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Thats great mike

Yeah I have been looking a footage of how deep I am with different boards and am convinced I can ride alot smaller for a deeper experience.

What was the run out like on the flat any better with the planks?

 

Thanks seemore.

 

Breaking trail between the two pitches in 'Hangman' was much easier on the Line skis.

 

The ski out on the track was much easier on my Coreupts.

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That was a great day.   For now though. Need. More. Fresh. Snow.

I wouldn't head across JUST yet though Mike.......it needs a big storm. A lot of the good trees on Isola weren't filled in with a lot of sasa poking through

Some friends of mine headed off to Chamonix on xmas day because they found Niseko too busy last year!

Good season again Mike!

 

When does it finish for you?

 

Great season thanks. Gets better each year.

 

Heading back to The Land of My Fathers on 14 April.

 

Hopefully a couple more pow days between now and then :)

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DAY 111 : TUESDAY 18 MARCH 2014

 

0 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

A thoroughly miserable day in the Niseko Resort Area.

 

Grey skies and RAIN in the day and howling wind and fine, bitty snow in the evening and through the night.

 

An indoor day, with a brief trip to Prativo in Higashiyama for the wonderful buffet lunch.

 

 

 

DAY 112 : WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2014

 

3 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

Back to Kiroro Snow World with Damien for a wonderful Spring skiing day on the groomers.

 

There was about 5-10 cm of new snow on the ground but not enough to cover up the windblown rain and sun crusted off piste.

 

The view of Yoichi-dake from the top of Kiroro Snow World

 

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Damien is really getting a handle on standing tall at the start of the turn, letting the skis run in the fall line, and accelerating through the first part of the turn.

 

The legacy of the snowplow stem and skidding the skis to kill the acceleration at the start of the turn rear their ugly head on the steeper pitches, but they're disappearing day by day as he becomes more confident and trusts his ability to balance with the mountain.

 

Damien

 

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Spring Stardust

 

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Thanks for all the posts and pics Mike. Seems like you spent a lot of time at resorts outside of the Niseko area this season. What percent of your season would you guess you skied Niseko? I've missed out on Hokkaido the last two seasons but thinking of a road trip for a couple of weeks next season.

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Thanks for all the posts and pics Mike. Seems like you spent a lot of time at resorts outside of the Niseko area this season. What percent of your season would you guess you skied Niseko? I've missed out on Hokkaido the last two seasons but thinking of a road trip for a couple of weeks next season.

 

My pleasure Black Mountain. Thanks for following and commenting.

 

To date :

 

86 days

 

28 days at Niseko United

10 days at Niseko Moiwa

9 days at Rusutsu

1 day heli-skiing with the Hokkaido Backcountry Club

32 days at Kiroro Snow World

2 days at Asarigawa Onsen Snow Resort

1 day at Otaru Tenguyama

2 days at Sapporo Kokusai

1 day at Sapporo Teine

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Awesome! 86 days (so far) is impressive. I haven't been out as much this season because of work commitments and the cost of a new car! Trying to make up for it during the spring break. Ever think about making it down to Honshu?

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DAY 113 : THURSDAY 20 MARCH 2014

 

0 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

A sunny day across the region with great groomed skiing on offer.

 

The skies turned grey just before sundown, and the light snow was accompanied by high winds through the night.

 

 

 

DAY 114 : FRIDAY 21 MARCH 2014

 

2 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

With little new snow in the Niseko Resort Area in the past 4 days and snow forecast for the Otaru area resorts, Damien and I headed to Asari Snow Resort to find some fresh turns.

 

There was about 5-10 cm on the groomed runs at the start of the day and another 10 cm or so fell when we were there.

 

Not enough to cover up the crunch off-piste, but smooth crusing on piste.

 

Even got to see the ocean and Otaru Bay at day's end.

 

Damien

 

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Damien has been battling the feeling of the skis running away from him at the start of the turn in steeper terrain and the fear that the acceleration brings.

 

Today we worked on increasing the tempo of balancing to the outside of the turn and foot speed when pivotting the skis across the fall line to overcome the pull of gravity down the mountain.

 

Once he was comfortable with managing the acceleration, he used it to his advantage accelerating through to the belly of the turn.

