skichef 0 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Are the Sanosaka/Sun Alpina resorts and Iwatake worth skiing? Which one you suggest. European resorts have had a massive dump of snow this week. Many high resorts fully open. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I like the Sun Alpina resorts and you can have a good day skiing all 3 of the resorts. Kashimayari is the largest and actually quite good. Iwatake is another good medium sized resort, it is the only resort in Hakuba valley that you can ski all sides of the compass. the back side is very good after a powder dump. Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 iwatake is fun. i stayed at fattwins place a few years ago and he recommended we go check it out. just a small mountain and pretty cruisy, but lots and lots of untracked when we were there Link to post Share on other sites
skichef 0 Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ok, Thanks. My plan is to spend 3 or 4 weeks in Hakuba in Janaury and then return in late March. I was thinking of buying an early season Pass. Both Sun Alpina and Iwatake are cheap enough to buy and still ski some of the other hills during my trip. Though,Sun Alpina require a Y1000 onto top of the pass in order to ski the 3 hills. My brother could use my pass on the other times or l will 'sell' it on. I have heard that 47,etc are checking passes alot more than usual. Is this correct? I know some say don't buy a season pass, but the price is a good one. Cheers for your advice. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Originally Posted By: rainmaker Ok, Thanks. My plan is to spend 3 or 4 weeks in Hakuba in Janaury and then return in late March. I was thinking of buying an early season Pass. Both Sun Alpina and Iwatake are cheap enough to buy and still ski some of the other hills during my trip. Though,Sun Alpina require a Y1000 onto top of the pass in order to ski the 3 hills. My brother could use my pass on the other times or l will 'sell' it on. I have heard that 47,etc are checking passes alot more than usual. Is this correct? I know some say don't buy a season pass, but the price is a good one. Cheers for your advice. I wouldn't talk about "using my pass" "selling it on"...on this website. First it is illegal, the resorts are doing more and more spot checks. If you are caught they may tell the police. Another reason is that many ski areas support Snow Japan and more and more of them are wanting foreign tourists...not good for them to know this information. Link to post Share on other sites
skichef 0 Posted October 23, 2009 Author Share Posted October 23, 2009 Yes, l take your point on the Pass. I hadn't considered that this site was so closly watched. You are right,the trust the Japanese have is something to admire. I remember last season when an Aussie 'decked' a liftie do his job in Hakuba. The feeling in the resort was so bad. most folks thought 'no, not another Niseko?' Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 Also...ski resorts continue to function because we use and PAY for the facilities they provide. If we, the consumer, tries to find ways to rip the resorts off more and more resorts will be force to close as they are unprofitable. I am more than happy to pay for my lift passes. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 Originally Posted By: rainmaker Yes, l take your point on the Pass. I hadn't considered that this site was so closly watched. You are right,the trust the Japanese have is something to admire. I remember last season when an Aussie 'decked' a liftie do his job in Hakuba. The feeling in the resort was so bad. most folks thought 'no, not another Niseko?' Thanks. Well we never had any Aussie here deck a liftie. Hakuba has that distinction all to itself. Interesting how Hakuba appears to be getting all the idiots now that Niseko has priced most of em out. Good luck with that Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 your still there though Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 Well not all of us have been priced out yet Link to post Share on other sites
skidaisuki 0 Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 rainmaker - Sanosaka and Sun Alpina are down the valley, at lower elevations than Goryu / 47 / Happo-one. They are ALWAYS less crowded, although when the snow's good in mid-season they can be fun, and they have the advantage of their lift ops being less affected by high winds. My advice would be to get the all-mountain pass covering all three, because individually they are small and going just to one would be pretty boring. Iwatake is further up the valley. I've only been there once, but it was worth the effort and aim to go again this year. We stayed at a pension and practiced telemarking, so maybe my experience wasn't typical, though. SdS Link to post Share on other sites
tripler 0 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Originally Posted By: Mamabear Also...ski resorts continue to function because we use and PAY for the facilities they provide. If we, the consumer, tries to find ways to rip the resorts off more and more resorts will be force to close as they are unprofitable. Is lending out a season pass really ripping off the resort? Staff of bars and hotels always share one belonging to their establishment. The lift companies must know that. If you buy a car and drive it some of the time and your wife drives it some of the time, are you ripping off the car manufacturer or the highways agency? Should you be forced to buy two cars even if you only need one? I did hear a rumour that season passes at Hakuba will have a photo on this season. Luckily to the Japanese all gaijins look the same. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 This discussion was had last year if I remember correctly. Everyone had their own definition of 'appropriate' and where the rip off line was. For me personally - when the tickets say non transferable then sharing is just not on. However I am not a complete purist. If I bought my family of 6 all 50hr passes and we were well aware that Papa was smashing it and using up his hours very quickly, whereas I was having lazy mornings and days off - we would probably swap passes part way through the vacation to ensure they both got used up, and one didn't run out of time. If we were leaving and had a pass or two with 5 or 6 hours left on them, we would probably also give them to a mate who was staying behind, not sell them though - and I suppose that is not strictly kosher is it? Thredbo put photo ID on all the season passes, and they are hand scanned by the lifties - I actually had a liftie tell me that I wasn't me as the photo did not look like me. It WAS a horrid photo, but I felt like I was cheating every time I went into his lift queue even though it was MY PASS!!! I think that is a good system, as the potential for abuse with season passes is huge if a group of mates get together to share one or two season passes. THAT is where you will see a significant impact on revenue. Yes. I agree. People in the village (paid lift pass or not) are spending their money at the bars etc, but the reality is that the RESORT does not often own those bars etc - they get their money to run the lifts, piste bashers, ski patrol etc mainly from lift pass sales. I want my favorite snow resorts to still be there next year - so I am happy to pay for the service. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Would be nice if they start discounting prices after 11 AM and then at 12 ... Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Quote: Staff of bars and hotels always share one belonging to their establishment. The lift companies must know that. They surely do. I would guess some of those are "to be used by staff" and a different classification of ticket to the normal one. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Its like using your mates season ticket to the football back home when he can't/isn't going.....I don't see the problem with it Link to post Share on other sites
tripler 0 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 and what about when the snow police steal passes off honest punters caught out of bounds? They're ripping off the customer there, so they deserve to be ripped off a bit themselves. What goes around comes around... Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 That is simply ridiculous. And anyway, 'honest' punters can't really complain at getting their tickets taken if they are going 'out of bounds' against the 'rules' of the skijo. Don't want to risk getting your ticket take? Don't go 'out of bounds'. Not difficult to understand I'd have thought. Link to post Share on other sites
tripler 0 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Originally Posted By: SKI And anyway, 'honest' punters would not be 'out of bounds'. signs at happo are pretty ambiguous. Most just say "ski here at your own risk". I don't think I've ever seen one mention confiscating lift tickets, but it does happen. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Out of bounds. Think about it. I wonder what those words MEAN? I bet you always read the handbooks, guides and small print as well, don't you? Link to post Share on other sites
tripler 0 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Originally Posted By: SKI Out of bounds. Think about it. I wonder what those words MEAN? to me they mean "you pay the cost of rescue by us [snow patrol] and if we can't be bothered to interrupt out tea break we won't come looking for you". Totally fair enough as far as I'm concerned. Just don't go nicking tickets. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 You do not own the skijo that you are using. You don't decide how the place is run. I'm not trying to say that it's all well run but that's beside the point. Link to post Share on other sites
tripler 0 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 all I'm saying is at happo, the hill I know best, warnings about going out of bounds are ambiguous and conflicting. I admit I don't know the details of when people got tickets pulled but I know it has happened a few times. That said, I always ski the "wrong" side of the rope and never had any problems. My advice is if you get apprehended, play the dumb gaijin and pretend you thought YOUR side of the rope was the RIGHT side and the OTHER side was out of bounds. Failing that, suddenly spot a 1000 yen note on the ground and say "You saw it first - it's yours". That's like a week's pay to them so should smooth things over ok. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Originally Posted By: SKI Quote: Staff of bars and hotels always share one belonging to their establishment. The lift companies must know that. They surely do. I would guess some of those are "to be used by staff" and a different classification of ticket to the normal one. yes SKI that is true, the season pass for the accommodations is different, and is interchangeable. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver Its like using your mates season ticket to the football back home when he can't/isn't going.....I don't see the problem with it yes - you could look at it that way.....or you could say, hey I am not using my passport this week, why dont you use it? Link to post Share on other sites
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