robbied

My Von Zipper Feenom's have double lenses and they fog up very rarely. Only when I leave them on my hot head/beanie or when I zip my jacket up all the way (my hot breath travels up into them).

Originally Posted By: Jynxx Don't know what the exchange rates are at the mo, but I'd check the web shopping first. I think you will find it cheaper to buy from the States. Anything imported to Japan will be more expensive as you will be paying duties and AUD~Yen rate. What avi gear are you getting? You talking airbag ? We would order from the states but we're leaving for Japan in a few days, not enough time for the gear to arrive here in Aus. They just want transceivers, shovels and probes.

Hi guys, My mates want to buy some avi gear in Japan but not sure where will have the best range and prices. We are heading to Niseko for 2 weeks but coming through Tokyo first. What are the prices and range like in Tokyo and Niseko? Where would be the best place to buy the gear?

I would imagine he did.

Originally Posted By: 7-11 I'd replace the Hakuba with Shiga Kogen + Nozawa Onsen. Shiga and Nozawa look very tempting, I think only 4 days there will make me depressed though with all that terrain... Do you think it will workout better than 4 days in Hakuba? Originally Posted By: joshnii Sounds good though a little too balanced in Hokkaidos favor. It's our first trip and we want some guaranteed deep powder to blow our minds, Hokkaido seems like the most likely place for those conditions. Is there any other great resorts near Furano other than Tomamu?

Thanks for the feedback guys. Originally Posted By: Creek Boy Looks good. If you enjoy ducking ropes you might want to avoid Furano, or just have a heads up theyre pretty damn anal up there. I assume you have your own reasons for spending that much time in Tokyo than skiing in Hakuba, but Id add on another day in Hakuba if possible: I find groomers boring so we might give Furano a miss then. I hear Tomamu is great though so we'll still go there. Any other mountains you guys could recommend in Hokkaido that have lift accessed tree's and off-piste? Originally Posted

Hi guys, You may remember my thread earlier this year about driving all around Japan in 3 weeks. We have thought about it more and changed it slightly, let me know what you experienced folks think and if you have any recommendations 3 weeks total. 1- Arrive Tokyo in evening. Stay overnight near Haneda. 2- Fly early for Chitose. Hire 4WD. Drive to NISEKO. 3-NISEKO/RUSUTSU 4-NISEKO/RUSUTSU 5-NISEKO/RUSUTSU 6-NISEKO/RUSUTSU 7-NISEKO/RUSUTSU 8-FURANO/TOMAMU 9-FURANO/TOMAMU 10-FURANO/TOMAMU 11-FURANO/TOMAMU 12-Fly back to Tokyo. Travel to Hakuba 1

You can't even begin to compare Japan to Australia obviously Let me explain. When we ventured out off the trails in certain sections you would sink up to your waist with every step. The snow accumalates in these area's more than others thats true. If it was waist deep on the runs then that would be something

No worries, Im going to try and get up there pretty regularly, i'll keep the pics + updates coming.

More:

We've been getting excellent snowfalls here in Aus. Every mountain is pretty much ready to open. We made it to Mt Buller yesterday and it didn't stop snowing all day. Waist deep off the trails. They had another 25cm's overnight so its looking very good. Here as some pics of yesterday as promised:

Yep should get a bit of snow this weekend. If we get enough I'll head up on monday/tuesday and have some nice pics for all.

I'd be pissed off snowhuntress. Just do your own thing now

If any of you guys/girls from the northern hemisphere want to come down south for a ski go to NZ not Australia. NZ has much colder temps, many more mountains, bigger snowfalls and more/better powder. If your a confident and competant driver, the best way to travel in NZ is by hiring a car. You can also catch buses but you lose a bit of flexibility. All the accomodation is in the towns so you have to drive up to the mountain every day. The roads are pretty gnarly in some areas, if you take care you will be fine. There are a few 'major' ski areas/towns in NZ: Queenstown is the m

Harris mountain heli-ski are supposed to be good. I think they are the originals dating back to the 80's. In August im going heli-skiing in NZ too, not sure if it will be from QT or Wanaka yet.

NZ is looking good so far. Everything here in Aus has almost melted or being washed away. With no really strong cold weather systems anytime soon it looks like a month or so until we get a decent dump.

Thats not too bad. I think a railpass would be better for us though. Its the same price and we will need it anyway to travel around Tokyo for the last 4 days. What do you think?

Originally Posted By: thursday From Hokkaido to Tokyo, drop the car off at Shin Chitose airport and take one of the 61 daily flights to Tokyo. Of course, the train could be a nice way if you want to spend that time looking out the train window. Flying would be better. Roughly how much are flights from Shin Chitose to Tokyo? What are the baggage allowances, we will have snowboards?

Thanks for all the replies guys, if we cross paths there will be (many) pints involved! Scousers route sounds pretty ideal for us. Im sure we could spend 3 weeks in one area but I figure If we see a few this trip we can 'specialise' in our next trip. I guess we are a little ambitious Sanjo: I just checked on google maps here , Zao > Niseko is 700Km's which is about 13 hours drive. Another stop halfway in Iwate, Akita or Aomori pref. would be ideal even for 1 day. Can you recommend a good resort in those areas?

Originally Posted By: scouser travel 1 day Hakuba - 3 days travel - 1 day Shiga Kogen and/or Nozawa and/or Myoko - 4 days travel - 1 day <expressway up to Shibata, local roads to Zao) Zao - 3 days travel - 1 day Niseko - 4 days travel + Tokyo end How's that? Perfect! Thats exactly what I was looking for thanks! Would it be better to drop off the hire car in Sapporo and ride the train to Tokyo? Would save 700km's of driving. I assume Nissan/Toyota lets you drop off the car in a different location?

Thanks for the replies and advice, I really want to find the middle ground I guess. We're definately not going to just stay in one area. I want to go to Hakuba, Hokkaido and Tokyo at the very least. Hakuba, 2 or 3 stops along the way, then Hokkaido, then Tokyo is how it will most likely happen. Would it be best/possible to leave the car in Hokkaido and catch the train back to Tokyo? I imagine a car will be pretty useless in Tokyo traffic.

Originally Posted By: thursday Too rushed. Hokkaido alone needs more time than that to explore. You raise an interesting point thursday. The last thing I want is a rushed trip. Okay, let me ask you experienced guys/girls something: If you could go back in time and had 3 weeks for your first Japan snow trip, how would you do it?

Thanks for the insight muikabochi. I have changed the thread title, hopefully that will get more views What do you think about this plan keeping in mind we have 3 weeks? -Drive to Hakuba first, stay a few days. -Then begin driving north, stopping at a new resort for 1 or 2 days every few days. -Eventually arrive in Hokkaido, explore the resorts there. -Then drive down the expressway back to Tokyo and check it out for 3 days or so.

Originally Posted By: rach Driving in Japan is pretty easy robbied. Easy for us to say living here, but Bag seemed to find it hassle free as well. You might want to start another thread for just that and get other peoples experiences from outside Japan (they might not see it in this thread). Trains are excellent here, but they don't go up the mountains (or not all so to speak). A car certainly would give you a lot of freedom and adventure. Thanks for the reply rach. I am now very interested in hiring a car, flexibility is important to us and I like that we'd see more of the ever

Thanks for the reply! I am reading through your TR as we speak bagofcrisps Not sure on whether to buy the railpass or hire a car yet? What do you guys think? It seems to workout the same price wise. Not sure if language will be a problem since there will be some decent distances and many stops involved (approx 1400km return Tokyo to Niseko).