Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Wrote this up a while back but too lazy to get it up: I went to Hokkaido for six days. Here's what happened. I'm more of a skier than a photographer so photos are of poor quality and sparsely distributed! Day 1 The plan was to leave Haneda on a 9:30am flight on New Year's Day. The plan was quickly derailed thanks to awesome New Year's Eve celebrations that just went on and on. Although I skipped out the party a little early, I was still snoring in my bed when my flatmate returned at 8:30 that morning. A mad dash and some fine taxi skills got me to the airport in the nick of time, but they didn't seem to have me registered on the flight despite the receipt in my hand. All was smoothed over though as they put me on the next flight (and called me just yesterday to apologise and tell me that I can have a free flight for the inconvenience). I think they mistook the fact that I was still so drink-stunned I could barely speak for stern annoyance. We arrived in Niseko in time to take advantage of the nighter at Hirafu. There is no doubt that the nighter area there is bigger than any I have been to. For some reason still unclear to me, we started out on a steep mogul section, with the sskkkrrrrr sound of ice underfoot whenever I tried to turn. The gotamas didn't like it too much, and more importantly I didn't want to be there - these skis have opened my eyes to the fact that there are more important things in life than making turns around icy bumps. For the next runs we did much better, taking the hooded triple up and skipping back and forth between the trees on either side of the run to skier's right of the top of the lift. Until this point it had been clear and cold, but the air started to mist up and soon smokey snow was floating before our faces. Ten minutes later it had become sharp sparkling flakes, and we ended the day finding pockets of untracked stuff interspersed with groomer slides oiled by a fresh dusting. Not the kind of legendary snow you hear of from Niseko, but certainly not a bad start either! Day 2 Up nice and early to find that the snow that had started the previous evening had continued its fine work throughout the evening. 20cm or so on the car, and plenty more up on the mountain. Skies were far from blue, with poor vsibility and strong winds, but it was worth it for what was waiting on the mountain. Stepping a couple of metres off the course pretty much anywhere gave access to powder treats, and striking out on a few random traverses into the white haze saw us rewarded with the rhythmical whomp-whomp-whomp of deep linked powder turns. My skis were making light work of all conditions, perfect in the deep stuff and nimble in the trees. They even sliced tight carves on the groomer run outs, making me feel that I was skiing better than ever before. A mention should go to lunch - lobster pasta and salmon steak at one of the restaurants on the hill. I've no problem with katsu curry, but it was great (and tasty) to see something a little different. Can't really go wrong with Hokkaido seafood. I kind of messed things up in the afternoon by discovering that I had lost the car keys somewhere on the mountain - it goes without saying that they would not be found. My buddy got fairly upset but I knew that things would be OK, and they were - the rental guys sent us some new ones in exchange for a Fukuzawa, and in the meantime we had the excellent shuttle bus to rely on. Day 3 This was the day that I had been looking forward to. We had booked an introductory back country tour with Black Diamond, a local firm. They came to pick us up in their souped-up wagon bright and early, and got us set up. I actually have some of the needed gear, but didn't have it with me/was too incompetent to get around to getting FT to send it to me. I was good to go with Dukes, and may friend opted for Trekkers over snowshoes. We started with the a Hanazono side bowl with a 15 minute hike out. Some of the slopes were actually quite steep, although only for short pitches. I really enjoyed the rolling bumps and lumps - I am presuming that the underlying geology is volcanic but I have no real knowledge in that field so I'll shut up. Anyway, with the deep snow all the sections were comfortable and a delight to ski. I had a pre-release superman dive on a flatter section in front of all our group members, which was kind of embarrassing as it was my first time to see them, but had no other real problems after tightening up the bindings that evening. The stroll out was a little trying with the skis over my shoulder - I would have strapped them to the bag had I known that it would take more than a couple of minutes. Still, I was better off than my ski buddy who had to lug around some rather weighty 1080 guns. Next we did both the Annupuri side bowls. I would hardly describe any of this territory as back country, but it was still great to get into some more interesting terrain and undisturbed snow (poor visibility again with few people out). We had an unfortunate incident where we lost one of our group members for about 20 minutes. Some slogging through the snow combined with that old favourite, the mobile phone, helped us to find him. We discovered that he had taken a nasty fall, and while not really injured as such, didn't really want to ski or walk out. Our guide made it clear that you can't really take that attitude outside of resorts, and soon enough he was gingerly making traverses and painful-looking turns. This delayed our schedule a little, and so we had to change plans. We had intended to skin up a fairly reasonably sized hill at the back of the mountain and then slide back down, but due to time constraints we opted for a lesser summit. I wasn't so bothered as I just wanted to find out whether I would enjoy hiking and get a feel for some of the technicalities. We set off and I found that while I did sound like a cross between a terminator endoskeleton and ED-209 thanks to the clicking of binding against heel wedge, it was actually remarkably easy and natural. Unfortunately my friend wasn't so lucky - the trekkers combined with relatively heavy skis were a disaster, with the torque applied during our amateurish kick turns popping him out almost every time. After a few too many of these he decided to head down, and the guide and I strove for the summit. Guide battles with trekkers Carving hard... or just lying around waiting for technical difficulties to be resolved. Visibility was poor but you can see the gentle slope of the back of Annupuri Mt. By the time we got to the top I was really getting into my stride, although as you'll see it was hardly Mt. Everest. Dah-dah! Reaching the top, I realised that I had given not a second's thought to how I would ski down. In the flat light it was very hard to see terrain undulations and although I knew which way to go in general I had no idea of the best route. I struck out ahead and before I knew it had lost most of my elevation by dropping off the flank of a ridge. My inertia was insufficient to get me out, and so I ended up with an ignominious slog through the snow back to the road. Doh! Still, it was a good lesson in line selection… I really enjoyed the day, and although we had our problems, I really enjoyed getting out of the resort and am extremely keen to do something bigger and better. Hopefully I will be able to get on the Evergreen tour in Hakuba on 20th Jan. Day 4 Miraculously, saw some blue skies today, revealing the big cone of Yotei. Looks so tempting… If only I had seen the pylon... We stayed in Hirafu again today. I had spotted a thin strip of trees, maybe only 200m long or so, just to the right of konayuki. It had all these mysterious snow mushrooms in it that in years past looked like the kind of thing that could only lead to pain and injury but all of a sudden started to resemble springboards to happiness. Presumable because there were also quite a few random rock drops in there too, nobody had been in, so despite the fact that it had not really snowed the night before there were stashes of fresh to poach. I had never really dropped off anything before so at first I was cautious as a newborn bambi, but after a couple of goes I realised that with a big set of boards on my feet and a nice soft powder landing, nothing was really going to go wrong. Bouncy-wouncy Foot guards Guess this is why I don't use straps in the trees... popped out of this tight crack only after making an offering to the tangled trees. I tired out my legs quite a lot with all this tomfoolery, so decided to opt for a little piste action in the afternoon. It was interesting to see how badly all the powder-hunters had laid waste to the obvious spots around the hooded triple etc. Not a speck of powder remained! Day 5 Having had our fill of Hirafu, we headed around the hill to Annupuri today. Weather was good/bad/good/bad throughout the day, but nothing too mean. The groomers here were really flat, really couldn't imagine anything less interesting to be honest. Fortunately there was a handy gully to skier's left of the main gondola which somehow or other still had a decent spread of powder. At points it also had some rather steep walls that were certainly over 40 degrees, although once again for tiny distances. The only real problem with this gully (and to be honest all the other gullies/valleys that I found in Hokkaido) is that because the gradient of the valley floor (from the top of the valley down to the bottom of the mountain) is pretty shallow, you always finding yourself busting some turns down the valley wall until you realise you've come to the bottom and have to then face a rather dull ski back to the bottom of the mountain. You can remedy the problem by kind of semi traversing across the valley wall, but it's not as much fun as fall line skiing! I guess that one of the things I'm expecting from Hakuba and the Alps is terrain with a consistently higher gradient (nothing crazy mind) to avoid this kind of problem. Finished the day with some action in the same bowl as on day 3. No need to comment for anyone who's been there! One of the bowls from below Day 6 Last day! We decided to head away from Niseko and catch a morning's skiing at Rusutsu before my flight. This turned out to be a fine decision! I won't go into too much detail because a) I was only there for half a day, and you should really find out yourself, but this place has far more tree skiing than Niseko, and far less tracks. Here's a couple of random shots from the last lift we took that in no way show what kind of stuff exists there. On the way stopped off at the Mushroom Kingdown for a sausage pre-stuffed with cheese. Why haven't these been brought to my attention before? And that was it! Link to post Share on other sites
boardbaka 3 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 legend write up - sounds like an action packed trip ! Link to post Share on other sites
boardbaka 3 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 "I kind of messed things up in the afternoon by discovering that I had lost the car keys somewhere on the mountain - it goes without saying that they would not be found. My buddy got fairly upset but I knew that things would be OK, and they were - the rental guys sent us some new ones in exchange for a Fukuzawa, and in the meantime we had the excellent shuttle bus to rely on." what exactly is a Fukuzawa ? Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 10,000 yen note. It has his face on it. He was the founder of my university in Japan and a player in the social development of Japan during the second half of the nineteenth century. Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 "just rollin' in the fukuzawa's" Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 any more on the goats? nice tr, though. I heard that about rusutsu, too. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 see you on Sat nice TR Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Originally Posted By: Fattwins see you on Sat nice TR Well, it was OK for a first try. Wanto to write some better ones about the Alps sometime though! See you on Sat, we'll try to arrive a bit earlier this time! Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 you're coming up King of M? see u then Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Originally Posted By: samurai any more on the goats? nice tr, though. I heard that about rusutsu, too. I want to marry them? More seriously, I love them and hate them. Love them because skiing has never been as much fun as it is now with them. Hate them because now that I have been to the places they can take me, just skiing groomers, which used to make me so happy, feels so pedestrian... I will say that the topsheets are not exactly the most durable, admittedly I haven't always had their welfare in mind when skiing on them, but they have chipped and peeled all over the place. heard that would happen though. You'll get a chance to say "told you so" here, but I do sometimes wonder if I could have got some 183s. I'm not sure why... I haven't at all felt unstable (straightlined the things as fast as I dared go and didn't feel at all concerned that they were going to flip out or chatter excessively) and I float just fine on them, they are nimble in the trees... but I wonder that maybe if they were a bit longer if I might not just be able to..... cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuiiiiise..... around the mountain. I am not really experienced enough with different skis and lengths to really have any kind of decent opinion here, so maybe I just like the idea. I am very happy with these this season though, saving such traitorous thoughts for next year! Dukes be ace! Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Originally Posted By: Kumapix you're coming up King of M? see u then We'll be there sat and sun. On saturday I have agreed to have a snowboard lesson with three other people who have also never mounted the monoplank. Looking forward to/dreading looking like a complete fool again! Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 don't begin the "I-should-have-gone-longer." bs just yet. I don't think there is anything you could do on a few more centimeters of length. the topsheets will peel, but mine are 4 years old and still strong, so don't sweat it. and yeah, they're not that fun on groomers... (go faster) anyway, just 2 weeks ago I took mine out and actually did something new. I was laying trenches in some crud, trying to find my edge again for the season and suddenly I cranked out this set of like 5 turns with a really tight radius. I had to look back at my tracks to ensure that I had just made those turns. fricking nuts that four years down the road I can manage to push them even further. (of course, my falcon 10 boots have also stepped up this winter.) Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Like I said, there is no practical reason why I would need them longer, and I am not at all unhappy with their performance. If anything, I just sometimes look down and feel that there should be more there... or maybe that it's just a little unnatural and weird to be floating with such a short ski (I have never skied a fat ski before). I don't hate them on groomers, I think they're just fine there (no moguls though please). I meant to say that I just don't want to ski groomers that much anymore when there are so many more fun things that you could be doing with your time! Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Great TR myrrh, I finally found some time over morning coffee to read it. You are right about Niseko, basement rocks are volcanic. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Nice report Kingogmyrrh Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Originally Posted By: tsondaboy Great TR myrrh, I finally found some time over morning coffee to read it. You are right about Niseko, basement rocks are volcanic. Is it basically a completely "fresh" set of peaks then, i.e. too young to have been shaped in any way by water or ice movements? You can see who didn't pay attention in geography... Link to post Share on other sites
OkemoLoon 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Curious? What size were your buddie's guns? I was compairing my friends 190 gotamas to my 188 guns and thought my guns were lighter. Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Hmm, they were 188 as I recall. I suppose it's conceivable that Gotamas in 190 might be heavier... but I am kind of surprised. The guns felt super-heavy to me. Mind you, he was using rental stuff so maybe the binding was excessively heavy? I have never really given any thought to the weight of my Gotamas one way or another, but the moment I picked his up I thought they were pretty burly. Link to post Share on other sites
OkemoLoon 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I think if the skis are the same size and same bindings the Gotamas are lighter, I believe the wood core volkl uses is lighter than what salomon uses. Id like to ski the goats to compare the two. both r super fun skis Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I don't think the gun is wood. It may have metal in it to secure the mounting point over a foam core. KOM, don't you have dukes on yours? Those are supposed to be pretty heavy. I bet the swing-weight of the longer gun made it seem burly in the hand. I would wager that the gun is lighter than the gotama in equal lengths.... based on reputation and my perceived constructions. Link to post Share on other sites
Kingofmyrrh 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 I have the dukes but they don't feel that heavy... but I haven't had lots of different bindings so I'm not sure where they really stand. You would have a clearer idea than me I'm afraid! Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 not that it matters. both are supposedly sweet pow rides. Link to post Share on other sites
OkemoLoon 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 The gun has a Isocell Complex (foam) core as aposed to the volkl wood core. Yeah their both badarse pow whips, I'd love to get a chance to demo them back to back. the dukes are light for an AT binding, almost half the weight of the Freerides, but are still far heavier than alpine bindings. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I like the dukes so far but havent toured with them. Got skins for the pontoons just need a chance to use em. Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 woah, woah, woah. the dukes are half the weight of freerides? Fritsche Diamar? The freerides are plastic and go to 12 and are insanely light. You mean naxos? Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts