Probe

Mike , I remember reading a post of yours where you reassured someone who was concerned about snow depth and a December 15 arrival in Niseko. You said "gut deep" no problem in early December. Looks like that was a pretty safe prediction! Rarely see shots that deep. (what camera/lens setup are you using? Are the last couple of shots video captures?)

An oldie but a goodie

I wouldn't claim this is "cool" , but I've always liked seeing it.... Sign at Rusutsu

I just received the same email as you guys today. It seems to me that Moiwa may be a bit small for what they're planning. I guess if they manage to link up with Annupuri it might be OK. Those apartments they are renovating look pretty small from the outside - I'd be having a look at them first and not buying "off the plan". Using the "Niseko" in the new name might help get a few people interested. Selfishly, I'm hoping Moiwa is successful enough to keep the lifts running but not successful enough to become overcrowded. But I'll bet that's what the people in Hirafu were sayi

Benjamin I'd say - rent for a couple of days, try a number of different skis and then buy in Japan. There are some good prices and overall it would be the same price as Australia or cheaper. Demo rentals are going to run at about $260AUD per week, so you may as well buy a pair. If you haven't skied Japan before you may well find yourself liking a much wider ski than you imagined , so probably rent for that first couple of days. There are some very good deals in the ski shop district of Tokyo, though. If you do decide to buy before you get to the mountains, I'd say get at le

It depends what the deal is. But I suspect so. 3-day All mountain pass is 13800yen.

Definitely get the All-mountain pass. For a 3 day pass it's only 1800yen extra. You can easily move from one area to another during a day (unless the top is closed due to bad weather). Annupuri has some of the best skiing you'll want to access if you're looking at slackcountry.

After searching around the web for a while, I did find two Moiwa websites. (The old one still appears to be down) One is the mountain/lift company site. The other is a property development site. I don't want to appear to be pushing a commercial interest, so I won't post the links. ( I have no commercial interest in Moiwa) There's no mention in either site about any major changes to the mountain at this time. There is a development happening but it looks like that may not affect skier numbers too much this season.

Does anyone have any newer info on how much Harmony got for Hanazono? I've heard $20-25 Million, but rumours presale were that they were looking for $10-12million.

Thanks. Good that it will still be a quiet place. I'd been hearing all sorts of stuff about new owners , links to Annupuri and so on.

Can anyone tell me exactly what is happening at Moiwa this winter? I don't want this thread to become commercially oriented. I'm really wondering if it's going to be a lot more crowded this season or if it will function as per previous years.

Wonderful photos Mike