Mike Pow

"Give me land lots of land and a starry sky above, don't fence me in" That's why I live on Hokkaido.

Been teaching many beginners (adult and children) and intermediates this month in Grand Hirafu. PROS Great soft groomed conditions Very quiet pistes Sunshine No problem getting dinner reservations If you rent a vehicle then it's easy to get around this part of the island and see a bit more that the Niseko area CONS Not a great deal of beginner terrain available Big jump from beginner to intermediate terrain (but that is more to do with Spring arriving earlier this winter)

When they clear the ****ing pavements then perhaps people will wear shoes

Shhhhhh.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins As for snow Feb was a flop for you guys when you really sit back and look at it. Half the snow you got was reported to be blown off of the mountain. You can float it all you want whichever way you want to but Feb didnt live up to the hype of guaranteed snow in Feb. No reason to or benefit from embellishing what fell from the sky in February. My measurements at village level took the wind into consideration. The huge snowfall at the end of the month was a non-event in my records even though I had to tunnel my way out of my house. I didn't record th

Originally Posted By: Fattwins The Niseko now reports arent glowing with bottomless reports in Feb. The reports from the guides up there werent that good either. Myoko got slammed this season. My recorded snowfall for February. Make of it what you will. inches , cm 1-Feb 12, 31 2-Feb 7, 17 3-Feb 5, 12 4-Feb 1, 2 5-Feb 4, 9 6-Feb 12, 31 7-Feb 2, 5 8-Feb 0, 0 9-Feb 2, 4 10-Feb 0, 0 11-Feb 0, 0 12-Feb 5, 12 13-Feb 4, 10 14-Feb 7, 19 15-Feb 10, 26 16-Feb 6, 14 17-Feb 11, 27 18-Feb 1, 3 19-Feb 0, 0 20-Feb 0, 0 21-Feb 5, 12 22-Feb 1, 3 23-Feb 2, 5 24

Originally Posted By: Fattwins Yeah but while you got shafted other places got slammed! 276cms front loaded means JFA to the guy that books the next week. I have no idea what this means. If it's referring to Hokkaido 'tanking it' in February and March then as I've already written, that is factually incorrect. There was no significant new snow between 08 March and 31 March. Prior to 08 March there was plenty.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins It all depends on the season and this season feb and and march tanked it in Hokkaido. You are dealing with mountains and the weather plan with that in mind. "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" Mark Twain While March was disappointing by Hokkaido standards the first week did bring 29cm at village level in Hirafu and excellent turns on the hill. And February had 291cm at village level with only 6 days without snowfall recorded. And on 16 February I skied the deepest & lightest snow I've ever experienced.

Hopefully. Talking more about the mountain rather than the town.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins The problem is and you really aren't looking at this the right way. The domestic market is a very high % of the day ticket sales. Without those sales you have no resort and no upgrades to the lift infrastructure. You need a strong domestic market for the ski resort. A strong inbound market is good for the hotels. This is so true in Japan where the resorts really don't own any of the properties or land in the area. I for one and all for less resorts that let the stronger resorts prosper and grow. Im not a believer in the apartments will save your resort st

If you, or any other person residing in the area from outside of Hokkaido, could become mayor then maybe, just maybe the biggest asset in this area - namely the Niseko United Ski Area and the people behind it - could get a massive kick up the arse. If the management behind Niseko United has aspirations to become an internationally renowned ski area then they are failing miserably IMHO. They couldn't run a bath.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins Had some girls down from your way and they were shocked that we were still skiing! They said all the locals stopped skiing in Feb cause of the lack of fresh snow. Their loss. Plenty of great turns to be had in and out of bounds.

14-ML-15473-ML- This topic has been moved to the Trip Reports section of the Forums.

Wholeheartedly agree GN and al from scotland. The 'Aussie problem' pales into insignificance in comparison with the UK holidaymaker and seasonal worker at European ski resorts. As a very general observation: 1) drunk westerners are more aggressive than drunk Japanese. 2) A number of altercations arise from the Niseko area (read most ski resorts) being a 'sausage factory'.

Originally Posted By: Rag-Doll Originally Posted By: tripitaka Well, it's not good for the 'Yokoso Japan' tourist campaign. The govt is trying to increase the number of foreign tourists. They want the media to talk about how welcome foreigners are. Oh, the Japanese love foreign visitors. It's the foreigners already in Japan that don't like visitors NIMBY's get right on my wick.

Not sure if you'd be allowed to 'bile up there? The cats have an arrangement for the winter months.

Not a patch on the Snowbasin, Utah locker room.

Great shot.

What about the snow?

Great. Keep me in the loop.

And they're touring. But not on skis.

Would love to. Dates please?

5-10cm of light pow above the Ace Quad # 2 chair. It was great. Socked in early but just gone bluebird

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver How much is the cat skiing? A local company based very near Jo Jo's offer a day cat skiing/riding for JPY 24,000 per person.

that seems sensible