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Just wondering if anyone knowst info on the vertical rise of each lift at Niseko. I have just spent a lot of time on google but to no avail.

It is easy to find the total vertical, but I would like to see each lift's vertical if possible. Cheers in advance for any info.

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Good luck with that Sand my friend!

I tried for about 4 hours to find not even the vertical, but the distance of trails in Zermatt to try and work out approx how much distance we had covered in one particularly big day ... Nada! Would be awesome if there was a programme like 'mapmyrun' to plug in the days coverage and get the stats on kilometers and vertical covered. I'm a stats geek, but I am not that obsessed to go to silly lengths to get those stats.

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If you have Google Earth on your computer then you can download the The OpenStreetMap overlay for Google Earth. This is a map similar to google maps but it also has the lifts on the map (at least for Niseko). You can then just hover your mouse over the start and end points to find the altitude. (For instance it looks to me like the Hirafu Gondola starts at 303m and ends at 752m).

 

@Mamabear, if you have an iPhone or Android phone you can download a GPS tracker app which will collect lots of funky information like distance travelled, max speed, total ascent etc. If you have wifi access you can download the maps in advance so that you don't need to pay for data roaming charges. The only problem is that everybody then starts competing to see who can record the fastest speed :)

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@Mamabear, if you have an iPhone or Android phone you can download a GPS tracker app which will collect lots of funky information like distance travelled, max speed, total ascent etc. If you have wifi access you can download the maps in advance so that you don't need to pay for data roaming charges. The only problem is that everybody then starts competing to see who can record the fastest speed :)

My mate had that on his iPhone and was being SUPER competitive. LOL

I was under the impression I needed to have data roaming on to use it, and there is NO WAY I am that keen!!

I turn my data off at the airport just before departure.

I am off to Niseko next weekend so I might look at downloading it :)

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I was under the impression I needed to have data roaming on to use it, and there is NO WAY I am that keen!!

I turn my data off at the airport just before departure.

I am off to Niseko next weekend so I might look at downloading it :)

 

My friend visited last month and he used the gps-motion-x app on his iPhone. He used wifi to download the maps and start the tracker, but after that he was fine and didn't need to use roaming. The big downside is that it drains the battery, and personally I'd rather have some juice left in case I need to call rescue!

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True!

 

I might give it a go. Although I am going without a board this trip and testing different boards out until I find one I like...so I don't think I will be totally opening up the jets this time around.

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Hello. I am planning on a trip to Japan in late March or early April. I would love to experience the incredible fresh "pow" I hear about in Niseko. Will there likely be any left the first week of April?

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Hello. I am planning on a trip to Japan in late March or early April. I would love to experience the incredible fresh "pow" I hear about in Niseko. Will there likely be any left the first week of April?

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

You can get an idea from the April 2011 snow reports at http://www.snowjapan.com/e/daily/niseko-now-archive.php?month=04&year=2011

 

It looks like the first week was a mixture of sun, snow and rain, and the snow was wet & heavy as opposed to the famous dry & light Niseko pow.

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Thanks. Late March looked good last year but I guess every year is different....just like it is here in CA. Last year was epic and this year is terrible!. How has this year been for Niesko. Do any long range forecasters predict what the month of March will look like. Earliest I could get there would be the last week and it sounds like it is a hassle to get there from Tokyo which would be my base.

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It's my first year in Niseko but I'd say it's been pretty awesome :) . We've had over 13m of snow so far at village level and I believe it is more than they had all of last year.

 

It is a bit of a pain to get to Niseko from Tokyo - it's a good 6 hours from central Tokyo to piste. If you're short on time then you may want to head to Yuzawa which is less than 2 hours from central Tokyo.

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this year, Japan as a whole has had awesome snow. Niseko isn't really a hassle to get to from Tokyo...........it depends on how you look at it. If you are in Tokyo as a base, is there any particular reason why your going up to Hokkaido to ride? You could ride in Honshu the end of March/start of April.......of course at that time of year you are gambling with the Gods. There will be snow, but it is likely that it won't be the Japow that you've read about and that goes for everywhere. However, thats not to say that you won't get the goods in Hokkaido or even down here in Honshu.....it all depends on the weather. Yes Hokkaido is further north, but the mountains tend to be a good bit lower in altitude so its a bit 6's and 7's sometimes as to where you are gonna get the best conditions at that time of year

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Basically by April you'd be very lucky to have anything close to the famed deep powder in Niseko. Daytime temps by then are consistently getting above freezing at the base of the mountain and although it can snow it won't remain good quality down low for long. Up higher on the mountain it can be really nice but unlikely to be all that deep. You'd be best to expect Spring conditions by then and be happy if you do get fresh snow. It's almost certainly not going to be January quality though.

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Basically by April you'd be very lucky to have anything close to the famed deep powder in Niseko. Daytime temps by then are consistently getting above freezing at the base of the mountain and although it can snow it won't remain good quality down low for long. Up higher on the mountain it can be really nice but unlikely to be all that deep. You'd be best to expect Spring conditions by then and be happy if you do get fresh snow. It's almost certainly not going to be January quality though.

Exactly what I was thinking, enjoy the spring conditions and take it as a nice bonus if some fresh snow comes

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