danz 0 Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 The shinkansen blasted out of the dark tunnel. From darkness into pure white... powdery bliss...snow abound... So it really dumped in zao this weekend... Can't complain about 2-days of powder on my first trip of the season..excellent coverage all around.... but..... to be honest, I was not at all impressed with Zao... I have never been to such a poorly thought out mountain as far as lift placement...it is nearly impossible to get from one lift to another without some serious skating (my snowboarder friend had a hell of time...)... getting from the "left" side of the mountain to the "right" is also a very looong and flaaaaat journey... add lots of deep snow, and it was very hard to get around... Only 1 run with any real pitch (38 degrees) where you could really enjoy the fluffy stuff (about thigh high)...the rest of the time you are litteraly stuck...not much real vert either....it was also white-out conditions most of the time, so searching for hidden stashes was out of the question... if you are not a beginner, i would pass on zao... But, I am VERY gratefull (and so is my soar body) for having POW POW POWDER on my first trip...good sign... reporting from tsukuba, danz ------------------ pray for snow Link to post Share on other sites
ii 0 Posted December 18, 2001 Share Posted December 18, 2001 Got to agree with you about the lift placement danz ......the old "owned by 200 different companies who don't want to cooperate and work together" Japan-only problem! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 18, 2001 Share Posted December 18, 2001 Funny how you feel that way danz....Zao always seems so universally popular - maybe all the posters on here are really beginners instead of the rad-dudes they make themselves out to be! Haha! Jon Link to post Share on other sites
helen 0 Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 danz thanks for that...what was the weather like over there by the way? quite well known for being COLD! h Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 20, 2001 Author Share Posted December 20, 2001 hey helen.... well, i can only speak for myself... i didn't think it was that cold, but the weather made it feel pretty cold on the long travessing flats (high winds, white out conditions,snow)... I grew up in wisconsin, so i don't complain unless it gets below 0F... and I also spent the last 6yrs skiing in the east coast, where skiing during a downpoar (rain that is) is not so odd... so maybee you are asking the wrong guy... danz ------------------ pray for snow Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 how far from yamagata city is Zao then folks? Sorry for the questions! It just seems to be that Zao is one of those places that everyone speaks of - mostly positively. Och aye the noo Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 15, 2002 Share Posted January 15, 2002 Revisiting an old topic, but I was wondering - when is the best time for these monster dudes that seem to be so famous up there. I would really like to go and see this, but don't really know about the best timing. Link to post Share on other sites
Kuma 0 Posted January 15, 2002 Share Posted January 15, 2002 metal7; They just had coverage on the snow monsters on the News yesterday evening - from now until end of February was what they said.. Link to post Share on other sites
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