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Thanks WVS... apologies for the Niseko comment. I was just trying to contextualise. These resorts are so quiet I don't think it's a bad thing if they get a few more international visitors.   Toma

Asahidake   We failed in our attempts to find a guide for Asahidake---- but when we woke to another bluebird day and no wind we decided to go look at Asahidake anyway. Even on the drive up the moun

Pippu   What a nice surprise. When we first arrived my first thoughts were this place was tiny....       Definitely more of a hill than a mountain. But what a fun one. It had been three d

Yesterday the wind was howling-- but at least there was some fresh snow. We headed to Niseko- Hanazono to try find shelter in the trees. That there was (it was still cold out there though) but unfortunately not enough snow had gathered to cover the ice layer beneath. We gave it a shot for an hour or two before deciding a big lunch-- then beer/onsen was more appealing.

 

Today was another story :) With the avi report saying some of the gates may not open or be delayed we decided to somewhere we could stay in bounds and still find untracked fun:

 

Rusutsu

Honestly it was terrible.. don't bother going there :happyshades: .

Unfortunately I think it's a bit late to play that card as there were plenty of Westerns there today... but with so many tree patches to pick from at least it spread the crew out. Some areas were wind affected and very icy... others were awesome. Had a good day picking easy routes between the groomers in the trees. There are so many "legal" tree runs here-- and most pop out nicely onto a groomer to get back to a lift. With a bit of caution watching for creeks ect. at the bottom of some of the gully's ect it's a pretty easy place to explore.

 

Rusutsu

Rusutsu sunshine.

 

We stayed at the resort a few years ago - and oh my is it quirky. It's not really our style- so it's nice coming here for a day trip now. I do like the addition of the dog shaped bus running between the carparks.

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Yeah... still got a grin from ear to ear. Waiting for the forecast snow to dump tonight... fingers crossed and tomorrow should be epic.

 

Sadly the bus isn't fluffy.... that would be even more awesome. I didn't pull the camera in time unfortunately.

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Ill try and get a pic of the bus lol. Tomorrow looks good with snow falling pretty much all night . Friday is going to be HUGE!

FWIW I filmed a heap of sick runs today with no card in the gopro!!!

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I'm trying not to look. We fly out Thurs arvo (seriously looking at pushing flights back a day or so).

 

Nice one with the gopro. Better than our effort though---- we were having too much fun to stop and pull our old fashioned camera out (and your had gets cold).

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:D :D :D :D :D

It's days like today that remind me why we love it so much here and keep coming back each year. It was a day you needed wiper blades for your goggles (after the face shots) and a defroster to unfreeze the smile on your face.

 

Seeing the avi report and weather reports it looked like Niseko top lifts might not run---- and definitely no high gates. But good news was at least 15cm overnight and still snowing. We made the call to head back to Rusutsu - as when I checked on Monday with similar winds most lifts ran that day and there a lot of runs in gullies where you can get out of the wind. We had to dig the car out to get there - but boy we were rewarded. Deep stashed on some runs --- and we were still finding freshies on our last runs of the day. It was cold out there so the ice left on after face shots were punishing once you were back in the open- but soooo worth it. Sorry no pics---- couldn't bring ourselves to stop and pull the camera out (and visibility wasn't great).

 

Beer now and after a hotpot tonight I'll be very contented--- it's amazing how one day like this makes the whole trip worthwhile.

 

Think tomorrow will be good also as the wind will die down and all the places closed today will be on.

 

I got as far as calling Cathay to try push our flights back-- no seats available doh! Ah well-- we should be able to manage a sneaky one Thursday morning on the way tot he airport.

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Fun day at Kiroro today. Snow was a little heavier and not as deep as yesterday but it was still nice out there-- and much more pleasant weather. The mountain had definitely been wind affected-- I'm not sure the technical term but you could see the ridges and shadows of snow carved by the wind. Our first expeditions into the trees in the most obvious spots were a little disappointing after yesterdays ventures as the snow changed from boot deep powder to ice rapidly. But as we found our way a little later we found some fun knee deep sections with plenty of fresh lines. We still had freshies on the last runs of the today with a few face shot worthy turns. Nice way to finish up :)

 

With despair we are still leaving tomorrow... although looking at the forecast we might well be stuck at the airport for a while. We'll try get a sneaky quick session at maybe Moiwa in the morning (another benefit of having a car and not being on the bus). I can't believe we haven't been there yet this trip--- a couple of epic days at this little place on previous trips was one of the motivators to start exploring more in the first place.

 

Actually it's a little weird finishing off a trip without really riding at Niseko either (only 2 hours at Hanazono on a windy day)--- we've been having so much fun exploring other places and with the weather we kind of ran out of time (despite staying here the past 4 nights). I suppose haven't spent quite a bit of time there in other years and this trip was about trying elsewhere - so thats where our motivation was.

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Thanks... not a regret or an apology there. Just an observation. When we planned this trip we thought it would be nice to finish in Niseko. Back in the comfort zone and staying walking distance to lifts. But once we got into this trip we were loving freedom to choose our destination for the day and finding new routes and we didn't want to stop.

 

Niseko has served us very well in the past as our riding developed - and in my mind still has a purpose/place depending on what your looking for on a trip. It still served well as a nice base camp this time round--- and it was a change of scene having English conversations again after our first 10 days trying mime/bad Japanese/English.

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