damian 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 ...you are beginner - intermediate. I love this place. 1. way, way more scenic than other places i have been to 2. w-i-d-e open spaces 3. so many lifts it gets confusing - if a lift has a queue, just ride to the next one 4. the lower slopes are a bit poxy, but fantastic for the beginner. I wish I had goner there for my first few times learning over Hakuba47. If you are a beginner planning to go the H47... DONT' go here instead. H47 sucks in terms of course selection in general and particularly for the beginner. 5. I don't know what makes good BC, but the stuff I saw behind Tsugaike looked amazing (there is one big open long slope that you can heli-board). I saw a number of groups with hiking gear looking like they were headed off for a few days. I went for a hike myself. How teh hell do you walk in waist deep powder?! more on that later, but what a buzz!! 6. the groovey little village. Heaps more character than central Hakuba, off the main drag, little bars and pensions right on the slopes. A really nice little village. Perhaps I was overly influenced by the fact that everything from telephone boxes to trees had 3 feet of fresh snow on them. 7. under the ropes - couldn't help myself and had to do it. There are so many places that you can just slide off into the fresh. walking out sucked a lot. 8. course selection - there are so many ways to skin this cat (ie - get back to the bottom). WAY more interesting than the typical linear-sterile- up & down set up I have encountered elsewhere. The only draw backs is it is not connected so well in terms of lifts and there is a high % of beginner runs. Did I mention the snow? After a crystal blue saturday it started to snow Sat night and just didn't stop. with teh continuous snow fall and teh high winds there was snow getting moved into the tracks and a powder bowl that everyone thought had been ridden out was almost fresh again by lunch time. I am perhaps biased as 1. this was bay far the best ridding I have done, and 2. the snow was amazing, but so far this place wins my vote over H47, Hunter and Arai. If you are starting out then go here! Just stay on the bus 20 mins longer than 47 and you are instantly paid for your time. Also, if the gondola is queued out then head 100m to the up hill left and take the chair lifts - ther link up well all the way to the top. everyone seemed to have tunnel vision for the gondola?! No imagination at all. The queue was huge and full of dull eyed slack-jaws just rotting in line 'cause "that is were everyone else was". The gondola is long and slow (6km long and a slow middle station). db Link to post Share on other sites
LiquidX 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 I like Tsugaike too... Looks like another review you've got there db. Link to post Share on other sites
Will Lee 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 Yeah, just(literally)booked my 1 day night bus trip there. Will be going the second week in January. I`ve always wanted to try this place out. The only worry I have is that I may not be able to check out all of the courses...it looks absolutely huge on the map! Looking forward to it. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Author Share Posted December 30, 2002 yet again I will control-C, control-V to the reviews. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Author Share Posted December 30, 2002 Quote: Originally posted by SnoboYaro: The only worry I have is that I may not be able to check out all of the courses...it looks absolutely huge on the map! Looking forward to it. SnoboY - unless they are your thing, you can rule out the very bottom green courses. This makes it easier to cover the hill. I did it in a day and again in the second day. For the most I didn't plan any runs, I just did a run and got on a chair that was near where I ended and then took another different run. Over and over... it was great. The only run I did several times in a row was the one on teh hard right (above teh alpine ski jump) and also the one at the very very top. This one I did several times owing to the fact that in places I was up to my waist in powder and.... on my own! Not another soul except for some harcore crew heading off on a hiking trip. The wind was so strong that people were just leaving it alone. I had to leave it it the end as I was getting wasted by the 100m "walk" (if you can call it that) back to the harder snow in the powder. BTW - when you ride powder, should you be able to see your board? Unless I was going really fast I couldn't see anything below my knees and when I did a heel side turn the powder would shoot right up and engulf me, after which I couldn't see diddly as my head and face had turned into a big white ball of snow. Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 sounds great. db - may I ask where you stayed? im thinking of going somewhere first week of feb. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Author Share Posted December 30, 2002 first week of feb?! man, don't wait that long. Hey, you are on holidays! go mid week. At this point I cant find the receipt (I can't recall that name of my head). It will no doubt surface when I unpack properly. The name on teh receipt was in Kanji so I won't be able to read it, but it dd have a web address on it. Ther was a nice Japanese girl who could speak english and also a canadian girl. The staff were all very nice and I would go back. To give a guide it was about y8500 [don't say crap again ] for the usual pension deal being bed, dinner, breaky. Not the cheapest on offer but it was 2 minutes from the lifts and holiday season as well. Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 Quote: Originally posted by db: first week of feb?! man, don't wait that long. Hey, you are on holidays! go mid week. At this point I cant find the receipt (I can't recall that name of my head). It will no doubt surface when I unpack properly. The name on teh receipt was in Kanji so I won't be able to read it, but it dd have a web address on it. Ther was a nice Japanese girl who could speak english and also a canadian girl. The staff were all very nice and I would go back. To give a guide it was about y8500 [don't say crap again ] for the usual pension deal being bed, dinner, breaky. Not the cheapest on offer but it was 2 minutes from the lifts and holiday season as well. crap! believe me, i would go in a flash. my joblessness and lack of income prohibits me from doing anything. Plus i go back to Singapore on the 6th of Jan to do mock exams. So i should really be studying for them. But im back for a week in Feb for Chinese new year. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 Db, believe me if you think thats good wait for a good day! Arai kicks its a ss espesh 3 BC. wait till it really starts snowing again mate! Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Author Share Posted December 30, 2002 yep, thats the problem with snow - it costs a lot to ride it. When I was your age I spent my 'study time' sitting on the copping of the local monster half pipe (the non-snow variety) taking it in turns with my mates trying to pull front side 360 air. By the time the exams rolled around we were all making the trick, and I, god knows how, managed to get into uni. It all worked out pretty well since then. Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 its not the cheapest of hobbies Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts