Go Native

There is a couple of 7/11's down in Kutchan. One in Hirafu is definitely needed. Suposedly the Seicomart here has the highest turnover in Hokkaido during the winter months.

Believe me I would be more than happy for other resort areas to gain in popularity and enjoy some of the growth we've had here. What Hakuba really needs is better accommodation options. So you just need a Hokkaido Tracks or West Canada Homes to start building western style accom there and the hordes will follow.....it worked here.

Didn't say there wasn't marketing FT just that it's not neccesarily all that slick. Hell a fair amount of marketing material out there was written by myself and I majored in Science at uni . Sure there's plenty of money here to throw together a few ads for magazines. Also didn't realise that 'punters' was a derogatory term?? Please explain what it means to you. Anyway I'm not writing here representing any company so why do I have to worry about using punter? It's a common enough term used by locals here for the hordes that invade each winter.

Originally Posted By: thursday There's an ATM in SeicoMart at the T junction of the main road to Kutchan, bottom of Hirafu. The ATM in the Seicomart will only accept domestic cards. The ATM in the post office in Kutchan will accept foreign cards. More and more businesses in Hirafu are now accepting credit cards also.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins Skiing is changing with biglines taking over as the kids move from the terrain park. Whistler is in many ways is like Hakuba, sick terrain, snow up high most of the season, access to snowfields. The terrain draws people as much if not more than the promise of snow (whistler). The job behind marketing is to highlight only the good points and never the bad. So Niseko has never had a bad season in the eyes of marketing and they are good at marketing. Hakuba just plain sucks at marketing itself cause during the bubble it didnt have to. Happo was the king, Tsugaike wa

Frankly Fattwins endless ranting on how flat it is in Niseko is just getting boring For most skiers out there it's just fine. Sure if double blacks and beyond are the only thing you like skiing then Niseko is not the place for you. If you like consistent deep riding through beautiful birch forests then then you'll just love Niseko.

Just a note of follow up ASB, your map showing La Ponte must be pretty old as it's now known as Moiwa. Definitely worth a day there. I'm not sure where Hell Valley is. Halfmachine's idea of Chisenupuri is a good one but it is quite a strenuous climb to the summit. It only takes about an hour and is definitely worth it if you're up to it. Also a drive around the coast from Iwanai to Otaru going by Kamui and Shakotan Peninsulas is awesome. I'm still amazed at the sight of snow right to sea level. Anyway as you can see there's plenty to do.

ASB definitely head out to Rusutsu it's about a 45 min drive in winter. Check out Mt Moiwa as well for a day, it's much closer being just beyond the Annupuri ski area. A bit over an hour away is Kiroro which looks ok if you're not looking for any extreme terrain. For other trips I would suggest a day down at Lake Toya. It's quite spectacular in winter and there is a cable car up the active volcano Usuzan with great views down to the lake and to the Sea of Japan. Otaru is a great town to visit with good food and plenty to see and do. With the car you can check out some of the onsens in the area

I did my degree at The University of Melbourne. Didn't go on to do any post-grad stuff which is probably why I've never had a job actually using my degree (plus I've made a hell of a lot more money over the years than I ever would have working as a meteorologist).

Originally Posted By: 2pints,mate Interesting that last sentence. The people we met in Nagano said it was by far the least snow they had ever had in a season. (And one of these people was 79!!) Regional variations? As a long term amateur weather observer (and I actually majored in meteorology at uni) I can tell you that local people are usually not the best resource for anything weather related. Over the years I've been told so many things by locals about the current season or past seasons only to find most of what they are saying doesn't really add up when you look at the actual

Wendy bluebird days are pretty rare in the winter months. Snow falls on average about 23 to 24 days in each of the winter months and most of the other days are cloudy. Still if you come for a couple of weeks there`s a reasonable chance you`ll at least get one clear morning .

