Gunma Boarder 14 Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 I was happy to get this ticket late in the season (Thank you Ryuoo and Snowjapan!) because of how high elevation a resort Ryuoo is. I was hopeful that the coverage at the top would be good despite being so late in the season. It didn’t disappoint. The snow wasn’t the best, but there was still plenty of it! The courses above the gondola don’t have the cleverest names (A, B and C), but that makes things easy to explain. I spent my warm-up runs on the A run which is the longest and easiest slope. It has a nice wall on the left, so I was able to practice some backside 180s and even hit a couple of 360s. After these runs I decided to venture into the trees a bit between the A and B courses. If the powder was deep, I don’t think this area would even be steep enough to ride, but I enjoyed the tight trees and some slow controlled riding with the occasional drop. I spent most of the rest of the day playing in the trees and hitting the wall. A part of the wall on the left side of course A The B course under the lift The C course with Myoko and the alps in the background. I think the best thing about the top of the gondola area is the views! It has to be one of the best skijos for viewing the alps in their entirety. I spent a good chunk of the day just staring at the massive wall in the distance. Mt. Myoko and its surrounding mountains were also stunning and due to their close proximity, just as impressive. I even did some very easy hiking to get a better view of things. I think this area would also be a great place for beginners to get a good taste of high elevation powder on some easy runs. The view towards Shiga Kogen after a short walk. Can you see Mt. Asama? Myoko in the background and a lower elevation skijo in front. I think this shows how high Ryuoo really is. This was taken after walking up the wall on A course. Myoko, Nagano and the peaks above Hakuba in the background. The North Alps wall. Sooooooo much better in person! A good example of the type of trees at the top of Ryuoo. I love mountain skies! The battery on my camera must be getting old because it went from showing full to empty during my time on the mountain, so I wasn’t able to take pictures of what turned out to be my best run of the day. Dropping from the upper area of the resort to the bottom seems to be the most interesting aspect of the resort for people who want steep powder and off-piste. I went down the b (lower case “b” descending from the top of the gondola) course. The actual course was starting to get carved into moguls so I hit the trees on the left side. This part of the course isn’t that steep because it is on the ridge line. After this I turned onto the “e” course but took a detour into a natural very steep half pipe. It was awesome! The whole area besides the runs is an open, steep forest. I really want to check it out when the snow is good. The run from the top to the bottom of the gondola is also extremely long. It is pretty much the wall below the gondola followed by a very long park that is suitable for all levels. I really want to check out Ryuoo again on a nice powder day! Link to post Share on other sites
seemore 66 Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Nice Gumma Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Is that lower elevation one, Togari Onsen? Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 i think thats yomase foregrounded. I remember it being pretty much a straight cut down with a tiny detour about midway. Plus you can see the golf course traverse ever so slightly about 3/4s the way down it with x-jam being that kinda messier bit. Trouble is, i cant honestly remember seeing ryuoo from yomase. I remember seeing it from x-jam. That might be on account of the small hill directly in front of it though. If it is though, you can definitily see that there is a ride from the top of yomase if you hike up and then over to xjam or even kijimadaira (which is round the dark side of the mountain). Lovely report, though you really didnt get the sheer joy of the b (lower case) course being stuck up at the top flats. Go back this year peak season for a day (or two since the blackbox deal (1 night, 2 meals and two day passes) is awesome value) and see what the place is really about. Also if you look on the panoramic shot with the hakuba alps on it, you can see: iizuna (tiny in the left side in front of the alps), then kurohime, then myoko. Directly in front of myoko i think is madarao/tangram, and in front of that is Kosha (yomase/takaifuji). So thats 5 skijo all represented in one pic. Nozawa and togari will probably be further right. Nozawa youd probably have to turn the camera about 90 degrees to even hope to see it from there (i think ryuoo faces away from it if i remember). Ah how i miss it Link to post Share on other sites
Gunma Boarder 14 Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 Is that lower elevation one, Togari Onsen? I think Ippy is right. It is probably Yomase and maybe a bit of X-jam. Link to post Share on other sites
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