nippontiger

Kagura weekend near xmas: 2 minute wait once or twice on the main quad and gondola, otherwise nothing. Happo 3 days, just before new year, 10 minute wait for gondola, and at the pair lift at the bottom, 4-5 minutes on skyline lift in the mornings, but otherwise nothing. Kagura Holiday monday one week after NY hols, no waiting on any lift. Urabandai Nekoma last sunday, no waiting on any lift. No other people on upper slopes later in afternoon.

Pies eh? Cant really get good pies so often in Japan...maybe that's where I've been going wrong!! The skis look like Atomic Bent Chetler's.

I cant do ANY of that!!!

Amazing stuff! How on earth do you get so good on a pair of skis?! Im hoping to get enough courage up to attempt a 360 this season, but doing flips and and so on is something I can only dream about!!

They are not directly connected, but right next to each other on the opposite side of the same ridge. There is a bus connecting the two, and its not so far, but it takes about 60 minutes in the winter conditions. Lift ticket for Nekoma is a bit cheaper at 4000 yen and if you buy from a local conbini, you get a 500 yen lunch ticket. I think the parking was free, too. You cant see much in my picture, but hopefully you can just make out the open, empty space with few tracks in the powder, and the tempting trees in the background. I didnt go in there as it seemed a bit flat at the bottom and I

I really enjoyed Nekoma! It took a little longer to get there than we hoped, and they closed all the lifts at 4, so we didnt really get to ski as much as we wanted, but what we did was really good! It snowed pretty much the entire day so we had a boot-knee deep everywhere. Very few people there, particularly on the upper slopes and by the end of the day, we had entire slopes to ourselves! Especially liked the lack of ropes and plenty of opportunities to ski in fairly well spaced trees on slopes with a decent angle. Nice food, good local beer and a very nice onsen nearby! Hope to go again befor

Brilliant! Got to get some of this to bring back for my co-workers when I take the day off for a ski trip next month!

Was at Urabandai Nekoma today - the other side of Alts. A lot of the time we had entire runs to ourselves - on a Sunday! This Adatara Kogen looks like a good place for us to check out too....

Are skiing injuries covered on the standard national health insurance in Japan??

Amazing pics! Love it!

Thanks for the info - looks like its locked in for this Sunday! (Weather permitting - potential for some stormy weather this weekend.....)

Im guessing the insurance company will not cover it because they think the other person is liable - which he probably is. His expenses should be covered by the out of control noob. If you get injured by someone else, you should get their details, same as if you are involved in a road accident and its the other persons fault. BTW, dont most ski resorts include some insurance as part of the ticket price?

I also like Kagura - almost always get some decent powder up there, but it does take a long time to get from the base to the top of the Kagura area - especially if you have beginner/intermediate snowboarders in tow - these guys will also hate the gondola run back down which has extremely long, flat sections which many boarders end up walking.

Was hoping to go to Urabandai Nekoma this weekend. Anybody been there? Powder? Trees? Did Alts last year, which was pretty nice, I heard Nekoma is smaller, but caters more to advanced riders.

That's a HUGE spread! Change your money somewhere else!

I understand that its tough for boarders, but am I right in thinking that a good skier should be able to ski the moguls? I cant ski the moguls BTW.

I didnt take any pics - it didnt stop snowing (although it was never really heavy) so couldnt see much most of the time.

Just got back from Hakuba - spent all three days at happo - was getting a bit busy today, but skyline was alright and that ridge above skyline was nice. Yesterday some thigh deep stuff right under the pair lift below Grat quad which hardly anybody touched! All the Aussies were a highlight for me - lots of people to talk to about the cricket!

Yeah, I thought it looked about boot-knee high! Nice little video though - hopefully it will actually be thigh deep when I get to Hakuba tomorrow!

Hakuba Goryu is probably best for beginner. They are connected at top, but making the connection might be tough going for first timers.

Forecast looks amazing - my advice: stay away from any flat/low angle slopes - a friend of mine got stuck for an hour on the panorama course at Kagura last year!

The active ingredient is very likely a surfactant. The surfactant helps to stop the water condensing on the lens forming droplets, and instead it forms a transparent film which you can see through. Funnily enough, surfactants are also the active ingredient in washing up liquid.

I was actually thinking of going just before NYE, but it seems none of my skiing/boarding buddies are around, so I might look into going up after new years day. If so, I'll get in touch. I do drink, however...

Let's experimenting!

Yep, plain old washing up liquid for washing the dishes. I havent done any experiments yet to determine whether or not it evaporates into your eyes, but I doubt it - you wipe almost all of it off and detergents are not very volatile anyway. What it will do to the high-tech coatings sometimes used on more expensive goggles is another matter...!