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The unreliability of snow at Honshu ski resorts in Japan


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Originally Posted By: thursday
Originally Posted By: Creek Boy
Id say CNY Ski - I had to cue for 10-20 mins for the gondola at Niseko and Rusutsu occasionally around Xmas/NYs, but typically once you get up you didnt have to wait more than a few chairs worth.


New ywars. Lots of people crowded around the Ace quad. At least a 20 minute wait.

Interesting.
Previously we have stayed at the Gondola Chalets - so pretty darn close to the lifts and we could look at the queues and choose whether we wanted to wait for the Gondola, do a quick run or three while the crowds dispersed on the King, or duck over to the Ace and go up...

However this year we will be staying closest to the bottom of the Ace Family Pair lift ... and I reckon that will probably be the biggest bottleneck of all in the morning - with the majority of the village being closest to that lift.

Trying to come up with a plan...
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Originally Posted By: Mamabear
Originally Posted By: thursday
Originally Posted By: Creek Boy
Id say CNY Ski - I had to cue for 10-20 mins for the gondola at Niseko and Rusutsu occasionally around Xmas/NYs, but typically once you get up you didnt have to wait more than a few chairs worth.


New ywars. Lots of people crowded around the Ace quad. At least a 20 minute wait.

Interesting.
Previously we have stayed at the Gondola Chalets - so pretty darn close to the lifts and we could look at the queues and choose whether we wanted to wait for the Gondola, do a quick run or three while the crowds dispersed on the King, or duck over to the Ace and go up...

However this year we will be staying closest to the bottom of the Ace Family Pair lift ... and I reckon that will probably be the biggest bottleneck of all in the morning - with the majority of the village being closest to that lift.

Trying to come up with a plan...


Grab a cheap rental car for the holiday. Let's you scoot all over the place and explore some of the other resorts in your own time and on your own terms. Particularly good when the weather closes the top of the mountain.
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Have actually thought about this RD.

 

Last visit one of the friends had a car that he had bought, but he no longer has it. We are talking about hiring something between the 3 or 4 families that are coming at the same time and sharing...not sure how well sharing works in reality - but we will have a think about it.

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Originally Posted By: SKI
Originally Posted By: Matt
Rain events last year - counted by looking at the snowjapan archives

Niseko

December 5th,8th,9th,10th,17th,20th

January 19th,23rd,29th

February 13th,14th

March 6th,9th,10th,13th,14th,17th,19th,22nd,23rd

Hakuba

December 5th,9th,11th,12th,18th

January 18th,20th,31st

February 14th,20th,25th

March 6th,14th,20th,22nd

Unexpectedly and funnily enough there were actually more rain days in Niseko!! count em yourself...


Glad I got this before you deleted it, Matt. At the end you added a sentence asking if they went to Niseko last season would they have been fed up and be going to Honshu this season?

The answer to that is - no. The snow was still excellent pretty much all peak season in Niseko even considering the sometimes rain. Unlike in many Honshu areas, if I am remembering correctly, the rain did not last long and was often followed quickly by snow....

friend


There were more rain days than that last winter (didn't even count November and April). But even with the rain, within 24hrs it was back to pow.

Not many places can say that.
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Love to, but my wife's back to school and she will be extremely unhappy if I go on my own.

Definitely next year though. We'll stay for at least a year.

When I was a teenager in Japan, going to the European Alps was like a dream. Now that I am here ... ( I've checked out 14 resorts the last 2 seasons)

still I miss the onsen and the food.

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