TheSkiingWombat 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hi there Question for all those who know Shiga Kogen well. Is about 5 days there a good amount of time? Too short/long? We all ski and so can use all of the areas. We're trying to balance out Shiga Kogen, Nozawa, Myoko and perhaps Hakuba. Danke gozaimasu! Link to post Share on other sites
davidnoble 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hi Wombat-san, having just been to Shiga Kogen for 5.5 days I can answer that. One question I would ask you up front though is are you planning on going this season or next? The thing is, there are only a limited number of lifts open now that we past March. Link to post Share on other sites
TheSkiingWombat 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Oh definitely next season! I like there to be snow. Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I suppose also it will depend on how long you plan in the other places. If you had 2 weeks, for example, personally I'd split it something like this 4 days Nozawa 4 days Shiga Kogen 4 days Myoko If I reduced one of those, it would be the Nozawa bit. Link to post Share on other sites
davidnoble 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 OK. There is still 1.5m of snow there (in Ichinose) at the moment. The problem is when we went most of the lifts were shut during the week - which was kind of OK for the first 2 days until the kids learnt to ski, but by then it was virtually the weekend anyway. Anyway, if you are going during the official season that won't be a problem. There are 20 ski areas in Shiga Kogen so you could certainly do 10 days or so before you've skiied it all. The other thing about Shiga Kogen is there's no nightlife to speak of, other than what goes on in your hotel or the occasional Izakaya. Which is fine for families anyway. It's almost an hour on the bus between Ichinose which is the biggest cluster of hotels and the Kumanoyou/Yokoteyama area. I would think 6/7 days would be perfect. You could plan: 1. Yokoteyama/Shibutoge/Kumanoyou 2. OkuShigaKogen 3. YakebitaiYama/Ichinose Diamond. 4. Ichinose Family/Tanne no Mori Okojo 5. Maruike/Sun Valley/Hasuike. 6. Terakoya/Mammoth. Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post BagOfCrisps 24 Posted May 1, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted May 1, 2013 For me, 5 days is stretching it. 3 for me. Can't cope with the mad nightlife for any more than that. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
TheOriginalMyoko 0 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Of course depends on the kind of place you want. I'm not so keen on Shiga Kogen really, it's all too spread out, bits that are snowboarder unfriendly (doesn't affect you of course), and I never seem to hit it with mad snow. Lots of that here in Myoko. Link to post Share on other sites
OzOzOz 2 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Shiga Kogen seems to bring out love or dislike in people more than other places I feel. If you want lively evenings, avoid! Link to post Share on other sites
window-cleaner 0 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I could easy spend a week in Shiga Kogen, love it. I'd weigh in more than Nozzle. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 An harrumph on shiga kogen! four days is enough. You can extend it if you like, but you can also spend a week at sugadaira if you like... Day 1, play around Yakebi/okushiga. Theres loads of fun looking lines between the two that i couldnt touch (off piste was awful anyway when i went). This would also include some time heading over to ichinose. Day 2: go get Kumanoyu out the way along with Yokote. 70% of that mountain is absolute crap (the bvery top, and the bottom half). Youll be fed up soon enough regardless of your two planking. Day 3: Go explore some of those god awful tiny zones for the sake of pokemon completionism if you have to in the morning then spend the afternoon killing it on the higashi/giant/nishitateiyama bit. Day 4: Relive your best moments (Terakoya, yakebi, okushiga, higashitateiyama). Day 5: Well now youre just properly repeating yourself. Heres what id do on nozzie: Day 1: Go play and explore. Day 2: Head to Togari. Go play and explore. Day 3: Go play and explore some more. Day 4: holy crap! this mountain is full of secrets! I wish i knew about that on day 1! id have been riding it all week! Nozzie has way more stuff going on than youd think. Its also INCREDIBLE after a proper drop. I can also categorically state that it took until around day ten for me to feel like i was treading water and repeating myself and that was predominantly