myoko Myokokogen's suginohara weekday review

[JohnPaulIII 0]

THANK YOU SNOWJAPAN for the free lift ticket!!!

 

Here is my review of Myokokogen's suginohara from the perspective of a lower intermediate level boarder on a wednesday.

 

Finding the place was quite easy as the toll booth attendant from the highway gave us a map and told us how to get there.

 

The parking for this place is convenient, better than a lot of other places since there is really only one massive lot.

 

Of course, it was a weekday so it was at about 5% capacity, a MAJOR plus.

 

Myoko in general doesn't get nearly as many foreigners as Hakuba so there seemed to be more excitement than usual

at our presence.

 

There are also some ski lodges ON the mountain, as in you can stay in a cabin or lodge, strap on your board and ride

down to a lift from your room. Very cool

 

 

On to the snow...

 

There is still PLENTY of it

 

 

Suginohara was running their gondola, two double lifts and one quad. So four lifts doesn't sound like much but let me tell you,

it takes a solid 30 minutes of nonstop riding to get from the top of the quad down to the bottom of the gondola. This place is

LONG! If you are looking for a little exercise with your riding this place is great.

 

Park riders: The snow park on the far left side of the park is quite good. It has at least 15 jumps one after the other with

probably 5 sets of rails 4-5 boxes a couple rainbow rails including one that is about a meter up from the edge of the lip.

If you know what you are doing, this park could be quite good. There was no halfpipe but plenty of quarter edges that

people were launching off of.

 

For intermediates (like myself): The area to the far right side of the gondola (take a right when you exit the gondola)

was filled with sets of small jumps. The kind that you can really build confidence on. I definitely learned a thing or two

about how to handle jumps by cruising around this side. There are probably 4 sets of 5 jumps randomly placed along

the path going down along the gondola.

 

For beginners: For true beginners, I really wouldn't recommend this place. There are a few beginner runs but if you are

learning then this is not the place for you. There is really only one or two bunny slopes, in comparison to ikenotaira which has

about 6. On the other hand if you can turn and want to build confidence by forcing yourself to ride for a long time

the runs are long enough that you will definitely get a hang of it by the end of one or two runs.

 

Off piste: The signs are strict, but the people were not. That may have been because it was a weekday though.

 

 

 

All in all I had an amazing time. Although the sand blew in in the morning and rain did fall in the afternoon, our spirits

were not dampened. Probably the highlight of the trip was racing to the bottom of the gondola at 4:01. The gate

was closed and the sign said closed but we called out for one more time and believe it or not they opened the

gate for us and let us on!!! This kind of rule breaking is quite rare in Japan so I couldn't believe their kindness.

 

They say you can see mount fuji from here when the weather cooperates. It was hazy for us but still you can

see a few other mountains, a lake and the valley below. Not a bad view at all.

 

Anyway I highly recommend this place especially for people who want to learn to do jumps or challenge

your skills in the park.

[ippy 66]

Suginohara holds a really special place in my heart. The first line i ever rode on it was that "powder" line down the middle towards mitahara. I decided there and then that id pick up my season pass. Ive probably ridden it twice i think since 2009, and i genuinely adore it. Its been great exploring nozawa this season, but id dearly love to be able to get to grips with suginohara now that i feel im at a level where i could go up and out on it.

[muikabochi 208]

Thanks for sharing John Paul!