Mike Pow

DAY 5 : TUESDAY 25 JANUARY 2011 0cm of new snow overnight. A beautiful sunrise this morning. The view from Hotel Slavija Hotel Slavija Hotel Bora, HQ for Eskimo Freeride cat skiing operation Broke the remote control for the camera early on so scenics only as I was skiing solo today. The terrain looker's left of the highest chairlift The terrain looker's right of the highest chairlift (with the Eskimo Freeride cat skiing access road far right) I managed to make two l

Approx. 15 December

Thanks DoctorOctopus and ippy

For the Shiribeshi area of Hokkaido Most snow falling from the sky = first two weeks of January More than enough snow falling from the sky + most terrain = first two week of February Ample snow falling from the sky + most terrain + lack of people + sunshine = last week of Feb and first week of March

Yeah one that fell through the cracks. This and the second trip I took out there the only ones thankfully. Boot top to knee most of the trip. Had a couple of days of gut deep and face shots. The rest of Europe was hurting at that time. It's Europe after all

Thanks. Yep, mid-November again hopefully,

DAY 4 : MONDAY 24 JANUARY 2011 Another 10-15cm overnight. The top lift was closed because of wind, so we did laps on the t-bar. Knee deep and face shots. Last day for the Bulgarians. Great guys. Hope to ski in Bulgaria with them soon. ? (pic taken by Viktor) Aleko (pic taken by Viktor) Vihren (pic taken by Viktor) ? (pic taken by Viktor) Yours truly (pic taken by Viktor) ? and Aleko at Konak Viktor and Vihren at Konak Had dinner at the Hotel Slavija. The hotel is owne

With most of the Alps dry throughout January it was time to look to the far corners of Europe for some powder. As I was trawling the interweb, this article appeared in the Guardian newspaper in the UK Snowboarding the Balkan Bloc http://www.guardian....oarding-resorts Snow forecast was calling for over 1m of fresh in the coming week at Popova Shapka, Macedonia and after looking at a few websites and getting replies from the forums the flight was booked and I was on my way. Exploring Macedonia http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/ Popova Shapka http://www.popova-sa.../

Wasn't able to ski on my birthday last season - too much wind closed the lifts. The skiing at Hirafu, Niseko Village and Kiroro last November and early December was excellent. Sunshine and powder and a fair bit of terrain open. It can be a late start on Hokkaido but in my experience I've been able to ski lift accessed terrain every November I've been on the island (4 times in the past 6 seasons). http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/topic/22197-sr-shiribeshi-stories-hokkaido-201213/page__st__20

Kiroro: 8 (+) Niseko Grand Hirafu: 20 Rusutsu: 7 (-)

Kiroro: 9 (+) Niseko Grand Hirafu: 16 (-) Rusutsu: 10

ha ha I prefer this one for Kiroro

Kiroro: 10 (+1) Niseko Grand Hirafu: 16 (-) Rusutsu: 9 Kiroro season pass JPY 40,000 Grand Hirafu 21-day Pass JPY 69,900

Kiroro: 10 (+) Niseko Annupuri: 6 Niseko Grand Hirafu: 10 (-) Rusutsu: 9

Kiroro: 8 (+) Niseko Annupuri: 8 Niseko Grand Hirafu: 9 (-) Rusutsu: 10

Kiroro: 6 (+) Niseko Annupuri: 7 Niseko Grand Hirafu: 9 (-) Niseko Hanazono: 4 Rusutsu: 9

Kiroro: 6 (+) Niseko Annupuri: 6 Niseko Grand Hirafu: 8 Niseko Hanazono: 4 Niseko Village: 3 (-) Rusutsu: 8 This will be my 4th season in a row with a Kiroro season pass. If I could play and teach at just one resort per season, this would be it. Inbounds, slackcountry, and genuine touring all lift accessed. Quiet, great grooming, tremendous views. POWDER. And if they could ever link up Kiroro and Sapporo Kokusai then the other resorts in the area would be done. And Moiwa got dispatched way too early.

It happens far too often thanks to our maritime climate and the Gulf Stream That's why somewhere like Hokkaido is so good - consistency and predictability. In my experience 6 months of winter, 2 months of spring, 2 months of summer, 2 months of autumn. You can almost set your clock to the seasons.

Definitely worth a visit, any time of the year.

Thanks GoodEgg. It is a beautiful little country.

They don't seem to mind it much. Only problems when it drifts and they get stuck, like it did in N Wales earlier in the winter.

Yep. Yesterday I was at the beach in shorts and t-shirt and it was 21 C.

Thanks snowdude and little sheep. Thanks. Yeah taken plenty of tumbles, nothing serious though. The grass tufts and heather are quite accommodating.

The Beacons bark is worse than its bite. The dark shadows are tufts of grass poking through. Most of the time you lose wax not bases.

Seemore