helen 0 Posted December 30, 2001 Share Posted December 30, 2001 I wonder if this thread will take off or not. Anyway, here goes. Was wondering the best and the worst snow you've encountered at Japanese resorts. I'll start off. Best : Niseko, amazing powder Worst : Marunuma Kogen, early last season.....terrible! Link to post Share on other sites
gorilla 0 Posted December 30, 2001 Share Posted December 30, 2001 Best: A Tuesday morning at Tashiro in Yuzawa last season. About 50cm of snow overnight, amazing conditions, no people. Just perfect. Worst: Karuizawa Prince Hotel in December last season. It was the pits. Slushy horrible stuff. Won't forget that too quickly! Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 Best: Yamagata Zao Worst: Where to start? Forgetting early season woes, the worst in season I have experienced was at Togakushi in Nagano Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 Best: Hakuba on many days last season. Especially during the all-day blizzards. Worst: Mid-april 2000 at Kiroro. Nice conditions on the first, bright day followed by an overnight freezing that blanketed the hill with ice. Only the steeper runs off the top were open, so hard work for a snowboarding beginner. The only good thing was that the ice made the l-o-n-g flats at the bottom easier to traverse. Despite its southerly location, Karuizawa opens very early (dec 1 this season !) with manmade. Obviously it doesn't say that in the reports, but if there's no snow at Nozawa/Shiga/Hakuba etc. nowhere in central Honshu's going to be very good. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 Best : Shiga Kogen last season. Perfect. Worst : Tenjindaira - can't figure why it is so popular. It was the pits. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 Best : last year at the top of Nozawa, beautiful wide open tree run, snow upto my ears. Worst : same day at Nozawa, a buddy and I slipped off the side of the Skyline course in search of more tree runs and deep powder. Unfortunately, we got both. Unfortunate because once we got down to the the bottom of the valley we found it was absolutely flat and covered in trees, resulting in a 1 and half hour walk for 2 k's through snow upto my ballbag. That'll teach me!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 Hey snapper, There are some off-piste places near the Skyline that are prone to avalanches - indeed, there are avalanche barriers around there. Just a word of caution... Off to Nozawa tomorrow, Allah akhbah. Link to post Share on other sites
ivo 0 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 best: hakuba cortina, niseko worst: nozawa (the snow was verry heavy and wet. a local told me that this is usual there...) Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Ocean11, Tell me about it! It was a bit hairy getting down into the valley. Absolutely exhausting walking out. I won`t be making that mistake again. Link to post Share on other sites
robbot 0 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Best : Nozawa Worst : Zao (not because of the place as much as the horrendous weather conditions when we went) Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 24, 2002 Share Posted January 24, 2002 When me bird dropped me on a weekend away at Happo. Was a serious downer. Got to be the worst. She was a babe Link to post Share on other sites
Jinja 0 Posted January 24, 2002 Share Posted January 24, 2002 I found the avalanche barriers Ocean's talking about the hard way, I almost went over one on my first descent. They're almost impossible to see on the way down if you don't know the area. Awesome run though. Link to post Share on other sites
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