deanrobi
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Posts posted by deanrobi
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Must be better as Mitch is way less active on this forum than when he is in Utah. waiting patiently for one of his video and some of those cliff bombs.
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How's the video going Mitch?Originally Posted By: MitchPeeOriginally Posted By: Go NativeBottomless in Niseko today too. Thigh to waist deep, super light powder. Face shots with every turn! It was good!
I can confirm, was epic. Should have a video soon. -
Next couple of weeks will tell, graphs of the past 10 years show that it reaches its peak around the third week of August. There a possibility of another fall of snow this coming Tue/wed, maybe 10 -20cm but we will still be along way behind what we normally have around this time of the year.
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Tex, what does the Hirafu Club membership get you?
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I'm afarid that I have to agree with GN, I have been going the Aust snow fields for over 20 years but this year I just cant bring myself to outlay that amount of money on accommodation ect for what you get.
The trips to Japan have lifted my expectations of a snow trip and what I want to get from the experience.
This year for something different I'm spending my money on a quick trip to Fiji for a week of kite Boarding and then hopefully a 5 day trip to Mt Hutt NZ.
And of course another two weeks back to Niseko where I can be pretty confident that I will get my money's worth and the snow fix that I seek.
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Back to Niseko next year for one more trip. The place is just every thing I want and to make the most of the two weeks and have great conditions I'm reluctant to try any where new just yet.
Got 12 days this trip and hope to get a few days across at Rusushu.
In 2012 I have Long Service Leave so that may be the time to do an extended trip and spend some time heading up north and checking out some of the other ski fields
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GN, I'm going to stay over in Niseko Village this trip and just realized that I'm there during Chinese NY, i assume that its going to be busy over there, would that be correct.
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Money is not an issue we just want to experience the really fast bullet train so I guess I will search up on the 'nozomi' thanks
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RB, so help me out a bit here, The JR pass would cost me how much? and when you say 'Hikari' and ' Kodama' shinkansen are they different rail line to the same place.
I fumbled around on http://www.hyperdia.com/en/# the other night (great site) and I think it was about 7,140 yen for the trip from Tokyo to Osaka.
thanks for you help
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RB,
We will fly back to Tokyo from sapporo and then we were thinking of catching the high speed train down to Osaka just for the experience.
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Next year we are going to fly into Osaka rather than Tokyo and after a day or so we plan on flying up to Sapporo, I haven't really researched this yet but I'm assuming that its possible and that the flight would only be an hour or so longer than flying from Tokyo.
On the way back we would like to get the train from Tokyo, maybe the (Shinkansen)is this possible?
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I just went thru the process of purchasing a new board from Sierrasnow a couple of weeks back when they fell out with Burton and announced that they would ship Burton boards to Australia. As an example of what they were offering, I purchased a 156cm Burton Custom LTD for $270US and Flow NTX bindings for $150US plus $60Us for shipping. The exact board is for sale in my local shop as a '2010 new arrival' for $700US and the binding are around $350US, so a big saving for me.
The board took four days to arrive in Aust and was very well packed and protected. Here in Aust we don't pay any import duties on items under a $1000 for there was no sales tax to add on.
In the end, myself and four friends have all picked up new 2010 models boards. All of us had no intention of getting new boards this year but when this occurred and at such reduced prices (in relation to Aust) we could not pass on the offer.
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Mamabear, have a look on Ebay. you can find the whole kit for a very reasonable price and that will save lugging it back home from Japan
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Thanks GN, Yes the new bus stop and I thank them for putting funding into community areas like that which serve many of the punters visiting Niseko. I certainly got the benefit from its use on a few nights particularly during that cold spell we experienced a few weeks back. I also notice a lot of building when walking around the upper and lower village that seemed to have the HT sign on then as well as every second vehicle I saw seemed to have the logo. Anyway good on them for putting something back into the infrastructure of the place. Its definitely a company name that now sticks in my memory banks and whether I use them in the future or not for accommodation is yet to be seen.
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MB you do get around the ski fields, Thredbo in summer WOW.
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Hey GN i meant to ask you this question a few weeks back as you have a good knowledge of who's who in town.
I noticed when I was in Niseko earlier this year that the company Hokkaido Tracks seemed to have their name/logo all over the place and on so many accommodation premises, are they becoming a large stakeholder in the place?
