onehunga 26 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 After being lucky enough to win a ticket in the Yuzawa Town giveaway, thank you SnowJapan and Yuzawa Town, I decided to use it at Kagura. A couple of reason for this choice, Kagura is big, has good snow, as a Prince resort kids are free, and it was one of the closest to Kusatsu where we were staying. It's a couple of hours drive from Kusatsu to Kagura, so this meant an early start. In the end we didn't leave as early as planned, but after cleaning 4 cms of new snow off the car we eventually left at 7:45. Not sure whether the decision to remove the expressway option from the routes the Navi suggested was a good idea. It did mean a nice drive over some back roads, but it also took us though Naeba. There was a big traffic jam in Naeba as people queued to get into the carpark. Made me a bit worried for how busy Kagura was going to be. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wac-Tspm8k&feature=youtu.be We eventually made it too Tashiro Station and I was pleasantly surprised at how few cars were in the carpark. Mami exchanged the voucher for a ticket for me, and got the free kids ticket for Rika, and after getting ready we were off. Like yesterday at Kusatsu it was quite warm, so both of us only had on one layer under our jackets, but just in case I carried a couple of extra layers each in my backpack. The days plan was to start at Tashiro, make our way though Kagura, before ending up at the Mitsumata ropeway for 5:00pm. The advantage of Mami not skiing was we didn't have to come back to Tashiro to collect the car. We headed up the ropeway at 10:48, a bit late really. I don't get to ski often, so try to get to resorts for the first lift, and leave after the last lift closes. Starting the day at 11 seemed a bit odd. Once up the ropeway we skiied down the hill towards Tashiro pair lift 2. The runs in this area are mostly green runs, nice and wide and fairly gentle. At the top the lift Rika decided she was hungry, so we headed down towards the restaurant by the Sancho station, the station for the Dragondola. Nothing there was to her liking so up we went so we could ski back down to the other restaurant in the area. We were both enjoying the runs, heading to the sides of the runs to ski in the powder, cutting back though some trees with ankle deep powder. We stopped for curry and rice at Restaurant 2 on the course map. The restaurant was only half full, and restaurant 1 which we had a quick look at was only half full as well. During our Curry and Rice, (very nice I must add) the days plan changed when we got a call from Mami. Her and James had come up the Mitsumata ropeway and were making snowmen. Rika then decided we had to get there as soon as possible. So off we went. Looking at the ski Tracks app showing our progress across the resort, it appears we up every lift except tashiro pair 5 which was closed, and tashiro high speed lift 1. Unfortunately the visibility deteriorated as we left the restaurant so we didn't get to see much as we made our way over to Misumata. It was a case of going up a lift, heading in the right direction ie left of the top of the lift facing downhill and hoping there was a lift at the bottom to take us back up. Eventually we got to the top of the Kagura main slope, but still couldn't see a thing. We only knew it was the Kagura main slope as we could only head down and not across. By this time Rika was getting a bit annoyed with the whole idea of skiing, and took to sitting down asking if we were there yet. As this was my first time at Kagura I had no idea. When we got down the main slope to the top gondola station I actually though it was the top of the ropeway. Duh. But by saying it was just around the corner to each "are we there yet" we managed to make it to the bottom gondola station, up the pair lift to the top of the hill overlooking Mitsumata Station. Well at the time I thought it was the right place, as the visibility was now down to about 10 metres and I really had no idea where I was. Eventually a couple of buildings appeared in the fog and we heard Mami and James calling out to us. It was now 3:30 and that was it for Rika, but I was determined to keep going. I kind of understood why the resort was so quiet, anyone with any sense would either have not come, or given up and gone home. While the snow was good, not being able to see anything made skiing hard. I got a bit lost trying to make my way back to the gondola, went up the pair lift, but missed the sign to the gondola, so ended up back at the bottom. Going up the hooded quad let me get the map out to find were I had gone wrong, so I got to the gondola on the second try. As gondolas go this one seemed to be pretty slow. Definitely not as fast as the gondola at Kusatsu. Getting of the gondola the visibility was great, the top half of the mountain was beautifully clear, while looking down the mountain all that could be seen was fog. By now it was getting late, but I still managed