Kagura December 22nd

[Seraph 0]

Since I'm new to the forum and all I might just as well take the opportunity to say hello to all and introduce myself as the snowboarder from Sweden (half spanish so that's away with the looks issues, haha). This season is my first in the Japanese snow and I look forward to check out all the nice spots.

 

Well; to get to business, I started out in Kagura (on Mt.Naeba) last saturday. I still don't know where to find the best snow but looking at the charts for one day tours from Tokyo (from the travel agency), Kagura showed the best results in terms of snow depth and temperature (150 cm, -6 forecast for saturday). A friend had earlier recommended Tanbara, but as this was sold out on the desired date, Kagura it was.

 

On the way there

 

Arriving on site the first thing that struck me was that the temperature was well above what was announced. Though I didn't find any thermometers, I'd guess it was about +2-3 at the parking lot at time of arrival (11.00 in the morning). Fair enough, I figured the temperature was bound to be lower up on the mountainside, as you need to travel a bit by gondola to get to the bottom of the slopes. There was a fair deal of people, which would prove to increase throughout the day.

 

Close to where you get off the gondola

 

Well up in the slopes, the temperature was indeed lower, and at the top of the mountain I'd say you'd be down at the -6. The snow was nice although still a little bit too heavy for my taste at the lower areas.

The trick park was open even though it says it's not supposed to open until january, and it consisted of a slope with a series of jumps (various sizes) and a quarterpipe at the start. The end of it had some boxes and two rails. It also has a very convenient lift which will make tricksters happy. Unfortunately I forgot taking any pictures of this as I was busy going at it all, hehe...

 

Taking a look downhill

 

Unfortunately, due to the small amount of time in the slopes (4.5-5 hours if you really push it), I wasn't able to explore the whole area, but from what I tried I'd say it is decent, will likely be much better a bit later on. The powder wasn't at its best yet, i think it might have to do with temperature changes, but as with the rest of the conditions I bet it will improve very much very soon.

 

The last point to comment on would be the food... how to put it... "not the best curry rice and beer I've had". Skip that unless you are really into military rations or something, hahaha

 

Well, that's all for this time, looking forward to more actions in the weeks to come!

 

Over and out.

 

Yours Truly

[OkemoLoon 0]

You will find Kagura to be a great place for day trips if your based in Tokyo.

[tsondaboy 0]

Nice TR Seraph and welcome aboard!

 

I was also up at kagura yesterday, like you said it was warm. It didn't drop below 0 all day (I have a thermometer with me), and was around +1 deg up the top.

 

I found that the best food on the mountain is towards tashiro side, at the base of tashiro #1 high speed lift, try there next time.

[SnowJapan 178]

Welcome Seraph.

 

It has been even warmer today here, very mild.

[skidaisuki 0]

Hi Seraph, Hi Tsonda,

 

My first turns of the season were also at Kagura on Saturday. It's always good to get out at least once before Christmas if you are a Tokyo-dweller and the JR one-day deal tickets will be getting a lot more business from all of us this season, I expect.

 

I thought Saturday was more or less perfect for a first day on the slopes - no sun, no wind, good views across the mountains and not too cold on those old muscles, and I thought the snow conditions were pretty good. Not too wet and quite forgiving. The general lack of crowds was surprising - we taxied it past Mitsumata Ropeway (where I guess you started) and went on to start at Tashiro instead. This turned out to be worth the extra taxi fare and I'd recommend it because it gets you straight onto the higher, and generally less busy, slopes straight away (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, please). We had lunch at the good tonkatsu place (above the ramen shop) near the base of Tashiro No 2 Romance Lift, and kept skiing over there until 3 pm, when the boarders I was with started complaining about being tired!

 

I guess that the Mitsumata side was a lot busier than Tashiro, the longest we had to wait, just once, was 5 minutes at the base of the Tashiro high speed quad. Quite surprising for the first day of a san-ren-kyu.

 

I am probably not fully prepared for next week's 6 days at Hakuba (29 Dec - 4 Jan), but I'm glad to have got out once in advance.

 

Hope to see you on the slopes soon. Enjoy

 

Cheers

 

SdS

[SirJibAlot 0]

Typical Swede - if it's not 20 below, it's too warm

 

Welcome dude!