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Love the last one too, Never seen a shot from that view, well done
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Last day on Monday and it was a hoot, the snow started falling as we were eating our breakfast and didn't stop till about 6pm tonight. We were able to find fresh lines all day and as the snow keep falling the better it got. Climb the peak as soon as the gates opened and got a run out thru Gate 3 and although the visibility was poor there was some good snow to be had. A few more runs thru Gate 5 and we headed over to Niseko Village and by the time we arrived there was a nice 5 - 10 cm on yesterday crust and very few people. Pick of the runs would be Superstition and the tree runs between Misoshiru and Unforgettable. Next stop Annapuri and again a nice cover of snow and no people. Hit the trees on the side of Silver/Paradise etc for while and then the fukayuki - Rinkan area under the gondola before having a late lunch. A few more runs and it was time to catch the last lift to get back to Hirifu.
Getting back to Hirafu it looked \as if they had had some decent snow as again there were opportunities to go deep in the trees on the side of Miharashi and pick plenty of new lines.
There may off only been 10 odd cm metres or so but it looked as if there was much more. At the end of the day we were really surprised with what a great day we had and especially in the afternoon we were getting mid boot deep freshies.
This trip has been my best so far with over 2.1 mtrs of snow falling over the 10 days we were here.
We had blue bird days, a big dump of over 40 cm, freshies for 9 of the 10 days,visit ed two new spots (Rusutsu & Mowia), \boarded in snow that was really two deep(never thought i would say that), found some new and great restaurants (RIN in Hirafu and The Red Lantern in Kutchan) and shared a lodge with 8 US F15 Jet fighter pilots (pretty wild boys but great people to have met).
All in all it has been a week of memories & experiences that I wont forget for a long time
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Well worth the trip, especially after some fresh falls of snow
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GN what would the snow be like in the back bowls to day after the gates not being open for the past three days? would there be some soft stuff or would it have gone hard with all the wind and temps we have experienced in the last 48 hrs? any advice
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Crazy day yesterday with the wind and many of the upper lifts closed made the crowds at Hirifu look like we were back at Buller. Decided that after to runs we would catch the shuttle bus over to Annapuri. We were not disappointed as the crowds were pretty much non existent over there. The snow was not that good on any of the groomers or in the trees around the edges so we made straight for Gate 7. A great choice as we got 12 runs in there and each time we were able to find fresh lines, it surprises me that no one ever seems to enter there. The snow was a little crusty and we didn't quite float thru it like previous days but it was good fun. Todays our last day and we are hoping that the gates up top will open so we can hike up other wise i think its a trip into Otaru.
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Exactly as the 'Niseko Now' forcast predicted the blue bird day quickly disappeared shortly after lunch and the falling snow came back in. i was really surprised how quickly it happen, we just walked out of hanazano308 after having lunch and were all committing on how magnificent the peak looked and that we were going to easily get up to the top lifts and down to Annapuri for an afternoon session and bang the snow just came from no where and really hasn't stopped since. Currently its snowing pretty hard and close to the heaviest it has all week.
The trees around the village are all pretty ladened with a lot of snow and some of the heavier gusts of wind are blowing a lot of snow from the trees.
Visibility just about all disappeared up on the mountain in the last hour so most people are coming in.
Two more days to go for us and as much as i hate to say it I will be glad of the rest once we leave on Tuesday its been an unforgettable 10 days.
This is what happens when you dont listen to instruction and you go to low in Blueberries, the walk of shame.
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The food was excellent and the prices were cheaper than most of the eats on the Niesko side of the hill. The café is a really clean and modern building and the staff were very helpful.
We were told that Mowia is under new management this season and that they are giving away passes so as they can say at the end of the season that X amount of people have used the hill, i guess this will help with there business model for what ever plans they have.
We were also told that the company that owns Hanazano would like to see Mowia fail so they can snap it up at a good price and include it as part of the all mountain pass.
We just went and grab another four free passes for Sunday.
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Took the opportunity to head over to Mowia today for my first visit. The snow was the best we have had here this trip, thigh deep on the basic groomers it was just fantatastic.
There was some much snow and so little amount of people over there that there was no need to even leave the groomers as we could keep finding untracked runs every way.
I think there was about no more than 50 people there for the whole day. The wind did get up a bit and the quad lift was shut down for a couple of hours over lunch time which made for more fresh runs in the afternoon when it did re-open.
The other plus was that many accommodation places are handing out free lift passes for Mowia so add that to the free shuttle and we got to board for free for the day.
This weather is driving me nuts
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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