foreversnow 5 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 With everything that has happened in Japan this year and with the GFC. I would like to know how the crowds are this season at the resorts . Are they UP - DOWN OR about the same as last year?? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Too hard for me to tell really yet, but quiet on both days out so far. Link to post Share on other sites
Memphis Hawk 2 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Has been dead essentially my first 4 days out. More snow will invariably mean more people though. Link to post Share on other sites
sanjo 2 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Ishiuchi Maruyama today was extremely non-busy. Don't know what it usually would be like, but I was surprised at the lack of crowds. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Kandatsu kogen last week was a ghost town, but I've never been before and it was a weekday so i dunno if it was any less busy than usual, although for whoever is picking up the cheque at the end of the day, I sincerely hope it was!! Kagura was definitely quieter than usual. The only quieter day up there was a couple of weeks after the quake that I posted about earlier in the year. Again though, it was a weekday and I'm usually a weekend warrior so comparison might not be so accurate. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Ishiuchi was much quoter than expected considering on previous weekdays with holidays have been busier. Link to post Share on other sites
Slippery Jim 65 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Nozawa was pretty empty monday-tuesday FWIW Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Joetsu Kokusai was very quiet early on. More people as we left at about 11:30, but still not crazy busy at all. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Ishiuchi was much quoter than expected considering on previous weekdays with holidays have been busier. You came up to Ishiuchi yesterday? Link to post Share on other sites
fritzonline 1 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Kagura was very empty on Tuesday. At times we had the Dynamic and Challenge courses to ourselves, with about 80cm of fresh powder to be had even in the late afternoon. I've heard rumours through Japanese skiiers of possible contamination on the eastern slopes (especially Gunma). I highly doubt the veracity of these rumours, but if they're around, it might affect where people choose to ski. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Surely as Metabo Oyaji pointed out, even if ---- EVEN IF ---- there was any stuff, it would now surely be 2m under snow....... Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Ishiuchi Maruyama not busy Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Kamui has been pretty quiet but was better today as the weather calmed down a bit. The other local hills around Asahikawa have been dead.....absolutely deserted. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Surely as Metabo Oyaji pointed out, even if ---- EVEN IF ---- there was any stuff, it would now surely be 2m under snow....... AND what are we gonna do?? not go out for the rest of our lives??!! We don't live in the highly contaminated zone, of course there is a chance that there are some particles here or there but there isn't anything we can do about them and there is no way I'm sitting in my house for the next 30,000 years so I'm gonna chance it....mnd you I think everyone else had better stay home just in case! Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I'm deffo going to stay away if I see any fish like Blinky snowboarding down the hill Or big fluorescent globs of green goo on the snow. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Ishiuchi was much quoter than expected considering on previous weekdays with holidays have been busier. You came up to Ishiuchi yesterday? Went Monday. Going to Centleisure on 5th. Link to post Share on other sites
panhead_pete 27 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Absolute madness at Imori today in Hakuba. Car parks are slammed, restaurant packed, lift lines etc. Never seen it like that before but haven't been here at this time of year before. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 ^^Exactly why I'm waiting until after new years. Expect it to be super busy until around the 2nd of Jan. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I'm off there tonight Link to post Share on other sites
Memphis Hawk 2 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Shirakami is the same way. Super slammed today. Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Places in Minamiuonuma didn't look too bad. Hakuba webcams didn't look over busy either really when I looked this morning. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Places in Minamiuonuma didn't look too bad. Hakuba webcams didn't look over busy either really when I looked this morning. That is because the higher lifts were not operating this morning due to strong winds. It was very busy on the lower slopes. Not sure if busier or not yet. I will try to get some official data after New Year Link to post Share on other sites
best skier in hakuba 5 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Wasn't that busy this morning in Tsugaike. I suppose it will just depend where you are. I would imagine tomorrow and Sunday to be uniformly busy though. Maybe not early Sunday as some people nurse hangovers! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Surely as Metabo Oyaji pointed out, even if ---- EVEN IF ---- there was any stuff, it would now surely be 2m under snow....... Gary said the same thing (first, even). But don't take our words for it, the town of Inawashiro has been taking radiation measurements at ski areas in their jurisdiction, along with snow levels. As can be seen, as the snow gets deeper, the radiation levels drop. Accumulation is not up to 2 m anywhere there yet (nature has been somewhat unkind to Fukushima so far this winter, though seems to be in catch-up mode now, judging from today's white-out conditions), but several places are already at or close to normal, pre-disaster background radiation levels: It seemed as though almost half the license plates I saw at one ski area in Fukushima the last couple of days were from Ibaraki prefecture. (I guess because to go skiing from Ibaraki, the closest is either Tochigi or Fukushima, and because of the way the highways run Fukushima is at least as quick or quicker to get to then Tochigi for most folks, plus there are fewer Tokyo crowds to deal with in Fukushima than in Tochigi. Not to mention that the free highways make it cheaper to go to Fukushima now.) There was also a noticeable Chiba contingent. On the other hand, saw zero other (apparent) foreigners on the hill. There would usually be at least a few. Link to post Share on other sites
foreversnow 5 Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 I have been keenly watching the cams in Niseko and Furano and both ski fields look dead. I would have thought over the Christmas and New Year it would have been much busier than it looks Link to post Share on other sites
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