miyahara

31 days so far, a few more trips to come. Transport from Tokyo to Hakuba every weekend has cost me a small fortune, but it's been worth every yen, and every night spent sleeping on that overnight bus.

Thanks for the advice! I already speak some Japanese but not a huge amount, now's the time to turn that into "nihongo dekiru" before winter. I'll check out Niseko too. Fattwins, why do you ask how I am on the hill? (I'm an advanced rider, by the way.) That job in Matsumoto sounds awesome but I'm already contracted for my current job for another month or so...

Apologies if this has already been discussed in a forum elsewhere (I've searched, but no joy), I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for a monolingual ski bum seeking work near a Japanese resort next winter. Currently I'm commuting to Hakuba every weekend by bus/train/bicycle from Saitama Prefecture, and as much as I love my white weekends, the 14-hour round-trip commute is draining my budget and patience. Next winter I'm dead keen to work at or near a resort, doing English teaching/bar work/cleaning/whatever, but my Japanese is at a painfully basic level. I've seen plenty of foreigner

I was on same course, I definitely recommend it if you want to do any backcountry at all (even just ducking under the ropes!). You're right Kumapix, the highlight of the course was the instructor (Dave), he really knows his stuff. If I'm in the area next winter I'll be doing the advanced course for sure. After the first day of the course I remember thinking "Beacon? $AUS500? I don't think so!" But after digging around for the beacon-less person on Sunday afternoon, I was converted - your only real chance of surviving an avalanche burial is if you've got a beacon. Since doing the

Hakuba 47. This is my 15th trip there this season (from Saitama). Big, great freestyle facilities, fairly cheap, heaps of cheap western-style accommodation. Happo-One's nice too, but they need a park!

I've just lost the usuals - goggles, gloves, watch, all through my own stupidity. During the last days of spring I've seen people at Mt Buller (Australia) walk up slopes to scour for lost items under the lifts (cash, mobile phones, jewllery), cos most of the stuff is lost when you're on the chairlift. Hey, whatever floats your boat... All my belongings are now tied to either me or something else (goggles tied to my helmet, gloves with straps that go on your arms etc), I haven't lost anything for a while now. Comes in handy when you have a big stack too - no yard sale.

Hell no, the season so ain't over. Sure, the powder days are finished and there are rocks and dirt popping up everywhere, but we've still got another good month left. It's all about the slush/sun/kickers/pipe now. This is my first season in Japan and I must admit that I was completely spoilt by the regular dumps of powder earlier on this season, but the snow now is still better than most of what I've ridden in Australia.

Hi Danny, From Saitama, I still reckon Hakuba 47's the best. Keio Highway Bus and Rakuten do overnight bus services to Hakuba, and there are some pretty cheap lodges out there (K's House Hakuba Alps is my favourite). I'm from Saitama too and as keen as I am to explore different ski fields, I keep on coming back to Hakuba... Cheers Caroline