spook 0 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 the rain has turned to snow! sweet. still wet and sticky, but at least it's snow. maybe by late this afternoon it might be worth a quick ski. black mountain - we're staying in suginohara. got a really cheap deal on a self-contained room, and we'll be here for about a month. didn't know much about myoko but we took a punt on it and the place rocks. really fun resorts, as good as anywhere i've ever been. i really like the terrain around at akakura (both resorts). we might try and stay there for a bit too, to be more in the heart of the action. the free shuttle buses are good too. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Sweet. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the resorts. There are some really good opportunities for backcountry there as the lifts don't do anywhere near the top of the mountain. Akakura Kanko is a gem. I don't think you'll find too much more action if you move over to Akakura Onsen... but that is where I usually stay anyway. A month in Myoko is great. Any chance you're going to check out some of the nearby resorts in Nagano? I'm going to be going to Madarao Kogen and Kita Shiga Ryuoo this weekend which aren't very far way! Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 just went for a quick few hours on the hill. mixture of fresh pow, crust and some heavy stuff underneath, but found some nice windblown stashes. good to get out there after this morning's rain anyway where do you normally stay in akakura? we had a poke around akakura onsen yesterday. the lifts aren't as well thought out as they are at the other myoko resorts, but that must keep people away, because there was a ton of fun little gullies and hits everywhere we looked. very mellow terrain, but i'm riding with the missus and it's enough to keep us both happy. we'd planned to check out some of the other nearby resorts, but we're pretty tight with cash at the moment. we've got a season ticket for all the myoko resorts for 50,000Y so we might just stick to around here. there's more than enough to keep us occupied here for that amount of time. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 spook-san, any photos to upload of Myoko places? I'm a Niigata person but I really haven't 'discovered' Myoko yet, would be interested to see soon on here. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Muika, I'll up load some I took in Suginohara last season. My camera was a bit screwy at the time so they aren't the best pics in the world. Give me an hour or two. Spook, Kanko is definitely the place to be. I read somewhere that some of the top lifts there might not be running this season... is that true? If it's open it is the best terrain that is lift accessible. There is also a cheeky run off the back of the highest lift at Kanko that takes you back around the mountain to Onsen. There is a mad steep section off the top of that area that is too good! Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 hey muika. um, disappointingly, no good photos yet. been shooting heaps, but haven't got anything we're really happy with yet. spookette and i shoot a lot of surf and travel stuff, snow is new to us, so we've been pluggin away learning the basics. fingers crossed we'll have some gold to share in the next few weeks. we've been riding around with a backpack full of camera gear. it's a bit annoying and i'm quite paranoid flying along with it all, but it's the only way to learn. black mountain - the top lift at akakura kanko is running - that's the one you can drop to skiiers left into those gullies, and then traverse back along the cat track right? heaps of trees, pillows and mushrooms to bounce off. there's a mental lift that's just to the left of the big ski jump, that one is running too. wow. some nuts terrain in there. pretty steep too. at suginohara the top lift has been closed outside of peak times, i assume to save costs some of the trees in myoko are amazing. not super steep bt so perfectly spaced i can't help but scream in joy as we lap them. i'm actually almost reluctant to talk the resorts up cos i want to eep them under the radar...! Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 oh yeah, black mountain, had a look at that cheeky run you're talking about, but wasn't sure if it would actually loop back around to onsen, cos it looks like you'd have to go around the entire ridge of the onsen resort..? anywya, will have a poke in there in the next few days send me a PM when you're in town and we'll go for a ride together Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Glad you are enjoying! Too bad about the top lift of Suginohara. That resort isn't so nice if you can't access that area. I'm sure you're getting lots of turns in! Anyway, let's keep it our little secret! As soon as you come off that top Kanko lift go right. You can ski towards that mountain hotel and then follow the cat track through the tunnel back onto Onsen. Aside from that, I'm going to maintain radio silence... unless my PMs start magically working... then I'll send you all sorts of goodies! Link to post Share on other sites
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