NECK 14 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Sugi and Akakan are pretty good, but as everyone is saying they are a little flatter than a lot of other areas. Some very good lines if you know where to look though Seki Onsen can get pretty damn good too.....Just don't forget your snorkel !! Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 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. There is a 38 degree run there and some pretty other decently steep bits as well. The bottom of the resort is pretty flat but certainly not the top part. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Seki is so insanely small no snorkle is necessary. You could just hold your breath and you'd be at the bottom in no time! Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 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! Jealous as! Anything would be better than being in an office though!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Gunma Boarder 14 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I've seen Seki in summer. Only reason I would pick Seki is because I like the hot spring a lot and my family could watch me snowboard from the ryokan across the street! The snow fall numbers are also pretty insane. Other than that I will look into Suginohara and Akakura Kanko (which I assume is the same as Akakan). Thanks for the info Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What are peoples favorite Myoko skijos? I want to go too but really have no idea which skijo I would pick. Sugi is my absolute favourite (evah!!!), but only in peak. After peak sugi is a crap hole. Which is actually what swung the decision to pick up the nozzie season pass last season. Its sorta flat, which is the big complaint against it, and gets sticky late season quickly, but its beautiful to ride on, has powder out the whazoo, has LOADS of little spots to hit up and has "japans longest piste ride!" It also has fun hiking ive been reliably informed (no off piste above the lifts for me). Its sort of like Kagura now i think about it. Only with more restaurants, a more bubbly park rat atmosphere, and with more rideable terrain given that it is a gradual terrain shallowing top to bottom (rather than kaguras really nice top bit then really flat 2/3rds of the rest of the mountain). Kagura lasts way longer though and is half as busy in peak season (though mad busy once the other resorts in yuzawa start suffering). Next is akakan. Which is a better all round resort. Its got a bit more of everything. Its a perfect medium sized japanese resort. Kinda like Goryu i guess in a way. Some fun steeps to play in, (one of my absolute favourites as well - 45 degree wall thats bouncy as hell). Lots of trees to muck about in. Its got a nice shallowing gradient (steepish up top and gradually flattening to the base). Run out at base is only a short one and it shouldnt result in unclipping on that last two hundred meters or so (as you breeze past the car park to the gondola). Not really many negatives to akakan to be honest. Like sugi it gets puked on when the taps open. Its just a bit more... generic i guess. Its like a perfectly designed family resort with some optional extras so it never really speaks to my heart like sugi does. Oooh, it also bases you in the heart of the onsen and food area of the mountain (sugi has you miles and miles out). Third is seki i assume... ill leave that to people who've been there. Always want to go, but just never make it. Same with cortina. Fourth or third for me, is ikenotaira. I like it, its a fun resort for a family or if you just want a LOT of space on a straightfrward top to bottom run. I havent been there since my second season mind you, but what i remember was feeling it was entirely approporiate to my skill level at the time. It was my first real lift line and tree run place. Lots of ski schools though. I wouldnt go out of my way for ikenotaira. But if i had a week or so at myoko id make some time for it probably. Last is akakura onsen. I cant convey my loathing for this place. One of the three resorts on my shit list. Unless you have really small kids who adore short shitty runs, id just not bother AT ALL. Only useful to get you into the village at lunch time so you can have pizza for lunch instead of your typical skijo scran. Lift placements blow your mind. Runs are tiny and flat and the only thing that made it even bareable for me was getting to the very top, ducking a rope, then dropping a couple of meters onto an icy flat road and poaching the fun steep at akakan before riding back to akakura onsen (the resorts cut in and out of each other in key places). Hate that resort. Im even disgusted with myself that i just spent the 2 minutes typing all this. I should have just said F**** THAT S****HOLE!!! Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 It foggy and snowing whenvI went so couldnt seevmuch up top and coildnt really get to ski all of suginohara so hoping which ever resort I do this time maybe the same one it will be clear so I can ski all of it and actually see where I am skiing. Looking at what people are saying here sticking to where I went last time might be best. Oh well I got a week to decide. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Ippy, have you been to Akakan since they got rid of the top lift and the lift in the middle next to champion B? You used to be able to lap that resort. Now as a boarder there are two super long flat sections that are almost impossible to make unless it's icy! Link to post Share on other sites
Peetan 10 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 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! Why am I working today, WHY WHY WHY! Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 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! Also mad jelly on this! Grats though. Dont waste your time doing the top to bottom until your penultimate run. If the taps are on just keeping lapping the mitahara lift (actually since they shut the top lift off almost every time ive been there and closed the best lift from the bottom to the middle i guess it is THE (as in the one and only) mitahara lift). Its nice and nippy, gets you a decent way up the mountain. If by a miracle the top is running, obviously, top to middle in the trees then Also dont think like i once did that there was a way to maybe go from mitahara side to the main side through the trees. Im fairly sure there isnt. If you want to get back to the main part you need to suffer that garbage pair lift and the no doubt massive unclip. The bottom half is so pretty as well. You might even see some monkeys in the trees. It really made that whole side perfect. You play about in the powder on the top half, enjoy the whole fun of criss crossing the resort in the middle, then charge into the line cut into the trees at the bottom for a nice cruise out. Was a brilliantly long, fun little ride. You can still do, and you will do it of course, but now youre adding a 100 meter walk or so (given you have decent conditions), and a really bad lift before being spat at the gondie, then riding that to the mid point, skating for another fifty meters then cruising through a really boring path/cat track area and past the (probably shut top lift) and off to mitahara again. If you want though, there is a fun little line through the middle that brings you down at the gondie direct you should probably have a crack at (id do it later when you fancy some exploration). Ooooh, and im honestly trying to remember if i actually did this or if i just dreamed it... but im fairly sure you can ride almost top to bottom under the gondie. I think theres just a few, er. fences (not just ropes) you need to navigate around. But pretty sure i did it once. Id scope that out though before you take my word on it. