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Have just snagged one of the last seats on tonight's nightbus to Myoko Suginohara! :D

 

Any tips for a Myoko newbie?? Have read the reviews but any extra/insider/local info would be gratefully received!!

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Just try to keep Mt Granview out of your mind, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

My personal preference is to go over to Suginohara. Edit: oops, that's where you're going. good choice!

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Thanks for that Wizz, very helpful! ;) Actually, the big G is very much on my radar for the coming week - watch this space!! :D

 

Yes I know I've said this many times before! :sj-lol:

Edited by Mick Rich
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Most of the Aussies and Scandies should have cleared out so other than japanese boarders you shouldn't have much competion for the good stuff. The groomers are always pretty crowded on weekends with local groups. The forecasts looking good so enjoy.

 

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  • SnowJapan Admin

If you 'like' us, we will give you free lift tickets and some curry rice and chips for lunch.

 

Actually we won't. :doh:

 

But that's a good way to get that in without actually asking people to like us, the idea of which is just.... nah, not going to do that. I'll go clean my hands now.

 

http://www.facebook.com/SnowJapanWeb

 

:lol:

 

Have fun, wish I was going.

 

OK after that bit of fun, back to chasing non payers!

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Damn those non-payers!! Will take some cheesy photos for you David! :thumbsup:

 

As for Faceback or whatever it's called, sadly (or not, as the case might be!) I'm a firm non-believer! ;)

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Thanks for that Wizz, very helpful! ;) Actually, the big G is very much on my radar for the coming week - watch this space!! :D

 

Yes I know I've said this many times before! :sj-lol:

 

Bear in mind that Mt. G. is only open on weekends and holidays now. (Know you couldn't stand any more bitter disappointments.)

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If you 'like' the Suginohara FB page they usually post what lifts are opening at what time and if there are any delays and such. Can help with planning in the morning.

 

You mean they don't post that information for "free"?

That's kind of obnoxious, actually.

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If you 'like' the Suginohara FB page they usually post what lifts are opening at what time and if there are any delays and such. Can help with planning in the morning.

 

You mean they don't post that information for "free"?

That's kind of obnoxious, actually.

 

I think they do post it freely on their website but I think the FB is more up to date. There are often posts throughout the day along with photos.

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If theres no fresh snow its probably going to suck. But my advice is

 

1. Make sure you get off at the gondola station. You wont think its the gondola station. Youll probably just think its some kind of lift set up for a run that comes away from the main zone. But unfrotunately youd be wrong. Its possibly the ugliest, shittiest looking base area of all the places ive ridden.

2. Enjoy the off piste but BEFORE you go cruising under the ropes on skiers left on mitahara, i would STRONGLY URGE you at least take one lift up from the middle so you can scope out that MASSIVE cliff drop and not accidentally fall down it. :)

3. If conditions have been shitty (havent checked), then its going to be AMAZINGLY sticky in the trees. Suginohara is definitely (for me) a january/february place. Its one of the first to really suffer when temps start crawling above zero.

4. Top lift trees are great fun to play in, and the trees in mitahara are pretty cool, but it flattens out RAPIDLY. If conditions are amazing, go mitahara. If they suck, just stick on the main side.

5. Dunno if its still true, but since 2011 i beleive, they shut down one of THE most essential lifts for a fantastic top to bottom run. This means if youre over at mitahara you should NOT go below the restaurants unless you really love unclipping, walking 2 or 3 hundred meters through sticky slush and then spending 9 minutes in HELL on the worlds second slowest pair lift (as your one and only bus to the station at 4.05pm pulls in, sits about a bit and then leaves without you). For me, the closure of that lift absolutely destroyed one of the best things about sugi and im genuinely and honestly livid about it. I will crowbar thsi complaint into any and every discussion on sugi until its back up and running (it might even be! who knows!)

6. Lockers are EXTORTIONATE! pack light and carry your shit with you or make sure you can squeeze it into a tiny locker :)

7. I would love to be positive, but sugi blows when the temps rise. I do spend much more time on mitahara though, i rarely ride the other side. Mitahara is powder heaven though when the taps are on. Its amazing fun.

8. Top lift will probably be shut - sorry.

9. Be careful of following old abandoned lift runs. Had my first genuine heart in mouth moment (outside of park) in sugi coming very quickly to a blind drop. Was only actually 3-5 meters, but had no way to stop or see over it in the approach. Came from nowhere. Looked flat and normal, suddenly saw it was a drop and just had to go for it. Could have just as easily gone over a cliff. Far right in the trees also has a cliff drop, but youd have to be reaaaaalllly looking to kill yourself to go off it. Its pretty flat that side and its pretty easy to see.

10. Best fun i have is coming down under the two middle lifts on mitahara. As mentioned above this includes riding under the main middle lift on mitahara with the MASSIVE CLIFF DROP on the left hand side. Basically to start it all off, when you hit the top of mitahara (not the very top - that lift is probably shut as ever), head immediately skiers left until you hit the trees and play in there. Stay reasonably close to the lift line (watch your head!), and you should pop out at the base of the top lift. At this point, any sensible person will be back on teh resort. I dont. Heed point 2. Its very important. Then again though, if the conditions suck, the flatness of it all is going to keep you on the piste anyway (and probably over the other side of the mountain since its got the only real gradient outside the top).

11. Oooh, just remembered, the cross course is usually up about now and they might even have the park over mitahara side. Could keep things fun. Watch the mist though, destroyed my knee coming off one of the rollers when i realised i had too much speed to safely take the penultimate roller, tried to bail off the side, couldnt see properly and stuck the board in 90 degrees into the ground. Still, pretty fun, but that mist in the trees around there is other worldly. Its pure silent hill.

 

I think thats enough to go on. Sugi is a gem. Enjoy the scenery. Maybe even have a crack at the top to bottom (its a proper leg burner), but i really wouldnt expect all THAT much at this time of year unless youve had a decent drop VERY RECENTLY (itll get shitty after a day) and the temps arent rising. Take the camera and dont judge it on its current conditions. Its so fun in a drop. But outside of one, id rather go akakan i reckons.

 

ETA: Despite all of this, Sugi is my spiritual home. If you tell me right now i can only ski one resort for the rest of my life, id probably pick it. Its not the best, but it fits me beautifully. Fell in love with it the second i clipped in and hit mitahara. Im sure i updated a sugi review somewhere last season on my freebie ticket ninja day off. :)

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Flippin' hope so!

 

Sounds as you've got a Marmite kind of relationship with the place ippy! Thanks for the cliff warnings though!

 

Hopefully the current return to mid-winter conditions will make it more surfy than sticky!! Reports to follow in due course :-)

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Its epic in a drop. Stay mitahara side. Actually dont, but the lift there is pretty nippy and it beats the mad gondy queues if its busy. If its not weekender though, then the whole place is LITERALLY yours.

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Morning all from a calm, semi-sunny Myoko!! Am currently the only punter here but then it is only half seven!! The bus dropped me off about 2km from the resort (worryingly, I was the only person who got off) but a local ojisan who I asked for directions, kindly got his truck out and gave me a lift - I love this country!!

 

Back to the bus, for some unknown reason it was half empty, so I had the luxury of a double seat to myself which meant that I could actually get some sleep for a change! & ippy, I don't know what you paid but a big locker here is 500Yen, which was about par for the course on my recent trip to the north island, and half what you pay at Gala!

 

Right, time to find some breakfast! More later!

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Wanted to go to Myoko this weekend too but got a ski race at Nobeyama on Sunday and tomorrow will be practiing at my local but next weekend it is a go hopefully.

So if any SJers are at Myoko next weekend maybe wr can get a few turns in together. Having said that I havent decided which of the Myoko resorts I want to go to.

Will check them all out then decide.

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Akakura Kanko and Suginohara are the only ones with decent riding. But only the top lifts have any decent pitch the rest is pretty flat.

 

I found the resorts in Yuzawa and Nozawa way better.

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Myoko is getting worse each year it seems. Over the past couple of year they have been closing lifts making it less attractive for boarders (more flats). It's also way more crowded than it used to be. Kanko and Sugi are the best but they aren't as good as the once were :(

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Update from Suginohara:- it's on like donkey kong!! Never been here b4 but with a foot+ of new powder on a weekday, I'm getting fresh lines all over the shop and the top trees runs are some of the best I've ever ridden! Following the advice in the reviews and above, I've stayed over in the Mitahara Zone and have yet to explore all the tree areas, which I'm going to do after I've finished this katsudon ;-) More later!

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I rode Suginohara last time so thinking wether or not to do a different one. I liked Suginohara though the nice long courses that go through the trees I liked but nothing very steep there it is more of cruising resort.

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I have only been to Myoko a few times but I must admit that it did not excite me and want to go back, obviously I haven't gone out of my way to.

 

Perhaps if I went again I might 'discover' it.

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