niseko(or any place else in Hokky for that matter) are way better than in most other countries around the world...

I heard that they dont allow you to do the gondola run anymore. i.e. price of a lift ticket includes one ride up and down only. If you want to go again, you have to pay.. Can anyone confirm?

Defo BC. Can anyone recomend guides up there? I've read some of the historic posts on the subject, but not too much info on where to go. I usually wnat to be pretty safe on my first excursion into new BC territory. Happy to pay "non-official" guides as well, if we can work something out...

I dont think you have to worry about it at all. March is still awesome. However, this year you may have to deal with a differnt kind of issue rahter than whether you have enough snow or not(ovecrowding, quick caching of good off-piste, etc). Weve usually had excellent sessions way into April. BUT, bring your snoshoes...

Anyone read Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr? Good for long time residents, bad for newbies... Pretty indepth analysis of some of the reason behind all of the $%ed up spending in good ole Japan. You dont have to gree with everyting he sez, but you can certainly see where he`s coming from.

I've heard the stories, been there once and was majorly dissapointed by the short steep section at the top and then the long flat ride back to the gondola. What gives?　Do I give it another try? It Asahidake one of those "awesome on a blue sky, fresh dump day but crap on a cloudy/snowy day" mountains? TRying to sort out my boarding life in 2006 and would love to add some fresh lines to the repertoir...

Ditto on Kicking Horse. Still trying to finagle a trip to KH in FEb with the boys, but the birth of my second son is making that a littel bit difficult logistically. Ive skied in several places on the west coast including Whistler ans this time chose KH becuase I hear that the powder and dependability is comparable to Niseko which is my stomping ground. Plus you have cat skiing helibaording and tons of offpiste so ive heard from people that swear by the mountain. Coming from Japan is also realtively easy if you fly via Vanc, transfer to Calg and then car it the 2.5 hours from there.... I thi

Also if you go to stay overnight, stay at the sangorogoya at the top. Cheap, decent food, run by a gaijin/japanese couple who are pretty cool, plus you can go out at night and build jumps on the slopes right outside the lodge without people bugging you.... Ive always had lots of fun at Zao, not too much off piste although it can be had if youre willing to hike a litte and duck a few ropes. If youre a bit of a speed demon, you can defo have fun as long as you stickj to the runs that drop you back in town and not on the back side of the mountain which I agree is flatish...

@ iambenw You need to take the #3 ropeway, go left out of the peak station, all around the hill, pass under the gondola and then takes the closest bee line that will take you back to the bottom station of said gondola. I cant remember how long it took us to do this run but it was between 5-10 minutes. If you do it right(i.e. dont stop) your leggs will be shaking seriously when you hit the bottom and there will be more adrenaline coursing through your body than you know what to do with...

@ Toque... INCOMING!!!!

What do you mean by powder lesson?

Bubble or no, more gaijin or no, i think we gotto do something. I like the transition between last addrenaline fuelled run to nice cold wet one, to food to onsen. The last part is what needs to get EXPORTED, in my opinion... What i really miss tho in Niseko is that the restaurant at the top of the Alpen quad used to have tables outside on nice days. Guess there werent many takers to make that a regular event. Too bad. I could think of lots of places where they could do that, Alpen hotel at the bottom of the quad, that littel funky restaurant half way up the Hirafu side underneath the g

The gondola bomb run top to bottom( i think its the second one over) is definately not flat....

Anyone ever stayed at the J-First in Niseko? They have a fantastic deck outside their caffe that accomodates about 100 people. Anyone familiar with European apres ski will agree that that is seriously lacking in Japan(i.e. a place either indoors or outdoors where throngs of ski/boardwear clad people congregate to have all sorts of spirits and talk about the days adventure from 4pm all the way to dinner time). Ive organised a couple of hot wine/beer parties out on said deck later in the year when there is still some sunlight at the end of the day and they are a lot of fun. So, "my point is", i'

get the SJ info via your keitai? Would you pay for it? What's the best weather/snow condition forecast site available via Voda/Doco?

Heading up to Niseko today for a weekend of bliss! Get there before the invasion from down under starts...

hmmm... cant compare to Nozawa (onsen?) never been. Whats it like? Good off piste?

Ocean11, I'm a humble man by nature, dont like to get people to excited. I've been boarding Niseko every year for 7 years. In fact last year I didnt go to any other mountain. Looking at the total package (snow, terrain, weather, lodging, access, price, entertainment), its numero uno in Japan, and seriously outranks some of the larger resorts in Europe and the US, in my humble opinion. I know that opinions differ, but try getting run after runof untracked, champagne-esque powder 3 day weekend after 3 day weekend in any other resort in the world... Rather a difficult task.

Agreed, if it snowed lots and there is a danger because they havent been able to get the cats out to groom stuff fair enough, then open the lifts once everything is prepared and safe. As for closing stuff after big dumps in Europe and the Americas, can t speak for Canada but I can for Europe and the US and I dare say I cant remember many days when they shut places down and didnt open for the rest of the day due to consecutive days of snow. Im not talking about freak storm that dump meters upon meters of snow. Generally speaking in Europe at least they groom slopes from 5 pm onwards AND do it a

Honestly dont think people have that much money to spend on flights and all this year. And JAL and co are not going to make things any cheaper in this environment... Should be ok...

Nope, my pals were just up there this weekend, was rather nice, apparently. With NO people...