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Having won a free ticket from the kind people at both Snow Japan and Maiko Korakuen resort in Niigata, I happily roped in a driving friend and his son and we had a day out from Kanagawa. Right from the off, the stars seemed to be aligned against us as my mate got lost on the way to my house to pick me up!! The weather report was for light snow but the previous 2 or 3 days had been significantly warmer and there was some rain so I wasn't expecting there to be stellar conditions.

 

An early start for a drive from Shonan, picked up and on the road for 4.45am....not bad. we had to make stop in Tokyo for a mate before running the gauntlet of the dreaded Kan-Etsu Expressway! Anyone who has read some of my car trip exploits before will realise that I have a hate-hate relationship with this road. I sacrificed some small children, a couple of goats and even promised to go back to church if only the road gods would smile on us.........my appeals fell on deaf ears.....silver lining, I can sleep easy on a Sunday morning! ;)

 

Traffic into Tokyo was free and flowing, traffic out wasn't bad....onto the devils road and boom!! The navi was screaming Jyu-tai (traffic jam) at us every 5 secs. Snails pace up through Saitama, finally catching up with the head of the jam to see that some dozy fool straight on rear-ended some unsuspecting car full of snowboarders, they won't be sliding today and the Kan-Etsu devil road took another victim. Onward and upwards!!

 

Finally free of the choke point we tried to make up some time. The little ETA clock on the Navi said 10.10am.....I'll have that, I thought. Through that tunnel from Gunma to Niigata and what was generally green and brown turned into a glorious white. Snow banks starting to pile higher as we drive closer to Yuzawa. we were gibbering so much that we missed the turn off at Shiozawa-Ishiuchi.....the Kan-Etsu wasn't finished yet!! So after a 20km detour to the next IC and back we were FINALLY at the resort at a time of just after 11am. :doh:

 

Maiko is a nice compact resort, not exactly challenging, the lower "run" on the gondola side is maddeningly flat and crap but the runs in the back bowl area at the top left of the trail map and also the smaller area at the top right of the trail map can be lots of fun.

 

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To access the bowl area you need the gondola......it was closed! Or you need the last two pair lifts.....they were closed doh! Up to the highest point we could go to have a look at what we have.....

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It was blowing a gale JUST as we got a little higher on the lift, so all the exposed faces had had their new snow cover blown from them, leaving the previous day's rain inspired ice crust dangerously exposed. The upper runs were bulletproof and instead of the usual swish-swoosh noises that you come to expect in Japan, it was harsh scraping all the way. We regrouped at the Mountain Restaurant at the top of the Nagamine Quad and decided to head over to the Maiko area of the resort.

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Usually I avoid this area as its mellow runs are best suited for beginners and I like the bowl area on the other side. However today, this area was best runs. The snow was soft and shiny on piste which gave for fast conditions, but at least a little give in the snow. We did a few laps of the of the centre quad lift while giving my mates son some tips and pointers. We could only look up longingly at the area served by the Maiko triple as that was shut as well. Snow probably would've been nice up there as its a little sheltered from the wind.

 

 

To re-cap, a huge thankyou to the people at Snow Japan and maiko resort for providing the freebies. Maiko is a decent resort when the coditions are good.....the top areas of both sides are definitely the places to have your powder fun, however on this day the snow gods deffo were not playing nice. Coupled with the whims of the Devil road, this wasn't exactly the best day I've ever had on the snow. That said, its always nice to get out the house and into the mountains for a slide around, it was snowing all day ranging from big fat flakes to small polystyrene balls and back to big fat flakes when we were leaving so, anyone up there today, conditions should be much better.

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I need to cross off Maiko from my list of Paradise Alley resorts to hit up, so thanks for posting TB! :thumbsup: Though perhaps you need to review those snow god sacrifices! ;)

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