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Thanks TB! As and when you get back from the Baird Brewery Taproom, why Kagura? & do you (or anyone else for that matter) have any recommendations for cheap accommodation in Yuzawa, assuming that to be the best place to stay? I've heard that you can stay overnight in one of the public onsens in town for about 1,000Yen, which sounds great if it's true!! wink

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Yuzawa ain't running as normal right now.

Lots of hotels (and skijo) have closed now while others are taking in people from Fukushima/Ibaragi etc.

 

Check out the Yuzawa Now and Naeba Now reports. Not much to choose from in terms of resorts too, but Kagura is most certainly the best bet.

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I think the reports say it but there are more lifts running at both Naeba and Kagura than on a weekday.

 

For Naeba take out lift 4....

For Kagura take out the top No5 lift, the pair lift and one of the Mitsumata quad lifts.

 

...to get weekday operations as they were yesterday.

 

Actually if you just look at the previous days report, that's it. Haha.

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what Muika said. Kagura is big anyway so lots of terrain options, just beware of which lifts are off. The Tashiro side is closed for the season so some of my favourite tree runs end up down that way and prob won't have any uplift to go back so be careful

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Cheers TB! Am hoping to make it down there on Tues, then possibly Tenjin on Weds, Marunuma on Thurs and the Ochanomizu snowboard sales on Friday!! biggrin

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Hope so KD - enjoy the rest of your stay in Japan!!! wave

 

Made it to Kagura yesterday afternoon - full report and photos (cheesy and non-cheesy) to follow as and when I can get proper internet access again!! Am going to head back up there today and possibly Naeba too, then check out Marunuma tomorrow - if I can get there (see other post re: buses)!! smile

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Yeah sorry about that Muika, I didn't think! doh

 

Have finally made it back to Tokyo after a final swan song at Tenjin yesterday. Will post a review and some pics over the weekend! In the meantime I'm going to check out the snowbaord sales in ochanomizu - not that I have any money left to buy anything with!! lol

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Possibly KD, but I daren't look at my statement!! omg

 

So now I'm back in Kanagawa, here's a final update and report on my road trip from Furano. After an enjoyable/extended stay in Niseko, I took 3 days to travel down to Niigata by seishun juhachi kippu. For those who don't know, this a discounted JR train ticket which allows you to travel as far as you can in any one day for 2,300Yen. The drawback is that you can usually only use local trains so this means long, slow journeys with lots of stops and changes but on the other hand, you get to see things/places you wouldn't normally see. So after overnight stops in Hakodate, Owani Onsen and Murakami, I decided to take TB’s and Muika’s advice and check out Kagura. Made it to the Mitsumata Ropeway at lunchtime (I took a local bus from Echigo-Yuzawa station having missed the morning-only ski shuttle buses) and immediately struck it lucky by being offered a day pass by a departing skier for 1,000Yen – sweet!

 

Conditions were decidedly Spring-like and some of the lifts and areas were closed (Tashiro included) but it was still fun to check out a new resort in the sunshine. Here are a few pics:-

 

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I decided to spend another day at Kagura and demo some of next year’s Ride snowboards from the place in the Mitsumata car park!

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I also scored some cheap accommodation in Yuzawa – an onsen place where you can stay overnight for 2,200Yen! It’s just below the Gala Yuzawa station but a bit of a trek from Echigo-Yuzawa station (as I found out) so you'd better add a 930Yen each way taxi fare to the price if you’re lugging a snowboard bag with you!

 

After a day and a half at Kagura I had a day left to play with and wanted to check out a Gunma resort - Marunuma was my 1st choice as I had some SJ free tickets to use!! Unfortunately I couldn’t make my train/bus connections work so went to Tenjin instead. I rocked up at Doai station, one of those out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, deserted stations and to my amazement found a Tenjin Ropeway-bound bus waiting on the main road – result!!! As was the fact that it was snowing – heavily!! In fact it didn’t stop snowing from the moment I arrived (08.38) to the moment I left (15.31)! A combination of hard, chopped up and/or closed due to avalanche risk off-piste areas plus little or no visibility confined my riding to the groomed runs which ordinarily would have been a disappointment. However, it was snowing so heavily that your tracks were almost being filled in by the time you got back up for your next run. I must have lapped the skier’s right run (sorry, no idea of it’s name but it's the 3rd photo below) continuously for about 90 minutes – laying down new line after new line – brilliant fun even if I couldn’t always see where I was going! & not bad for the last day in March! Here are a few pics:-

 

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So that was my road trip. Not quite as originally planned but enjoyable nonetheless and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about! Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions along the way - much aappreciated! wave

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Cool.

 

Mick. Did you get the train to Doai from Yuzawa or from the south?

You will know because one way you have to climb hundreds of stairs. I wouldn't be mad keen on that with all my gear!!

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I got the train to Doai from Echigo-Yuzawa and the only steps were those from the station building (platform level) down to road level so I'm guessing I chose the right way! thumbsup

 

& sadly, Ctrl-Z, my teaching job restarts tomorrow, so winter is well and truly over for me! sadface

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Originally Posted By: ILoveZao
Don't you just hate having to go to work!


Yeah, especially when it's still snowing out and about, ie Furano! angry
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