nippontiger

I hope so too - I'm heading up there this weekend....!

Ive done a couple of trips to Alts - I went once in the spring a few years ago and once last season. Its a pretty decent sized resort and they have a good park if you're into that kind of thing. Its big enough that you probably won't ski all of it in one day unless you really try. Its one of the bigger resorts in the area so its quite popular - might be a bit busy on weekends but nothing to worry about. I think they charge 1000 yen for parking. You can get a 300 yen discount ticket for lunch if you buy from a combini nearby. If you are staying more than 1 day its also worth checking out Uraban

Found this article about backcountry Hokkaido.... Guardian Japan Backcountry Article

JMA long range also looking pretty bleak for the rest of this season....

Unisys charts are not looking too good - some colder air moving in for a few days middle of next week but looks temporary - most of asia is very mild. Im going to Zao next weekend, but not looking like there'll be any powder. I think we will get more cold weather - its only the beginning of February, but we might have to wait a couple of weeks.

This is starting to get a bit RIDDERculous now.

What are the safety issues when using leashes which connect boot to ski? I heard its a no-no in avi territory as you need your skis to release. Losing ski in snow is a real pain - Ive spent ages searching in the past - I'd hate to lose one of my new 60,000 yen skis! I made some powder ribbons once, but they can be a bit of a PITA to use. I think in conditions like yesterday with my new skis, I'd prefer to use either a leash or ribbons as there is a genuine risk of losing a ski for good. I'd also like some brakes - anybody know if a 110 mm Marker royal family brake would stretch to a ski m

Was a pain getting bindings for fat skis down there yesterday - nowhere had bindings with wide enough brakes, and if they did, the guage they put on the ski to drill the holes in the right spot wasnt big enough! Managed to get some Marker Squires in the end, but really had to force the guage onto the skis! Stock brakes not wide enough, had to use leash cords today and will buy wide brakes later.

Kagura.

And more to come over the weekend apparantly...

Yeah, a few years ago in my Nova days, I'd go up there on a Monday and although not busy, there seemed to be a few more people around... Hoping to hit there this Sunday - with my new powder skis - assuming I can get some bindings with 120mm brake in Kanda on Saturday.

It uncanny how we've both managed to get the exact same photos this season - and I haven't even been to Nozawa!

Looks like things might settle down a bit next week - high pressure moving in.

It was a bit of an unusual day in that the snow had come right across to the Pacifc coast - even had a cm or two in Tsukuba. Headed up the Joban expressway which was clear and then on to the Ban-Etsu expressway which was pretty clear but there had been about 10 cms snowfall in many areas. We changed to snow chains as we got off the expressway at Inawashiro and from there it took an hour or so as we had to go slow on the snowy roads - the back end of the car spun out 180 degrees at one point! We had to turn around and put one of the snow chains back on! Another car coming the opposite way did e

Home - better connection. Clip 1, 2 stops. Clip 2, 1 stop. Others no stops. 1 and 2 both good quality. From 3 starts getting a bit blocky when the snowboarder comes close to the camera. From a download POV, Im thinking maybe 3, but Im a bit concerned that videos with a lot of fast movement might look a bit blocky at a lower quality than 2. There's not a lot of movement in this clip apart from where the snowboarder gets close to the camera. Fast movement is more difficult to compress, so you lose a lot of quality there.

At work - only 6 played without stopping. 5 stopped once. 3 stopped twice 2 and 1 were so slow I just gave up. 5 and 6 looking a bit blocky. I think my home computer connection is a bit faster so I'll try there later.

Basically, March can be a bit hit and miss anywhere in Japan - the real powder time is January and February. Things are beginning to drop off from March onwards. At the higher resorts and in Hokkaido, there's still a good chance you can get some nice powder in March if you are staying a week or so.

Thank you. Looks like we'll need to allow a little extra time in case we get stuck in the queue.

JMA long range forecast is calling for a higher chance of a mild february and an even higher chance of a mild march.... I'm not sure what Mystic Meg's crystal ball is predicting.

Cool - that's one less thing to worry about if we get stuck in snow!

Thanks - it looks like driving up will be a better option than shinkansen - especially with the weekend ETC discount. On the subject of ETC discount rate, last time we were delayed on the way home due to snow - it was 11.55pm when we came of the expressway and I was wondering if we were a few minutes later and came off just after midnight (just turned Monday) we'd have lost the ETC discount?

A few freinds and myself are planning a trip to Zao onsen in mid feb. We are talking about driving up there from Ibaraki but are a bit worried about the road conditions - we drove to Fukushima the other week and it took us quite a while on snow covered roads. We were thinking of heading up the coastal motorway (joban?) and then cutting inland to Zao. Im guessing the Joban motorway should be clear, but Im not sure after that. If anybody has some experience of driving up there, I was wondering how long we might expect to be driving on snowy roads where we'd have to use the snow chains and how

Im gonna Zao in the middle of next month! Unfortunately, too too late to catch up with Echineko and her girlfriends...

Its been the same for years in Japan; onsen, ryokan, minshuku...all known to refuse foreign customers. Its getting better, of course, but its still not unheard of for places to say they dont want, or to actually refuse foreigners because "they cause problems".

So, people in Japan have notoriously few holidays when compared to say, people living in European countries. I wonder what would be the effect on the nation's economy if people were allowed to take more time off? Surely it would be a boost for the domestic tourism market? I'm sure the local ski-jo's wouldn't be complaining...