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Ippy, have you been to Akakan since they got rid of the top lift and the lift in the middle next to champion B? You used to be able to lap that resort. Now as a boarder there are two super long flat sections that are almost impossible to make unless it's icy! I mentioned this a couple of seasons ago. Stayed at the really nice little hostel (cheap - but fully english speaking), a little near the bottom of the area run by the ex-forest-ranger or something of the mountain. He told me, and this was weird, that prince hotels were looking to get rid of it, and they were doing it by er, cutting down on the lifts to make it more attractive or something. I dunno. Also, thank god, i ha a look at the map and realised it wasnt my favorite line there (champion a). Im trying to recall what that means now... i guess top to the lift on champion A isnt so bad, but its when you get to the top of A and have to traverse back to the main mountain itself right? I have these vague shitty memories of unclipping and skating all the way back there after maybe the first turn on the path, but not sure if im memorying right. Ahhhhh! yeah, because you have to actually get back to the top lift.... hang on, when you say top lift, you mean the TOP lift right? The one they shut down before 2008 (when i first went there). You cant mean (what i now know as) the top lift? That would be commercial suicide! without that lift id never bother going there again. How the hell am i supposed to kill myself without going into the trees skiers right on course c? Ride under the lift on champion A? Hardly! Link to post Share on other sites
Peetan 10 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Off topic, but just out of curiosity Ippy what's your keystroke wpm? Link to post Share on other sites
griller 9 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 That Thai maid might know! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 nyuk nyuk nyuk On topic: about 40ish, maybe a little more. Im a touch typer though so its not like im cruise control here. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Ippy, have you been to Akakan since they got rid of the top lift and the lift in the middle next to champion B? You used to be able to lap that resort. Now as a boarder there are two super long flat sections that are almost impossible to make unless it's icy! I mentioned this a couple of seasons ago. Stayed at the really nice little hostel (cheap - but fully english speaking), a little near the bottom of the area run by the ex-forest-ranger or something of the mountain. He told me, and this was weird, that prince hotels were looking to get rid of it, and they were doing it by er, cutting down on the lifts to make it more attractive or something. I dunno. Also, thank god, i ha a look at the map and realised it wasnt my favorite line there (champion a). Im trying to recall what that means now... i guess top to the lift on champion A isnt so bad, but its when you get to the top of A and have to traverse back to the main mountain itself right? I have these vague shitty memories of unclipping and skating all the way back there after maybe the first turn on the path, but not sure if im memorying right. Ahhhhh! yeah, because you have to actually get back to the top lift.... hang on, when you say top lift, you mean the TOP lift right? The one they shut down before 2008 (when i first went there). You cant mean (what i now know as) the top lift? That would be commercial suicide! without that lift id never bother going there again. How the hell am i supposed to kill myself without going into the trees skiers right on course c? Ride under the lift on champion A? Hardly! The very very top lift was shut down years ago. Then 2 or 3 years ago they shut down the lift above the champion 3 quad. Then 1 or 2 years ago they shut down the middle lift that used to run parralel to the champion B course. That means on the lookers right side of akakan on the champion 3 lift, you have to unclip and skate across to hit the champion B run. Then you have to unclip again at the bottom and skate back to the champion 3 lift. It's almost unbareable. None of that effects the Hotel A course which is sweet but the annoyance of the of runs makes that pretty much the only area worth going to now. Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Update: my legs have called it a day! The snow clouds and wind came in after lunch which also made it much colder but still fun :-) The top lift has been open all day so I've basically been lapping that. Only used the gondola once, first thing this morning and the gondola side runs on the way home. To give you an idea of how busy it's been, on that run down to base (at 2:15) I was still slashing untracked powder on the sides and in the trees just off-piste all the way down :-))) Oh, and it's dumping now!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 had a similar day myself Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 had a similar day myself Nice one Tubby!! Link to post Share on other sites
gozaimaas 61 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hate you both haha Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Rich 78 Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 To finish off this topic, here are a few photos and my resort review:- 1. Powder field! 2. Cheese in trees! 3. Tree run! http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resort-reviews/detail/2028 Thanks guys! Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Great review. isnt it neat? In peak and if im in the area and a mate drops in, its going to be a suginohara/nozawa coin toss every time. Had both season passes and honest to god, to this day, still couldnt decide which one i actually love the most. Possibly nozzie because as you rightly scored it, the lift system needs a bit of a rethink/return to former glory. Link to post Share on other sites
Thunderbird2 0 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Looks good. Still have not been. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Talking of Myoko, didn't have time today to do a report on either Myoko or Madarao, today, but will do either tomorrow or Wednesday!! Link to post Share on other sites
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