Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 interesting pics there Ippy. I just don't know how you could motivate yourself to go all the way up there for that, though. If I lived in the area then I'd MAYBE go on the odd day, but I find it a little depressing to see so little, poor quality snow. The fact that I live 2 trains, a shink and a bus ride away means that there is no way I'd head up there . I'm now in full on beach season down in Shonan, was bodyboarding last Friday and may even hit the water today if there are any decent waves Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'm a simply 30 minute drive away, and not even going! Good for ippy though - dedication! Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Its actually a stack of fun seeing it all barren. I dunno, if it was just a regular day at kagura (in march) i would have been less interested and probably heading over to naeba once id done a few laps of the sidecountry stuff. Instead it was a blast seeing the place in the sunshine with all the colors. The reservoir at Tashiro was gorgeous and if you fancy a hike down it would be a cracking little place to have your lunch. Its also pretty amazing that they still do have a line you can ride all the way to the base. Thats some piece of solid groundskeeping there. I cant imagine its got a week left in it, but then again i wouldnt imagine it would even be there this late on. Honestly, my immediate first impression when i got there wasnt "well this sucks!", it was actually "man, this is awesome fun! everyone should come see this!" Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Nice pics ippy, good to see what it looks like now. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Pics already up MO! http://www.snowjapan...-may-in-kagura/ Looks awesome. I'd do it, if it weren't that I won't. Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Its also pretty amazing that they still do have a line you can ride all the way to the base. Thats some piece of solid groundskeeping there. It is pretty wild, wonder how much work goes into keeping it going like that. I'm pretty sure they usually have the bus going between the top of Mitsumata Ropeway and the base of the Gondola by now. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 saw that road and was honestly surprised to see it Its also definitely falling into disrepair. Probably need to shore up some of those areas a bit. Also realised if you have a car and can drive up the hill to the kagura gondola station (and not that i would EVER do something so heinous), you can park outside it, sneak in through the trees and ride for free since no one EVER checks your ticket outside the ropeway. What else? Ah yes, i am really kinda tempted to head back up there next sunday for its last day. Kinda nice to be able to say i was riding the last day of the season for niigata. Ill see how much cash i still have left by the end of thsi week. If i havent dipped into the 25k sitting in my bank i might just have another crack at it. Sure, the moguls were annoying as hell, but honestly, you can still ride under the pair lift if you need a bit of space and you can still cut into the trees if you like and by pass almost all of it (but it can get slow going and chances are you will have a wee hike out somewhere near the bottom thanks to the scrub poking through). Either way, ive got 5 months of not snowboarding, thats plenty of time to not snowboard. So i might as well go out while i can still go out And i cant think of a better thing than to be on the last lifts on the last day of the season to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 If i havent dipped into the 25k sitting in my bank i might just have another crack at it. If you have $25000 in the bank, you can easy afford it ippy! And soom beer too. Maybe even a cake! (If you're talking GBP - better still!) Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 i have exactly that (the second the yen and dollar hit parity!) Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Looking on the positive side of this, you can still very probably afford a cake. Though obviously a pie would be preferable. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 pies are on m... hang on, werent you taking orders for pies while you were back in the UK? Wheres my pie? Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 ippy, it must have got lost in the post. Either that or I ate it. I'll be back in summer so you can put another order in. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Did you/are you making it to Kagura this weekend? Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 nah. I really wanted to go tomorrow for the last day but the weather report is for a lot of rain. And just woke up 10 minutes ago so today is pretty much out. Season is over (well, aside a gassan trip). Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Ended up with no rain - well just a bit in the evening. All done now. Link to post Share on other sites
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