daver 0 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by samurai: just an update. skied zao sat and sun and with all the flack it gets I should give some props for one of the best openers I've ever had anywhere. two days, deep snow, all mine!! most chairs were closed, but skiing what they accessed from the chairs that were available proved a very worthy incentive. Nailed about a dozen lines from the top of Utopia all the way down, alone. waist deep in the steeps, combing tracks next to my own, watching my old tracks slowly fill, wondering why I was the only one... Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 [/QB] Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Now that sounds good. How much did they charge for the day? Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 usually day tickets are 4600. I think early season tickets are a few hundred yen cheaper. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 For Tohoku, and especially Miyagi people, just back from a trip up to Kurobushi Kogen. The road is now open, and they were getting ready to open this Saturday (9th). Yeah. There was about 20cm of pretty heavy wet snow at the bottom, and it's probably snowing there now. The groomers had been out, and coverage was complete. I'll probably be going up on Monday for a bit of a de-rusting session. And the good news is, I finally had an email from my ex-, saying that the boys are coming. I'll be collecting them from Narita on Wednesday. I'm absolutely stoked about that. Link to post Share on other sites
daver 0 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by soubriquet: And the good news is, I finally had an email from my ex-, saying that the boys are coming. I'll be collecting them from Narita on Wednesday. I'm absolutely stoked about that. that's wicked man! how long are their holidays? do you have lots of skiing planned? Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 They're here for a month. I have season tickets for me and No1 son at Kurobushi Kogen, and No2 skis free because he's under 12. That'll be about 20 days. Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Are you going this weekend soubs? Hope you had a good time with your family. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Nope. I teach at weekends, so it will be Monday. In January I may cancel my Sunday class on the grounds that access to the mountain village is too hard. Then if daver and samurai want, we can go up to Onikobe or Kurobushi Kogen. Link to post Share on other sites
daver 0 Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 i'm down Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Time to revive this one. I`ll be driving to Kurobushi Kogen on an almost daily basis until Late January. The exceptions are Saturdays, and really bad weather. Two seats can be arranged from Higashine station (or the bottom of the mountain for Miyagi people) and back for anyone asking. Miyagi Onikobe is also on from the New Year, but this will depend on weather. The top lifts are shut and there`s no point travelling unless conditions are good. Link to post Share on other sites
daver 0 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 i'm in for giving onikobe a try, you speak highly of it. can we get samurai on board? what's it like? lots of snow? what's the terrain like? are the trees thick like many of the other areas up here or are they nicely spaced? Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I'm sorry, what? Yeah, let's go skiing. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I`ve been to Onikobe twice. Both times I had heavy snow, and the upper part was only open for acouple of hours. It is set inside a caldera. The lower slopes are wide and easy. These are separated from the upper part by a couple of very steep runs. The upper part has a run along the rim of the caldera, and there is an open bowl behind it. I`m not tree-skier, so I really can`t comment, but there seemed to be plenty of space. Here`s the ridge and the trees. Onikobe snow is qualitatively drier than in Yamagata. Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I like that last photo. I want to be there, now. Link to post Share on other sites
Zaoman 0 Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 I've had decent snow at Onikobe a few times.. . both were times when it would have been good everywhere though so no real test I suppose. Not challenging enough in general for me though. Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Any of you Zao folk know what the tiny Liza is like? I'll have a few days there coming up, though it seems more likely better to get to one of the other Zao's. Zao Onsen I think is 25 mins drive (gotta get a car!). Also, if anyone wants to meet up let me know. I'll probably be back to pick some brains. No date yet, maybe early Feb snow depending....? Or possibly later in Jan? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I've been. It's small but the snow was excellent when I went. Good cross country course there as well. The big Zao is down the road so you can go there too. Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Sat/Sun January 27th -28th = FIS Slalom race. Going for sure, but not much skiing, sorry. More of a rabbit-fur hat/down parka/ cow-bell day. Now where's that wine-skin I ordered??? Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 they have cow bells there? thanks muika - I PMed you for a little more info. They said you can't get a bus from there to big Zao, maybe have to bus it to the station and back? Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 fis races are famous for cow-bells. I've never actually been. I have only seen on tv. Every race I've seen has had mad spectators with enourmous cow-bells. I have been dreaming of witnessing an FIS race for more than 20 years. I grew up with my face glued to the TV, dreaming of cranking turns like that. I ski alot, but never have I had the opportunity to catch a world-class FIS race. They have come through my town randomly maybe 8 or 9 times and I couldn't make it. I searched my local ski shop to no avail. I may make my own. I'm just sooo fricking excited to see my first fis race!!! can't believe it's at a tiny resort in japan. who'dathunkit? cowbells anyone? Other than the damn watch-out-bear-here-I-come crap? something bigger than your hand? I may go to JOY and buy some copper. do they sell copper sheets at JOY? I have two weeks. ENORMOUS COPPER COW BELL PLEASE!!! I'm a fricking 5 year old going to my first FIS race!!! Where's my cow-bell? Next year's christmas request= cowbell. cow-bell cow-bell cow-bell cow-bell Zao Liza ??????????? WTF? Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I won a trip and that's where the accom is - know nothing about the place, that's why I'm asking. Cowbells - go to a music shop Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 cowbells, music store. so dah ne... honestly never crossed my mind. cheers for waking me up. Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 No worries, music shops are a frequent haunt of mine..... have fun! Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 yeah, that teaches you to not enter contests when you cannot reap the benefits. Link to post Share on other sites
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