damian 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 I was thumbing through a resort guide... all japanese language. Found a place that had the most open space of all the course maps I saw in the book. It looked really spread out and had open slopes rather than 4 lane roads carved into the trees. I copied the kanji and I think it was Sugadaira Kogen. As far as the course map goes it looked quite good, but the reviews are not so flash. Any one been there? Does it sound like I am talking about the right place? I really wanted to tear the page out of the book but people where around. I am very much trying to find a place that has more than a big mountain with runs cut into the trees from top to bottom. On a busy day they just look like an indoor ski park except no roof and trees on the sides. Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 try nozawa onsen... you might enjoy that... danz Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Author Share Posted December 2, 2002 cheers danz. the Nozawa course guide also looks good. Link to post Share on other sites
oblivion 5 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Yeah, Nozawa. And maybe Zao Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Nozawa has a good long wide course to the left of the mountain looking down, and also just to the right of the gondola mid-station there's another nice wide run. Ryuo also has some good wide open areas, and the green run at the top of the mountain, while more of a 'trail' than a 'space' is pretty mellow for putting some turns together on. Link to post Share on other sites
zwelgen 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Sugadaira looks lame. Ive never been up there in winter because when I went in summer it looked like a bunch of small wide bunny slopes with quite short runs. I dont know whether you drive or not but the road is really twisty and windy and the suzaka side is in the shade a lot = ice. I seriously think you would be better spending your money somewhere else and for long runs and wide Id recomend Nozawa too like the other forum people. mind you I did hear they had a heliski operation going on at Sugadaira but dont know anything about that Link to post Share on other sites
blinkin'ek 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Nothing much to shout about Sugadaira. I went once and wasn't impressed. Best sticking with the other places we all know about. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Author Share Posted December 2, 2002 all I can say is the course maps can be very misleading. Thanks for the info. Link to post Share on other sites
bro 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Although not in the same area, but if you are heading for zao, then I'd recommend heading up to Aomori for some tree skiing at Hakkouda. I was up there last year, and I'll be getting back up there this year for sure. It's got open trees, lots of powder, not a lot of people and is a hell of a lot of fun. You ignore the puncy runs down the bottom of the hill and just use the ropeway. Although there are only 3 'runs' marked on their map (which I think keeps the crowds away), you can go basically anywhere you want on the mountain. There are some really good reports about Hakkouda on the old skijapanguide site that were written by Hutch. I've also put a few photos up about it. Links to hutch's articles are at the bottom of my page... http://jellycan.com/japan/020316-hakkouda/ Cheers, Brodie. Link to post Share on other sites
Ski Japan Guide 0 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 ....also the above can be found on this new Snow Japan site: Hakkouda features >>>>> http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/features-29.html http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/features-37.html Hakkouda page >>>>> http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=85 You can also search for reviews for the resort here: http://www.snowjapan.com/e/voice/review.php Thanks Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 3, 2002 Share Posted December 3, 2002 Brodie, sorry, I used your pic without permission, but 'iyeeeeeeeeee' ONE OF YOUR SNOW MONSTERS HAS A FACE!!! You could get your photo on Beat Takeshi's 'Za Burushitto' or one of those spooky photo programs. Look, center bottom, there's definitely a creepy face with spiky hair in one of the trees. I'm not going to Hakkouda, it's haunted... Link to post Share on other sites
bro 0 Posted December 3, 2002 Share Posted December 3, 2002 Hey, I never noticed that before. Funky. I don't think you're really going to be put off but a little scary snow though... Not when there is all that nice powder out there After reading a site (link posted another thread) about deaths due to falling head first down a tree well though, I'm going to be a bit more careful next time I'm mucking around inside the trees! To put the risk in perspective, they do say that it's exceedingly rare, and the danger really only happens when the trees have uncut low lying branches and after a large powder dump. Brodie. Ref: 1. Eight Nonavalanche Snow-Immersion Deaths http://tinyurl.com/35a5 2. How to Stay Alive In Deep Powder Snow http://tinyurl.com/3585 Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 3, 2002 Author Share Posted December 3, 2002 now this is the wide open space that I was talking about! Link to post Share on other sites
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