Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 this long weekend myself and mrs Beaver decided to escape the city and head for the hills to enjoy some fresh air, peace and quiet and some beautiful autumn colours. While the trees aren't at their autumnal peak just yet, the colours on view are certainly impressive....... I had never been to Tomamu in any season before but I had heard good things about the snow, lack of crowds and liberal attitude to riding unpisted snow. I was a little surprised to see that the runs, whilst not particularly long, seemed to be fairly steep.....perhaps its just a trick of the eye looking at the hills without snow. I had heard about the "stylish" tower hotel buildings and I was happy when I found that I would be staying in a room on the 32nd floor of Tower 1.......perhaps they don't quite fit in with the surroundings but they do give up some terrific views The hotel itself was very comfortable and clean, its a little rough round the edges as most resort hotels tend to be in Japan. The food was actually very good, if not a little expensive. there isn't anything else in the area so you are stuck with one of the restaurants (of which there are quite a few) from the hotel. The Ghengis Khan nomi-tabehodai was excellent. We also went to the buffet restaurant, Ninipuuri and the food on offer was fantastic. The nomihodai is only an extra 800¥ and while it stated its only for 90 mins, the staff are very busy in a huge restaurant and continued to re-fill our glass for an extra hour! The facilities on offer were somewhat reduced as they moved into the transitional period between green and white season.......the swimming pool was open and looked excellent.....at 2500¥ to get in, we passed on the chance of a dip. That said, we did make use of the excellent onsen. The rotunburo at night is fantastic, the air temp was below 10 and it was awesome to sit in the hot bath and gaze up at the stars and clouds. It started to rain, which is 2nd only to it snowing whilst enjoying an outdoor bath IMO. There was a cool outdoor wine bar, that had set up small bonfires to keep ourselves warm as we supped a few glasses/bottles of wine...a big hit with Mrs Beaver... The Tubby Beaver out n about...... 3 out of the 4 towers.......very easy on the eye All in all we had a great weekend, relaxing and not doing very much.....it was actually quite depressing to come back into the city after being in such beautiful surroundings for a few days. Of course my camera doesn't really do it justice, but I definitely would like to return in winter and ride the trees here. I gather the off-piste official area is the trees behind the 2 towers and Alpine hotel that I took a photo of from my room (6th one posted). Looks like some damned good terrain and if the crowds are as low as people say....mmmm...mmmm!! Link to post Share on other sites
gozaimaas 61 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Count the number of lifts. Divide by 3 and thats how many run. Tomamu was the disappointment of my trip. Link to post Share on other sites
hellyer 216 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks TB - nice nature pics and i see you even managed to snap a pic of the extremely rare and elusive Tomamu Beaver. Seems to be a slimmed down version of the Tubby Beaver commonly spotted on Honshu and usually seen raiding school kids lunch boxes. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Haha....yes he is.....slightly slimmed down version....the northern latitudes seem to be good for a beaver's mass Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Nice photos. I've never seen it not white. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Looks like a nice area. Horrid towers apart. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Those towers are not horrid at all. Amazing views from them and if you're passing through, they are a spectacle from the landscape. A really interesting contrast. And once you're out of the valley, it all goes back to being countryside after countryside. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 they are awesome for a view.......thats the only reason I can think to build them......else it'd be much better to build a lower but more spread out building IMO like the wing of the hotel next to it that is visible in my photos Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I like the 3rd photo down. Coincidentally, with TB being Scottish, it reminds of Scotland a little. Up near Aberdeen somewhere. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 The whole area reminded me of home, from the flat rolling farmland around Dundee and up through the Cairngorms and Grampians Link to post Share on other sites
pdoull 2 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Nice pics tubby. What's happening with some of the borders around some of them? Link to post Share on other sites
SwingingSaru 1 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Funky! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 I put the pics through a filter or 2. The ones without a border are just the natural photo, the others went through a filter app on my iPhone Link to post Share on other sites
teikiatsulover 6 Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Nice pics Tubby, would like to go to Tomamu someday. Random question...you moved up to Sapporo from Honshu right? Did you get a job at a private school to make the move? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 No....Im with Intercrap and transferred up here thru them.....but they're Shite....don't come up with them. Link to post Share on other sites
teikiatsulover 6 Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Ah, gotcha. Yeah, middlemen take a big cut of the pie, and then leave you the crumbs. Sapporo is a nice city and the access to the mountains is great though, so quite envious of your location. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 Yeah they suck, but they are even worse up here. I've been enjoying a few trips recently....went to Niseko today...will post a few pics tomorrow Link to post Share on other sites
seemore 66 Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Cheers TB looks great Link to post Share on other sites
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