 

Off Track (and On Track)

 

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DAY 115 : SATURDAY 22 MARCH 2014

 

1 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

With sunshine and high winds since my last visit to Kiroro Snow World on Wednesday, Ian and I weren't expecting much from today.

 

Thankfully Kiroro continues to surprise and delight us.

 

10 cm of new snow on a light sun crust with 20 cm below that. And 10-15 cm fell during the time we were there.

 

Managed to get one series of pics before the blizzard started.

 

Ian in 'Hangman'

 

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DAY 116 : SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2014

 

1 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

The morning started off windy and grey with light flurries so I took the day off snow.

 

Around 11am the sun came out and great Spring powder turns were reported all across the region.

 

 

 

DAY 117 : MONDAY 24 MARCH 2014

 

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Ian and I enjoyed a beautiful Spring day at Sapporo Kokusai today.

 

Fantastic groomed runs early on and then we took a walk above the gondola to the slackcountry skier's right of the gondola.

 

The south facing slopes were sun baked with heavy spring powder but there were some great turns amongst the trees on the shaded north facing slopes.

 

Ian

 

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Inbounds the shaded slopes skier's left of the 'Downhill Trail' offered up untracked knee deep powder all morning.

 

It got up to 8 deg C at the base of the resort by lunchtime and the freezing level is set to rise through the week (1800 m on Saturday), with heavy rain forecast for Friday and Saturday.

 

Might be time to take a trip up north to Asahidake and Kurodake where the freezing level is set to top out at 1350 m and snow is forecast Saturday and Sunday.

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DAY 118 : TUESDAY 25 MARCH 2014

 

0 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

A grey day in the Niseko Resort Area with drizzle at village level for most of the afternoon.

 

Today was definitely the right day to rest up.

 

With the downtime I got the chance to edit the video I took back in mid-February on my day with the Hokkaido Backcountry Club heli-skiing Shiribetsu-dake.

 

Come Fly With Me

 

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One of the guides was at Teine last week, had a wee chin wag with him.....pretty pricey for a bit of heli skiing, don't think I'll be flying anywhere for a while, as much as Id love to

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The heli takes off from the Black Diamond office in Higashiyama seemore.

 

It's an expensive day Tubbybeaverinho, but a very different experience from the BC (Canada) meadow skipping skiing I've done.

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DAY 119 : WEDNESDAY 26 MARCH 2014

 

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Each time I've driven the road that runs alongside Jyozankei Dam on the way to Sapporo Kokusai ski area I've looked up at the jagged summits of Tengudake and Tenguyama admiring the very different look from most of the peaks found in this part of Hokkaido.

 

Picture taken on 24 February 2014

Tenguyama on the left, Tengudake on the right

 

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With the spring freeze thaw cycle underway I took a solo exploratory trip from the Jyozankei Lakeline road across Sapporo lake and up to Tengudake today.

 

4 hrs of skinning the long way round taking in all the sub valleys and lines running down from the summit at 1114 m

 

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Tenguyama

 

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Tengudake

 

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The summit marker on Tengudake

 

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After a quick bite I headed down and around to the main gully below Tenguyama

 

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The sun and warm air had really got at the snowpack, with most of the slopes covered in pinwheels from snow falling from the rock faces and trees.

 

The shaded sides of the gullies were hardpacked & consistent, the sides in the sun offered up knee deep slurpie snow.

 

The run out in the main gully and river course was smooth and easy with steep tree skiing either side of me.

 

In mid-winter conditions the area has it all - rock lined chutes, big cliff drops, natural halfpipes, and steep trees.

 

Looking back across Sapporo lake to my route of descent

 

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[VIDEO]

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DAY 120 : THURSDAY 27 MARCH 2014

 

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Great day at Kiroro Snow World with Ian skiing fast groomers and spring corn snow in Hangman under blue skies.

 

Temperatures rising by the day with a peak of 12 deg C at village level this afternoon.

 

 

 

DAY 121 : FRIDAY 28 MARCH 2014

 

0 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ

 

 

A foggy day in the Niseko Resort Area so I took the day off snow.

 

Had a fabulous lunch at Chez DouDou on the road to Chisenupuri.

 

The wind picked up in the afternoon and it started to rain around 11pm.

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