Thundercat 60 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 When: March 26-27 Where: Kagura Snow conditions: boot-knee deep spring powder, hard pack, slush, mochi. Another lucky win for my wife and I from the SJ giveaway sent us up to Kagura for two days. We spent the previous day at Sugadaira and drove up through Gunma-ken, which was a lovely and scenic drive. There were some nice looking little ski-jos along the way as well. As we approached Yuzawa Machi, not far from Naeba, the snow started coming down pretty heavily. We went from solid spring conditions to winter in only a few short hours. As it was our first time in this area I was quite impressed by the massive infrastructure at both Naeba and Kagura. It was obvious that these places were huge and rangy, even from the road. Driving into Yuzawa Machi is easy and straight-forward and everything is clearly marked and relatively logically laid out. We had booked a little hotel called Takehana at the base of Nunoba ski-jo, a part of Yuzawa Kogen ski-jo. It was a typical little Japanese style place with very helpful mom and dad running the show. You get what you pay for and this place was cheap but the breakfast was good and the views from our room were fantastically stoke inspiring. Just a hundred meters or so down the road from our hotel was the famous Ninjintei tonkatsu restaurant that Muikabochi had recommended. It was certainly a good place to eat and one of my favourite restaurants in a while. I had the hire katsu teishoku and she had the ebi teishoku (or something like that). I also enjoyed the dai-jyoki of beer... it was big and beery. One was almost enough. March 26: It snowed all night. Out the window from our room we could see about 5cms (or more) of snow. It was easy to finish breakfast quickly and we were at the Mitsumata ropeway by 8:15. From the base area it is almost impossible to get any idea of the vastness of Kagura. Even from the top of the ropeway you don't see much. It's not until you board over to the Kagura gondola and are half way up the hill that you can begin to gauge the size of the place. I was really chomping at the bit to get to boarding after seeing boot to knee deep snow all over the piste. It remained cold all day as well which kept the snow nice and fresh the entire day (and even most of the next morning). Kagura is basically three areas: Mitsumata, Kagura and Tashiro. The Mitsumata area has a couple of beginner runs and a terrain park, the Kagura area has advanced and intermediate runs (and a little park with a giant jump that they were just beginning to build), and the Tashiro area is basically a beginner area with some long flat runs that can catch you out if you are not paying attention. After spending the morning smashing up the pow in the Kagura area, which has great side/slack/back country runs and loads of treed areas, we made our way over to the Tashiro area. On our first day we basically boarded every run at the ski-jo and just on our way back from the Dragondola area of Tashiro we cover 17.5 kms (according to my GPS) to get back to our car. Going from Kagura over to Tashiro involves a lot of flat annoying runs but on the way back the lift system gets you higher up the hill and there are some pretty fun lines to hit. It was a little cloudy and snowy the entire day so it was somewhat difficult to get a good understanding of what we were getting into. It made the side/back country options much more daunting than they actually are. All in all, it was a fantastic day of boarding and there were almost no indications that it was the end of March (other than a few places where it was dust on crust). We drove back into Yuzawa completely satisfied after a long day on the slopes. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a restaurant as nice as the first one and ended up at a little izakaya down the road from our hotel that was pretty standard fair. Anyway, a few beers helped me get over that small disappointment. March 27: We woke up to clear blue skies. The morning had an unmistakeable spring feel to it and the forecasts were calling for warmer temperatures than the day before. Because of work commitments, I had to admit to myself that this was going to be my last day of the season on the slopes. Time to swap snow for ocean! Anyway, we got up the hill at about the same time and the blue skies gave way to massive views up and down the valley as well as the surrounding peaks and back country areas. Kagura is a beast of a mountain. Every time I rode a different lift I counted almost endless runs down from the peak in different directions. I made mental notes of the lines I wanted to hit and banked quite a few for future reference. I'm not sure what the ski-jo's policy is towards riding 'out of bounds areas' but there were almost no ropes anywhere and ski patrol was nowhere to be seen. I'm definitely going to go back there during my February holidays and do some guided tours to get a fuller appreciation of what is on offer. There is a lot of fun terrain for those who like to venture further afield. The morning had stayed cool enough not to degrade the quality of the snow too much. We lapped some fun little tree runs and bombed some funs lines down wide fast groomers. I even spent a few runs on my wife's small, super flexible board hitting up some fun little features. Unfortunately, by the time we decided to ski back down to the Mitsumata area the warm weather had taken a toll on the snow and it was like boarding on mochi, which over flat areas is a massive pain in the ass. While I didn't have to unstrap at times I felt like it would be less of a bother to just walk down the course. I really like this ski-jo and feel like I should have gone here a long long time ago. