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Thanks for the invite Fattwins. I'll take you up on it.

 

Japan does have biglines and bigmountain skiing. I was really amazed at the terrain above Hakuba. Its just that the resorts only go up so far. If that were in Europe or maybe North America there would be a tram going all the way to the top. Maybe in the future it will change. Whistler only used to have lifts to treeline. Same with Kicking Horse which with 1 gondola has become one of the sickest resorts in North America.

 

 

That mountain is Judge Howay and is 2262 metres tall. Its located very close to Vancouver. And that line has never seen skiis.

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I think one of the reasons for the lifts dont go all the way up is wind. the other is just bad planning.

 

That will take some skills just to make it to the top.

 

My damn ankle might prevent some spring climbing right now I ice it everyday. Ive never been injuried before and it sucks cause there are so many things I want to do.

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1081_judgeuppereast.jpg

 

This is what the line looks like actually in winter. Not as amazing but still wild looking. The summit probably enough space for a few people. So comparable to Mount Yari in Japan if you have ever done that.

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Toque,

Have you ridden down Yarigatake before? We climbed it last June (still lots of snow), and butt-slid the way down. Have heard it gets lots of yama-skiers around GW time. But man, the 11 km hike through Kamikochi valley is loonnng...

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No never skiied in there. I did Yari last fall in a typhoon. Was lots of fun climbing up those ladders with the typhoon going full tilt. But Yari was easy. The fun part was traversing the ridge back south towards Kamikochi.

 

But I want to do a ski trip in the Karasawa valley. Thats the 1st valley with the Yari approach valley being 2nd from kamikochi. Lots of really cool lines and north facing slopes. Maybe in late may I will find the time.

 

So there is still lots of snow in there in June? Any skiers/snowboarders in there?

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Hey toque

 

That ridge between yari and hotaka is awesome eh. Did it last summer with my mate. I also climbed yari 3 years ago...in a bloody typhoon. The hike in from Kamikochi was so long and i ended up camping on the east ridge at about 2600m on an exposed little table top with cliffs on either side. The typhoon came in and I spent the whole sleepless night hanging onto a rock with one hand and driving in a tent peg with the other to prevent the tent and me from taking a magic carpet ride into the valley to the north!! Maybe the mountain gods dont like u climbing Yari.

 

Agree with u on the potential in Karasawa. There is awesome potential all over the north alps. If some one just started a heli operation....

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There was still alot of snow when we hiked up Yarigatake last year (in early June). On our way back, we met up with 2 snowboarders and 1 skier going up:

yari.jpg

 

Here are a few links to other Yari pics I have found:

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~dd8m-hr/0304_yarigatake/2003.04_ski_yarigatake_00.htm

 

http://www.mitene.or.jp/~tetuo-ya/yamaski/yarigatake/yari.html

 

The Karasawa area is also a classic:

http://www13.big.or.jp/~ikehara/Area/yamaski/yamaski.html

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Wow that looks good. I will be hitting that area up in late May into June for sure now.

 

I thought the snow would be all gone by then but guess not. Should be all right.

 

Thats really funny. In some of those pictures they are towing there skis behind them. That would be so annoying. They would always be flipping over.

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