riding the groomers/semi legit slackcountry. If the taps are on though, just bounce around mizunashi/ushikubi/kurokura. If its busy just top to bottom, and take the nagasaka gondola back up. Always goes quick even in the busiest days. Still love the place, and in a few years itll be awesome to come back in peak season and hit up all my favorite lines again Im already excited. Myoko: Observe weather: prioritise suginohara on the puke. Its awesome on a puke! Day 1: Akakan. Day 2: Suginohara Day 3: Ikenotaira. (you just should - objectively not really worth a full day unless youre progressing beginner, but its still a fun little mountain to pop in and out of trees and under lifts). Day 4: Which one did you like best? Go play in there again! I adore suginohara to be honest. But i fell in love with that mountain on my first day riding it. So half of its probably nostalgia Hakuba: I dunno, day 1: happo. Day 2: Goryu Day 3: Goryu Day 4: Goryu. If its puking, feel free to switch out any goryu day for a trip to norikura/cortina. Cant tell you about iwatake (or cortina/norikura for that matter), but i can tell you i HATE Tsugaike. Which might actually be a ringing endorsement if you disagree with everything ive written thus far Obviously im not really best placed to tell you much about hakuba, which is kinda sad since i always mean to go there every season and have a wee explore with a few more snowmiles under my belt. Other resorts worth a day or two on top of that if you dont mind moving about: Kijimadaira (is AWESOME!!! if the top lift is running - weekends and public holidays only). That top line is worth ticking off. And the backside of it is genuinely fantastic. Kosha (kiji, yomase, xjam and that other one) is kind of a fun ticket i think. And definitely worth spending a day if youre in a gentle mood for just wandering about a bit for a change of place, though not everyone will agree with me on that. Maybe i was just perfect zen the weekend i hit it up Madarao/Tangram. In a drop, great fun. Free open lines all over madarao. Tangram has some super quick lines. Day 1 there on a dorta drop (about 20cm) was a hoot. Day 2 (ice and holiday weekend) was pure hell. Id honestly avoid if its not snowed a while. Tangram gets gnarly and madarao gets pretty crapped up. Togari: Mentioned in Nozawa but worth a day of fun. No more than two days, but for a one day trip, you cant beat it on pure casual ski jo cheap riding powder dumping awesomeness! Dont pick over something like nozawa, but again, these are extras for little ninja days to break it all up. Brilliant little place. Some fun fast lines in the pow. Ryuoo: The mighty super secret of Nagano. Go here. Fit it in somehow. The ropeway run is brilliant. Id recommend youre pretty decent on your skis mind you to run it. But way worth it. If this was a fantasy world where you could only spend 1 day maximum at any resort, Ryuoo would be pretty high up the list for most people. Two days it gets a bit old, but one day its genuinely one of the most fun places ive ridden. Seki: One day ill actually go there. Hear so much about it but never quite make it. Probably only if you really love your powder though. Link to post Share on other sites
TheSkiingWombat 0 Posted May 4, 2013 Author Share Posted May 4, 2013 Thanks! Thats something to go off for sure No rush, will give it more thought Link to post Share on other sites
best skier in hakuba 5 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Good write up there, ippy, as usual. Ryuoo is certainly worth a visit, easily over Togari or Kijimadaira for me. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Yeah, I wouldn't waste a day at Togari Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Same here. For those staying in Nozawa for a week or more, perhaps... Link to post Share on other sites
kkk 7 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Good friend stayed in Shiga Kogen for 4 nights. They said were they to do it again they'd not stay as long. I think it was the dead-ness of everything outside of the lifts that did it for them. Link to post Share on other sites
emmachan 0 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 A couple of nights would be fine. If you are in a large group you can make your own fun otherwise it is very quiet at night. I would suggest Nozawa and Hakuba as good choices. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Ah Ryuoo. Didn't make it again. Next season, DEFINITELY. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Worth a go. And I'd like to see your photos from there. Link to post Share on other sites
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