mysnowjapan

Heh, you weren't kidding... 99% skiers! Think I'll be giving that one a miss, then. Seems like a massive area, though, so I'll do some research on the other resorts in the vicinity. I don't know exactly where we're staying yet, but as I understand it it's quite easy to get around. Thanks again.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. I think actually know that road from Kusatsu; my rental car navi system tried to take me through it one January. We got a couple of miles up into the hills only to be confronted with the road disappearing under a piste, and families happily skiing right past our front bumper. Thanks for the info; glad to hear I won't have to learn to ski over the next five days...

I'm a boarder, joining some skier friends on a trip to Shiga Kogen next week. I heard that the resorts there aren't 100% open to snowboarders, so I checked out their website and found the following bizarre text: "Snowboarders need to carry skis until mid April when the Shiga-Kusatu Route will be open." See for yourself: http://shigakogen.gr.jp/english/snow/ski.html I can't seriously believe this is meant to be taken literally... does anyone have any ideas? Do they mean, I'll need skis *if* I want to transit the entire area, or something? I just want to turn up and board a