to get in two runs down the Kagura main slope before the lifts shut. I was the last but one on the lift heading up the second time and had the whole main slope to myself. (except for a couple of ski patrol who came down behind me) There seemed to be a number of lifts and runs that were closed by the time I got back up to the Kagura area. I'm not sure if this was time related or conditions related. Then it was a nice ski down the gondola course, passing a lot of boarders who were walking, it really is a very gentle slope. I'm not sure how they got all the way back, as I got to the pair lift by the gondola just before it closed. Heading down towards the ropeway I decided to ski down rather than take the ropeway. Turns out the run down was one of the best of the day. The run is narrow, steep and was a bit icy. But great fun, the corners had deep tracks in them were everyone had turned, so were banked up. Great fun riding on the banks. Overall it was a great day. The snow the night before, and what fell during the day left a covering of powder on the slopes that made it a lot more pleasant to ski on than the hard icy snow I was on the day before. there was still a few icy patches, mainly on the steeper sections. The resort is so big that even though I got to ski almost all of it in one day, I felt that I hadn't even scratched the surface of the place. I can see why it's the favorite of a number of people on SnowJapan. There are areas for everyone, and the trees looked fun. I say looked because with the visibility being so bad I had no way of working out how to get out, if I was silly enough to go in. Once down the bottom it was a visit to the local onsen for Mami and Rika, (James didn't want to go so I stayed in the car with him), then the dreaded Kan-etsu. The drive home took 4 hours 40 minutes, thanks to some heavy traffic, Thats the same time as it took me to go from Totsuka to Osaka a couple of weeks ago, more than twice the distance. The closest I got top the top area Stats from Ski tracks Max speed 37.9 km/h Ski distance 27.1 km, ascent 17.0 km Ski vertical 3394 m, ascent 3112 m 14 runs 06:01:47 duration Link to post Share on other sites
Peetan 10 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Would love to go here, heard so much about it. Good stuff! Link to post Share on other sites
Wizz 11 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It's good. But not as good as Mt Granview. Link to post Share on other sites
JellyBelly 1 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I think that kind of goes without saying. Where abouts is the Daido Pass? Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 I think that kind of goes without saying. Where abouts is the Daido Pass? Highway 53, between 353 and 17. 53 joins the 17 a little south of Akaya Lake, approx 22 kms south of Naeba town Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 The devil road strikes again!! Dun dun duuuuuun!! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I'm impressed with how much you managed to get around the mountain with such a late start, and a little kid in tow. And that your wife was willing to wait around all day! What did she and the kids do while you went back up? Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 She wasn't really willing to wait around all day, but put up with it. After I left they made a new snowman for Rika, then went down and had crepes at the bottom. Afterwards sat in the car and watched TV on the Navi system. Link to post Share on other sites
Boolugu Mez 3 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Nice one! Looks like you were testing the impreza's handling pretty well on that mountain pass! Resort does look fun, particularly like the look of the trees in the photo of the top area Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Boo, don't tell anyone else, but the video is running at x2 speed. I wasn't going that fast, even then, the traction control came on a couple of times. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Interesting onegunga! I did not know about that road. Must try it out. I always went back to Route 17 direct or to the expressway coming back from the Kusatsu area. Did it look like there would be good views from there? Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Not sure how good the views would be, the road has trees on both sides almost the whole way, and didn't actually get on top on the ridge at all. There are probably a couple of places where you could see the view. You could check before you go though as the road is on Google street view. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Will do! Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Boolugu Mez 3 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Don't worry Onehunga, your secret is safe For a minute there I thought you may have been channelling the ghost of Possum Bourne ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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