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a pain to get to from where I live because it's difficult to avoid driving through Tokyo traffic to get there... and while we had no problems using the Kanetsu I can see how this highway could be a massive pain in the ass. One bonus of driving this road is that there was an awesome burger truck at the Akagi Kogen PA. Will I go back there? Absolutely! I can't wait to see what fun there is to be had after some epic Niigata style snow. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Nice report and pics! Got me itching to get back there again myself before the season is out - forgot about skiing with the warm March we've had but I really should get out for a few days in the spring... Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 Yes go! But pack some wax in your bag coz you're gonna need it (unless you get lucky)!! Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Great place, glad you scored some powder on it. Definitely get here on a proper niigata drop though. The place is bananas. Link to post Share on other sites
sand 17 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Nice report, thanks BM. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Thanks BM. Glad you liked Ninjintei, it's one of our regulars. Haven't been to Kagura for 2 seasons now. I feel I should be punished for that, being a 25 minute drive away! Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Nice report and photos BM! Like you, I've only done one, short, March-trip to Kagura but definitely want to go back there with better conditions. Haven't been to Kagura for 2 seasons now. I feel I should be punished for that, being a 25 minute drive away! When you've got the Big G on your doorstep, why would you want to go anywhere else! Talking of which, did you not think of heading over that way BM? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Nice BM.....I do like Kagura myself. I liked the mysterious veiling of you and Mrs BM's face....you big tease you!! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Nice report and photos BM! Like you, I've only done one, short, March-trip to Kagura but definitely want to go back there with better conditions. Haven't been to Kagura for 2 seasons now. I feel I should be punished for that, being a 25 minute drive away! When you've got the Big G on your doorstep, why would you want to go anywhere else! Talking of which, did you not think of heading over that way BM? You're right! Hey what's with the Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I think it's because Mick is a corporate saboteur for one of the big rival ski-jo's......talk up Mt G and then not go, so his ski-Jo can point to the low numbers and say "a-ha!!" Just as well Mt G has a HUGE marketing machine behind it to counter act the jealousy from other less modern, smaller resorts Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I've been called many things but never "corporate saboteur" - I like it! I also liked the mysterious face-covering pix! Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 I actually considered Mt. Granview but it's closed on week days, isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Yeah, it's only open on weekends in March (I think) and this one's the last of the season. I guess it's still possible to hike up though! Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Nice report Black Mountain. I too haven't been to Kagura this year. Not keen on Tashiro, it's the main Kagura bit for me. And yes Ninjintei is good! Link to post Share on other sites
@tokyo 14 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 dai-jyoki >> MEGA-jyoki, Black Mountain Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 My mistake! The funny thing was the second place we went to also had a mega-jyoki. Must be a Yuzawa thing Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 TK6 in Sapporo also has mega jokki....800 yen during happy hour Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 It's a good workout on the arm muscles lifting those things when full. Exercise. Good reason to get one! Link to post Share on other sites
seemore 66 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Cheers BM Great report Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Nice report BM. I have liked Kagura when I went. Can get very busy esp. early and late season though. Weekdays if at all possible. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 We were lucky enough to be able to go on a weekday. It wasn't busy but you could see that it could get very busy. Link to post Share on other sites
gnarly-dude 1 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 It can get mad up there. Car park full at 8am kind of mad, and that's one decent sized card park as well. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Yes and that main quad at Kagura was probably the longest I have ever waited for a lift. Must have been 45 minutes. This is a few years back not recently. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Yeah that quad is a real choke point Link to post Share on other sites
1 4 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Servicing a good area though. Link to post Share on other sites
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