Quote: Originally posted by snosurf: buy a camera before you go. There is a decent store in Kutchan I think it's called 'best' from memory. But unless you speak japanese not many of the sales clerks know english so you may struggle to find out anything about what you're buying. And it's no cheaper. Also another tip- - If you're planning to take lots of cash (which you should), make sure you get it changed at a bank in Australia before you leave. Do NOT take Australian Dollars because the exchange rate in Japan is far lower there than it is here (~10Yen). - There is no ATM in niskeo but

thursday there's certainly a few in town now. Most though are new staff. The first big intake of Aussie customers will be this Saturday.

I don't think the yahoo temps are for the base of the mountain. They seem more like at mid mountain. It was definitely drizzling this morning but has fined up this afternoon. I went down to Kutchan at lunch time and it was 4.7 degrees there. So it's at least 3 degrees in Hirafu.

coldcat the following site has current temps for Niseko township. It also shows the daily temperature extremes and has a livecam looking back to Niseko Annupuri. niseko town official website Niseko Hirafu is at about the same altitude but is generally a little colder due to the proximity to the mountain.

What forecasts are you using for the resorts coldcat? The Niseko Now forecast was pretty spot on as the temp on the 7th got almost to 2 degrees in the village and we did start out with wet snow/sleet.

Quote: Originally posted by thursday: Quote: Originally posted by SirJibAlot: You staying in Tokyo or Hokkaido? -SJA why d'ya ask? what's the difference? Well Tokyo is mid way down the island of Honshu and Hokkaido is north of Hoshu. A fair bit of difference and distance. If you are flying into Tokyo then the resorts around Nagano are easliy accessable via the shinkansen. If you come to Hokkaido you'll be landing at Chitose airport and Niseko is a couple of hours away by bus.

Take a look at these sites for forecasts Japan Meteorological Agency Medium Range Forecasts for East Asia Looks like the cold air may move through earlier than first expected on Tuesday. I still think we'll get some rain ahead of the front but hopefully not as much as originally thought.

Quote: Originally posted by thursday: NisekoNow, "Winter is certainly taking awhile to take a hold this year. To be honest most of us who live here aren't too unhappy about that as there's still so much work to do preparing for the coming season and heavy snow would be quite a hinderance." Your sesaon starts tomorrow and there's not enough snow to open. And you're not too unhappy about it? I certainly feel for the peeps who booked early season. When it begins proper, maybe the skiers would be a bit of a hindrance getting in the way of all the construction work. No skiers get in

Quote: It is not so true that all glaciers are retreating or not growing, they are retreating in some parts of the world, and they are advancing in others (New Zealand for example). It is not true either that the temperature is going up everywhere; in the antartic the temperature is going down (it's becoming colder!) and the ice cap is thickening. To some extent the same is occurring in Greenland although this is probably caused by the increase of wetness in the atmosphere. Just a note about the advancement of glaciers in New Zealand. Somewhat amazingly the advancement is explained because

Been bucketing rain all day in Hirafu and unfortunately it's been too mild for any snow on the mountain. Should get a bit over the weekend and next week.

Niseko is so much bigger an better than Furano in terms of skiable terrain. Niseko has 4 major ski areas, Furano has 2. Niseko you have huge areas of off-piste whereas Furano has ropes. Furano is probably easier with a family and there is more to do if you want a break from skiing. Furano you are more likely to experience clear weather and get views and Niseko you are more likely to have deep powder. Yes, Niseko is packed with Aussies and Furano is not and culturally there's more to do in Furano. Still if you come all this way to ski/board what's more important, skiing experience or

thursday nothing much to report from Niseko today in terms of snow. It was pretty cold last night, down to about -2. Today has been clear and cool and looks like another cold night coming up. doesn't look like any more snow until Sunday into Monday. Unlikely to get any snow down to village level for a couple of weeks yet. Most people around here are hoping it holds off for a bit because of all the construction still going on. For those who are returning to Niseko this season you'll get quite a shock at the amount of new buildings that have gone up.

Mt Yotei received a good amount of snow yesterday, see pic below for a shot of it from the base of Hirafu gondola this morning. The snow that fell on Annupuri has mostly melted already but it's good to see it's starting

Last night hovered around freezing for much of the night in Hirafu. It's looking like a pretty cold weekend with temps unlikely to get much above 8. Should get a decent amount of snow on Yotei over the next 4 days or so.