gozaimaas 61 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Sorry but that is a cat track. That vid is like a narrow run (that would be marked on the map) with trees on the side rather that what most would call a tree run where you actually negotiate your own line through a patch of trees. As for where you can find that in japan I cannot help sorry. Link to post Share on other sites
Sciclone 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 That's why I put the video up. They're the type of runs I enjoy, and seeing as I'm the person organising the trip, I get to make the calls... Open gelande is good for some people, but not what I enjoy. Link to post Share on other sites
gozaimaas 61 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Im not having a go, everyone likes what they like and thats what makes snowboarding so great. I was trying to help you with what I believe to be the correct terminology for what you are looking for so hopefully you get more accurate results in your search. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 That's fair enough! In this part of Niigata, I would say the most like that is at Hakkai-san from the top right part you can see it on the map here, essentially just a winding road but lots of people like to take short cuts. Photos from Hakkai-san http://www.snowjapan...th-january-2012 http://www.snowjapan...th-january-2011 Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Anyways I put my tree sking vid in here. http://www.snowjapan...iew-45-powizza/ Nice vid! Looks like fun. Would like to board a couple of the lines I saw there. I'll be open in Hakuba over the next couple of days but kind of unsure about the conditions after the rain. Hopefully not bullet proof! Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Can't think of any as long as that Sciclone. There's the downhill at Gala Yuzawa and also Yuzawa Kogen as well but I suppose they are not all really through trees. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Akakura Kanko, Hakuba 47, Tsugaike Kogen, Happo One all have runs like the one you described Sciclone. Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I don't know the others, but I can't remember one like that at Happo? Where is it? Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 The bottom half of the skyline course is like that... and some parts of the panorama course (the green one on the side). Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I see. Not quite the same feel or as long as that though are they..... Link to post Share on other sites
Sciclone 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Goz: Sorry, the internet doesn't allow for tone. I must have read your words in a different voice to what you said them as. That trail at Hakkai looks cool Muika. If you saw the run in the video on a piste map, you'd probably look straight over it. I suppose, unless they start making piste maps detailed 3D things, then little gems will always be overlooked. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 It is fun actually like I said lots of people take short cuts actually through the trees. Lovely views of the beautiful Hakkai-san as well. Hakkai-san is in Minamiuonuma, to the north of Yuzawa, in Niigata. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Can't really think of any other runs like that which are any considerable length in this area. There's a bit of that from the top of Iwappara, but it's not long at all. The other place I thought of for 'trees', although a different kind of atmoshpere, is Zao in Yamagata. Once of my top 3 resort areas. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm not a fan of those little cat tracks, usually they are strewn with the wrecks of beginner boarders and clogged with gaggles of ski schooling kids! Link to post Share on other sites
Sciclone 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 They usually are TB, but when you are not afraid to shoot through trees to avoid them/pileups or if you have less people on the resorts/spread out over a wider area, they can be a lot of fun. It's sort of the same as the Tengu course at Ichinose Family. A lot of fun to go barreling down, but most of the time swamped with Ski schoolers and their equally dangerous instructors. Do your best to pick a break in the lifts and you are usually alright. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Entertaining vid, Scislone I see you were trying to get as much speed as possible ... pretty flat, thought you might get stuck They are not bad, like you said if there´s no one ahead of you. Dodgy when passing a slow skier or a fast skier passing you. Something we do at the end of the day here in Europe. Getting down from the middle station to the base station. Can get bumpy and then it´s no fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Sciclone 2 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Yeh, the flat bits suck, especially if you're on a snowboard.. Being a little heavier certainly helps with momentum. It's not so much the flat sections, but fast and/or technical turns I love, with the ability to head off the path if I feel like it. On that track, there are numerous areas where you can cut corners, go wide around trees and float banks, so everytime can be slightly different to the time before, especially if you go through the trees and bail in powder, like I seemed to do everytime the camera was on.. I'll have a sort through my other videos and upload any decent runs. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 You will dig the snowboard X course ... I do like the banked and pipe bits myself. Look forward to your uploads Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 so cat tracks are paths? Rightyo. Plenty of those everywhere. Nozawa has several of them, 47 has a beautiful one, suginohara is almost one gigantic path on mitahara side (well, aside the big open part in the middle). In fact since japan has not all that much vertical, you can look at a trail map and if it boasts a 6km+ run chances are 4km+ of that is going to be a big long windy flat path. PS. Go to suginhora i reckon. Nice little red run at the top, spits you out into the main resort area, but here you just bank into the trees on skiers right, then ride that doen to the middle lift, fly past that into the open (but usually empty) space and soak up the view, then its another gorgeous little path in between the trees (but not tree riding - though you can), before popping out at the base. In total its about 7-8km or so of riding, the start is a bit challenging and probably exactly what youre after, but after that its super hippy mellow floating. Last year i took a video of me riding full top to bottom, and it was about 20 minutes. I wasnt bombing it, nor was i just falling leaf my way down it. I was just enjoying the mellow ride of it all... actually maybe ill go to myoko this weekend I always love it. Link to post Share on other sites
gozaimaas 61 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 so cat tracks are paths? Rightyo. Basically yes. The cat part originates from the snow cat . The cat track is a small trail that is used as an access road for the snow cat so it does not have to blaze straight up the steep slope carrying its cargo of people or supplies. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 not to head off topic, but i always called a cat track a specific track in teh snow made by said snow cat, as it plunders lines that arent part of the on piste creating a space you can ride but the resort doesnt want you to ride. Usually they come up under lifts or slightly out of the way lines in semi unstable areas (i think akakan has one of those if i remember). Anyway, i was clearly being too literal. I figured it was just a track made by a snow cat and not a path that the snow cat happens to use (if you get me?). I learn something new everyday Link to post Share on other sites
Sciclone 2 Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I call them tree runs... It's a piste run, and it's surrounded on both sides by trees.. The whole reason I asked the question in the first place was that, as lovely as Muika's pics are, a lot of the resorts looked very open, so I didn't know if that was the way all resorts in Japan were (although I do remember a couple of tree runs at Furano), or if it's just the pics not showing the whole story. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I don't know the others, but I can't remember one like that at Happo? Where is it? There's a long rinkan from the bottom of Panorama down to Sakka. It starts skiers extreme left at the bottom of Panorama. It joins a separate rinkan off the top of the Sakka quad. Most Japanese folks describe this kind of course as a "rinkan" (through the woods). Most will be access roads for driving up the mountain for maintenance etc. 47's lower one involves going right across the main downhill course twice. It seems to freak a few beginners out. The last part of 47's upper one is actually uphill and leaves you on the flat by the upper gondola station. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 not to head off topic, but i always called a cat track a specific track in teh snow made by said snow cat, as it plunders lines that arent part of the on piste creating a space you can ride but the resort doesnt want you to ride. Usually they come up under lifts or slightly out of the way lines in semi unstable areas (i think akakan has one of those if i remember). Anyway, i was clearly being too literal. I figured it was just a track made by a snow cat and not a path that the snow cat happens to use (if you get me?). I learn something new everyday I take it in that contect, too myself. 1) Cat track - a track made by snow cat. 2) Trail that winds down Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I call them 'road courses' Link to post Share on other sites
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