Niseko backcountry

[damian 0]

! that gym (shower) deal is good, especially for a guy in a camper. I am thinking more recently about getting a second hand delivery van and fixing it up in a really simple but comortable way for weekend sleeping rather than getting a more expensive fitted out camper.

 

I only tent camped a few times in late winter, off a track near le Lavancher. And the camping car sessions were in spring. We stayed in a side car park near the river at Grand Montets and also some time in a nice little caravan park a little drive away in les Contamines where we did a bit of 'low level' spring touring. At the time I thought that camp site was one of the few places open in early spring - we pretty much had it all to ourselves. Rented one of those fancy small campers with the bed above the cabin. You could live in those things, no worries at all. Unfortunately most trips were 2 day events and so we usually just stayed in a "cheap" hotel at Argentiere.

 

If you search on Hachi-mental you should find a bit of info People used to talk about it all the times, but it seems to have dropped off the radar for a while recently.

[firedog23 0]

This year Hachimantai had a ghost town feeling to it. It never had big crowds but it was different this year. I am not sure how they keep in business because there were a few times that we were the only people there. Either way the place still rocks for the terrain.

[thursday 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Fattwins:
places that get more snow than niseko
charmont
Arai closed maybe
Cortina
Hakkoda
Getou
look it up before you call me out thats only a few. the niseko now reports are unofficial. heck even i know that people with vested interested write them, same goes with the other reports. (not a knock on sj i like the reports).
all the above places average 500 plus inches or up to 700 inches of snowfall. I love how people get sucked into the marketing of certain areas, thats all it is marketing.

Fatts,

Just looking at the data on SJ for the resorts puts Niseko above your quotes.

[micke 0]

I noticed I´ve led this thread way off topic, so I´m gonna write somewhere else about Hachimantai and stuff.

Looks like Niseko is out of the picture then, partly at least.

[Fattwins 0]

thats cause sj data isnt official and is written by tour companies.

 

and cant post stats from japanese magazines that show average base snow cause they want you to buy the magazine. when i get back home if you really want me to prove you wrong ill post data is that what you want?b

[thursday 1]

Fatts,

It's resources like SJ and whatever is convenient online that people read.

 

By all means please correct me, I do want to know the places with the most snow so I can double guess which places would give me the deepest snow in December for my next trip.

[Fattwins 0]

like i said the above places beat niseko. also the japanese rank shiga kogen snow as the best quality in japan. in december its always hit and miss. 3 years ago niseko had nothing and we were sking waist deep. last season we were sking neck deep in early december everywhere. nigata got pounded so bad a few towns were cut off for 4 to 5 monthes.

 

on honshu we can ski into june or july you cant do it in hokkaido really.b

[thursday 1]

That's good to know as I have perennial pain in getting Sapporo flights for the dates I want.

[Fattwins 0]

go to hakuba you wont be disapointed 10 times the skialbe terrain.

[damian 0]

 Quote:

like i said the above places beat niseko. also the japanese rank shiga kogen snow as the best quality in japan. in december its always hit and miss. 3 years ago niseko had nothing and we were sking waist deep

I remember that, it was in the 10 days leading up to xmas. I was at Tsugaike with you, sinking to the waist when post holing out of the trees. Thee days later I went to Niseko and had pure ice groomers, closed pistes due to rocks and grass patches and 3 feet of snow in the trees with 6 feet of sassa grass poking out.

But that could easily be the other way around.

Man I was a kook wanker back then.

[Fattwins 0]

you were funny back then trying to flip off of everything. like i said hit and miss that goes for canada etc.

[powwwers 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by le spud:

 Quote:

like i said the above places beat niseko. also the japanese rank shiga kogen snow as the best quality in japan. in december its always hit and miss. 3 years ago niseko had nothing and we were sking waist deep

I remember that, it was in the 10 days leading up to xmas. I was at Tsugaike with you, sinking to the waist when post holing out of the trees. Thee days later I went to Niseko and had pure ice groomers, closed pistes due to rocks and grass patches and 3 feet of snow in the trees with 6 feet of sassa grass poking out.

But that could easily be the other way around.

Man I was a kook wanker back then.

... yeah, but how was the company you were rubbin shoulders with
you may have been a `kook wanker` but you were also like a kid in a lolly shop.

so many places (not only in japan) are hit n miss. i stayed at Big White (out) for a almost a month and never rode freshies. spent 3 days at Red Mountain and it was knee-waist deep each day.

[damian 0]

mate, you were at the front of my mind when I thought about that trip

[snosurf 0]

Micke, man that is cheap!

Just hope you didn't piscine the pool..

[woywoy 0]

I just wonder if anyone is into campervanning in Japan?

[TJ OZ 0]

I saw a video which showed the crew campervanning. Not sure what part of Japan. There would be a lot of digging out.

[Fattwins 0]

i know a guy here that build his own camper van. i sleep in my wagon when i go to nozawa.

[Mantas 3]

thats cause sj data isnt official and is written by tour companies

 

Fattwins, interesting comment. Im going to Hakuba for the first time next year and I'm also going to Niseko. I'd like to know where you can find some acurate data on the whole snowfall/ quality thing so I can show my Niseko mad mates what I've always suspected.

[SnowJapan.Com#3 0]

Only just noticed this. Which data are you referring to?

 

If you are referring to resort snow depth data on our resort pages, it is not written by tour companies. It is provided by resorts and is entered into our system.

 

 Quote:

heck even i know that people with vested interested write them

We are very strict with our Now reports and put a lot of effort into making sure that they are not biased. The snow depth on those reports is the snow depth as reported by resorts. If they themselves bend a truth, there's unfortunately nothing we can do about that - apart from comment about it in our commentaries. The reports are NOT "written by tour companies", each one is written by different people who are based in the area. Whatever those people do in their lives other than our reports however, we require them to be totally unbiased and to report exactly what is happening. If it is raining or the conditions are crap, that's what is written. No form of bending the truth or business promotion is allowed in those reports and we keep a very close eye on the reports to make sure that stays the case. If we feel that a line has been crossed, we will contact the reporter and change the report.

 

It is very important to us that our Now reports tell our readers what it is like out there. Thats the whole concept of the pages. We are NOT doing them to advertise the area (although of course that is a result of the pages existing).

 

And on that note, if you ever feel that any of our reports are not keeping to that fundamental concept, we totally encourage you to let us know and we will take action.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Mantas, the now reports on here are generally excellent and we should be very glad we have them. I read them every day in season and can't remember ever thinking they sound like marketing, and when I have been to places and I have checked back they have been spot on with the good and the bad. Very good job peeps is what I say.

 

Look at the archives, you'll see some moans as well as excited yelps (and who doesn't get excited when there's a metre falling?)

[damian 0]

Grungy - at school the colour of your orbital protuberance that houses your nostrils would be considered a mixture of primary colour blue with its complementary colour of orange.

[rach 1]

Yes, you must have forgotten gg.

 

Any messages of "support" are apparently not very cool at all. See comment above.

 

Criticisms and accusations on the other hand are apprently just fine.

[damian 0]

Rach, you grumpy old bag lady, if I were being serious I would have just said it, rather than using ridiculous wording.

 

GG - a belated wink for my above post

 

Rach - wink for the bag lady call

[rach 1]

Wink to you too you, you... you, smelly jacket owner!

 

[Fattwins 0]

that comment was not a knock on SJ is was to say that,,, they are not official stats of the areas in question.