Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Having won a couple of tickets for Marnuma Kogen from Snow Japan ( ), I finally made it up there to use them. We took my mate's 5yr old son up for his first snowbaording experience. Having the wee lad with us, it wasn't a mental early start, we left Shonan about 5.30am....still giving us plenty time to get some turns in on the mountain. It should take about 3.5 to 4hrs tops to get there.........but we didn't consider the Kan-Etsu factor!!! I hate this road!! It was JAMMED, what should've been an easy 4 hr drive turned into a 6 hour nightmare meaning we didn't get there till about 11.30am!!! At least the sun was shining. It was actually a beautiful day and I couldn't help think that it was a great start to the wee man's snowboarding life.... The weather was beautiful and it felt quite warm, but I guess that fact that this resort is between 1300 and 2000 metres above sea level means that the snow stays in decent condition. That said, although it was still soft, there were some scraped bits that really worked your edge control at random times. Paul's young lad took a 2 hour lesson and then it was up the hill for his sink or swim time......he ragged it!! straightlining past me like it was the most natural thing in the world! then brought back down to earth with a scorpion! at the end of the day the sunset was spectacular and bathed the snow in a pink light although my crappy camera skills didn't quite seem to catch the brilliant pink light off the snow all in all, after a nightmare start to the day, we had a ball. Conditions weren't the best as snow quality goes but they weren't that bad either (snow snobbery again!!) and it was a beautiful day of sunshine that also was a boys first steps into snowboarding. Think I was as much stoked for the wee man as his dad was!! Marunuma definitey has some interesting terrain and looks to be a good place to hit when the snow hits. Happy I finally made it up there, so a hearty thanks to people at SJ and Marunuma Kogen for giving me the tickets! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Lovely clear pictures, thanks TB. Shame about the Kanetsu - what was the problem just slow moving or something? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 There was an "accident", when we passed the actuall scene it involved 2 cars, one appeared to have shunted into the back of the other and there was a tiny dent in the back of the car, but with the cops being there all the other motorists were crawling past at snail speed and this just caused an uber tail back.....it took 2 hours to get from Nerima to Maebashi! Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Nice. What time did you finish TB... presume you went by car? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 last lifts are 4.30pm so we rode until then. Yeah we went by car, it was a cheap day out, if I had paid to go by bus I would've been mad but since the tickets were free and it was only tolls and petrol......I didn't care as much Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Looks like the 5 year old had a great day. I bet he was asleep on the way back! Link to post Share on other sites
panhead_pete 27 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 AWESOME thread! Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 What a nice day The snow does look "Spring" but hey! The kid had 2 hrs lesson and already going switch ! Mann.. I feel old ! Link to post Share on other sites
best skier in hakuba 5 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Nice TB! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Great weather for it! Sympathies on the Kan-Etsu. Impressive progress for the little one, too! Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Doesn't look too busy. Haven't been over there yet this time. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 yeah Stem, he was out like a light!! Woke up once at a roadway stop to chomp on a chocolate covered banana and then was back to sleep again. Link to post Share on other sites
TheOrange 0 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver yeah Stem, he was out like a light!! Woke up once at a roadway stop to chomp on a chocolate covered banana and then was back to sleep again. Nice report. I hope to get there one day soon I like the look of some of the resorts around that northern Gunma area. Link to post Share on other sites
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