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Is Japan your favorite place for skiing or snowboarding?


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I love Santa Fe New Mexico the powder is very very dry. & the air & views are stunning.

also LakeTaho is great because of the party scene in the south shore & also great skiing/boarding. this year they had huge snowfall

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Hey dave rave - can you tell us more about Santa Fe New Mexico. I wouldn't have guessed there was even snow in Mexico. (Though tons of people say that about Japan as well)

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 Quote:
Originally posted by dave rave:
I love Santa Fe New Mexico the powder is very very dry. & the air & views are stunning.
also LakeTaho is great because of the party scene in the south shore & also great skiing/boarding. this year they had huge snowfall
We're thinking about next year's road trip and Taos is high on the list, along with Whistler.

I've been told that the western US has the best powder skiing in the world - bar none.
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Hee It all depends on the day.

 

Sofar I've had some really good days in Japan.

 

Last year I skied 2 weeks in the States. 1 week around L.Tahoe and 1 week Utah. Out of 12 days skiing I had 1 crazy day in Powder Mountain and some ok days in Snowbird and Solitude. Alta the snowconditions were great but the visibility, was none. Aroudn L.Tahoe the weather was great but the snow sucked.

Then I came to Japan and on my first skiing day here I found some chest deep powder. So in my mind if I had to make a choice it would be Japan over the States. (Although I never had a day like my first day in Japan, and probably can find the exact same conditions in Europe or North America).

I have had lousy days in Chamonix, but also one of my best days ever (even including breaking my skis).

My favourite place to ski is Champery (Ch). Been there 3 times and everytime it was dumping. But I don't want to go back there because it might ruin my thought about that place and there are so many other locations to explore.

Even Italy. If you check the stats there is a lot less snow in Italy then any other country int he European Alps, but I know some guys who don't want to go anywhere else, because everytime they go they always have the best snow (according to them).

The bottomline is there no way you can say that 1 place is better than anywhere else you have been, because the weather might change suddenly and your favorite place turns into a green meadow.

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  • 7 months later...

I've had the wickedest snow in japan by FAR...

 

New Zealand was quite a different experience, destroying the base on rocks and strange to have the expectation that you will hike to marked trails... but really didn't enjoy dealing with t-bars and "poggles" to take you (halfway) up the mountain though. Also (compared to japan) having the mountain an hours expensive bus-trip from whichever town was a bit of a pain and made getting first tracks have nothing to do with how early you could shake yourself out of bed... but after saying all that, there was a nice vibe and I do intend to go back again one day too - I think I may have improved my riding the most while I was there - with no restrictions on where you go, you end up in places that you didn't intend and push your limits a bit...

 

Tahoe was where I first learnt so will always have a few special memories... definitely some more challenging terrain than what I've seen in Japan so far, and also nice to be able to go up to a patroller and ask about BC conditions and even get the offer of a guided tour.

 

Japan wins out on snow-conditions and lack of lift lines (depending i guess on where you ride) and probably because I've ridden here more than anywhere else. Have some reservations on california though, as I've never been there to catch a particularly large dump.

 

but then again, I know nothing about a vast majority of the places there are to ride in this wide old world...

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Japan has the best snow conditions by far (consistent) but the terrain is far behind europe and north america. Snow condition is more important for me since you can still find some great line here in Japan. So in a typical season my ranking would be (based on snow conditions):

 

1. Japan

2. North America

3. Europe

 

Assuming same snow conditions at all 3 (say after a huge dump \:D ), then my ranking reverses (based on terrain):

 

1. Europe

2. North America

3. Japan

 

Steep vert + powder, yeah baby! thumbsup.gif

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