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Kusatsu Kokusai Ski resort, Gunma Wed 28th March 2012


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This trip was compliments of Snow Japan for providing two free lift tickets that I won during the giveaways! Thank you!

 

Well when I left my house it was sunny, and by the time I passed by Matsumoto it had already clouded over and as I got closer to Gunma started seeing some snow flurries.

By the time we arrived at Kusatsu around 9:15am it was snowing a little more steadily, but nothing was settling.

 

Anyway the resort it's self is small really, but has a big feel because of the very long 8.5 klm course.

As well as the long run there is also a short quite steep advanced kobu kobu course which is quite challenging. I went on it several times, and with my long skis have to say it was difficult to make the turns at times, but made for a fun and rewarding time.

There are three lifts and one Gondola that services the whole resort.

2 pair lifts for the bottom of the resort, one quad lift for the upper bottom part of the resort and then the gondola from the half way mark that takes you to the top of the resort.

Actually there was another lift next to the pair lift that was not running, I assume because of the lack of people.

 

There are a couple of biggish building at the base that houses a KFC, restaurant on the ground floor and a rest room on the second floor.

 

There is also a gift / accessories shop too.

Half way up and also at the top there were also restaurants, although we didn't go in them.

Not sure what the food was like as we brought our own, which was a good choice when we saw the length of the line of people waiting to get served.

 

The snow conditions in the morning ranged from crappy sticky snow at the bottom, actually was like trying to ski on glue, to rather good conditions up top, especially off piste were the snow was so light and deep, you could not here even the slightest sound from the skis as they effortlessly sliced through the powder.

The other great thing was the lack of people especially at the top, where most of the time it was just us and occasionally you would see another person or two as you work your way down to the bottom.

 

 

Around 11:30 the snow really started coming down, in fact I would have to say it was dumping, and continued like this until around 2:30pm when the snow eased off and the were just light snow showers off and on.

 

But in that time at the base a solid 5+ cm's were deposited with at least 10+ up top, which made skiing up top in the PM superb as good as any mid winter days, especially off piste, it was just heaven!

The base became ski-able then, but soon got sticky again once the snow eased.

It was also pretty windy with poor visibility for a while, not that this stopped us enjoying ourselves.

 

The down side to this was that I couldn't take any really good scenic pics due to lack of visibility.

 

I think if it was not for the length of the ski slope then the resort would not be so special, but because of the length and differences in terrain from the top to the bottom it made it a really nice and fun place to ski.

It was a fun day had by all, and we all agreed that we will certainly like to go back there again next year, on a sunny day after a good dump the night before.

 

If you are looking for a large resort with many varying slopes, terrains, etc then this maybe is not the place to go, but for anyone who is happy to stay at a smaller resort and enjoy the nice long runs with varying degrees of difficulty then this is a place to go.

I don't think you would be bored, we spent a day there and were still having fun when we finished around 4:30pm.

 

We actually finished off our day by visiting Kusatsu onsen just down from the resort. Laying back in the onsen while the snow was falling on our heads was a perfect end to a great day.

 

I will upload the pics on here tomorrow or monday.

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Nice review snowdude! :thumbsup: I was here back on Christmas Eve when I had the sunshine and fresh snow, but much of the resort wasn't open including that long, linking run. That onsen's great though, isn't it!!

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It's a weird place isn't it. Feels kind of big, but actually quite small.

I do remember enjoying the top bit though, would like to go back.

Hold on let me pull out the old well-worn phrase from the back of my drawer here ----- 'maybe next year'

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I just added photos from last weeks ski trip to Kusatsu. A little late, but as they say better late than never!

You will find the pics at the top of this forum.

 

May add them to this thread later too with a description!!

Anyway enjoy the pics!

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Nice pics, a lot of snow has gone since I was there in mid March. Not so much off the runs, but there was a lot less snow in the background of those shots than a couple of weeks ago.

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