Mt Kosha Review



Who: London: 6am-10pm. Definitely No parking.
When: March 2nd and 3rd 2013
Where: Kosha? takaifuji? there were lifties even wearing norikura jackets. I honestly dont know where the hell i am!??!! Whats the name of this place again? Lets go with Kosha. I dont think that's even the damn name of the mountain... "Kosha" is about an hour north east of Nagano. Its near Iiyama. Sorta. In visual range of the following: Nozawa, Togari, Madarao, Ryuoo, and in reasonable proximity to Myoko and Shiga Kogen. Loads to choose from around here.

Ticket Info: Tickets costs a PALTRY 3900 yen. Seriously. Joint ticket is cheap! For the individual resorts its 3600 yen, whilst if you head to the yomase site you can also score a joint yomase/xjam ticket plus 800yen lunch (dont trust me on Japanese) for 4000 yen. Seriously, some cracking good value tickets abound. On top of this is of course the daddy of all cost savings - the blackbox. Some Japanese required, but googletranslate and some mucking about with random settings scores you the deal. For me, it cost 11,800 yen for 1 night, breakfast, dinner, and 2 day Mt Kosha tickets. If you're in this general area and need to save cash, work out how to use the black box deals to your advantage. Another thing to mention is that the Kijikmadaira early bird (before 31st August) season pass is a very cheap 19,800yen. You can ride Kosha entirely for an extra 500 yen on the day. Again, if you're in the area, it might be worth looking into.

Access: This will hopefully be out of date come next season, but currently the easiest route is direct bus from Nagano. It costs 1400 yen and takes under an hour. Alternatively you can make your way here taking the red line to Yudanaka station (OUTSIDE Nagano JR station) and then taking a taxi to the resort. There is likely a bus to Yomase from the resort (since they have buses to both shiga kogen AND ryuoo running, but unfortunately I have no information on this. The train to Yudanaka though is pricey at around 1200 yen. And on top of that its still a few kms up to the resort from there. Next season should see the completion of the IIyama shinkansen station however making bus routes from Iiyama itself all but guaranteed. Again, there is a rumored bus line currently in operation from iiyama, but Ive yet to be told about it. If you do fancy taking a chance, a ticket to iiyama is about 650 yen, and the bus is only about another 5kms to the resort from there, so probably wouldn't be too costly (and likely makes a more suitable alternative than heading into yudanaka if you're on a day trip).

Snow conditions: Friday was an horrendous day of rain, melt and then freeze. Thus, even with the snow late on Friday, the conditions were genuinely atrocious off the groomed runs. Conditions were pure icy death cookie crud. As saturday went on the snow fell heavier making exploration in the trees possible by the Sunday morning. However, serious death cookies peppered the mountain and the cover from the Saturday snow made it rather treacherous going at speed. Arguably some of the worst conditions I've ridden this season. Definitely a weekend to stick with the groomers. Any exploration in the trees required extreme caution. Death cookies hurt, yo! (i hit a few, obviously).

Anything Else?: First up, Kijimadaira has a paragliding school! If you want serious air, hell yeah you should head up there. People were busy taking off as I rode about the mountain. Brilliant (but terrifying) to watch. In addition, you can also group rent poles for you and your mates to spend your morning pretending you're in ski sunday.

Worth also mentioning is Yamanouchi. Its is a small onsen town located just to the east of Nakano. I bring it up because its a fantastic place to base yourself for any person looking for a quieter more sedate and "authentic" Japanese trip. Not only is it famous as an onsen town (meaning free onsen) and filled with Ryokan (japanese style traditional hotels), it also gives you very easy access to the monkey onsen.

On top of this you also have the nearby town of Nakano which mixes the more traditional style Japanese town with modern conveniences. It is a small town, but it will keep you supplied with your modern needs. Finally, and arguably the best, is the small town of Obuse. This is sincerely a great place to spend a day. It has a fantastic Hokusai Museum that is absolutely must see. This is your classic old style Japanese town and will delight anyone looking to make their facebook friends mad jealous.

Finally there's of course the ski resorts. Looking down on Yamanouchi is Yomase ski resort which allows you direct access to all of Kosha. It also has buses that run to both Ryuoo and Shiga Kogen. In addition, Nozawa is a mere 20 minutes drive, and although there's no bus (to my knowledge) if you are staying in a decent hotel/ryoukan, they'll no doubt be happy to take you along for a day trip. Even if you were only here for the skiing you'll be hard pushed to feel bored after a couple of weeks. Throw in the day trips around north Nagano/Niigata and you'll have to probably start cutting corners. If you do have the luxury to stay a couple of weeks and you prefer your holidays more on the traditional and sedate/peaceful side side of things, you'll find Yamanouchi maybe even a better alternative than Nagano itself to base yourself out from.


Mt Kosha - The Review



A brief explanation of Mt Kosha:

Mt Kosha are four resorts: Yomase, X-jam (takaifuji), Yamabiko No oka, and Kijimadaira. It's more like three realistically because Yamabiko is only 2 lifts and a few short runs. Still, its an independant resort (somehow!) so it counts!
This is only the second season of the joint ticket. Last year they also had Makinoiri snowpark attached, but for reasons known only to Kosha it ceased operations and is no longer accessible. Worth also noting is that last year you had to apparently "contact staff" to get from yomase to X-Jam. Fortunately this year they have a course running between them. This makes the trek from either side of the mountain a doddle (it takes just over an hour - if you're not in too much of a hurry - to go from the base of Yomase to the top of Kijimadaira, fact fans). In truth, unless you've only got a couple of hours, or are at kijimadaira and just want to ride the top lift, then you might as well pick up the Kosha ticket. Its 300 yen more and gives you a STACK more options to play on. That being said, lets get to the zones themselves.


Area 1: Yomase



Two years ago I arrived in Yudanaka completely unaware that there was a ski jo right up the hill. The temptation to skip a day at shiga and just go cruise it was quite hard to resist. I'm honestly glad I did though. i wouldn't have been that impressed. Yomase is a fairly straightforward hill to get your head around. Its a beginners to intermediate cruising resort to all intents and purposes. The courses are relatively short and wide, but offer a nice increasing incline as you move further up the hill giving progressing beginners and intermediates a bit of a challenge and a solid line to start picking up serious speed. Aside the prospect for hiking out and riding the spine down to xjam (or even into kijimadaira - both of which would be extremely dangerous mind you and not recommended without extensive BC experience - and i don't just mean rope ducking or riding trees), there isn't really all that much to do for anyone comfortable with their carving other than buttering around and ducking in and out of whatever narrow bands of trees you can hit up.

The real gem of Yomase though isn't its terrain, but is in fact a humble lift.

A quad lift to be exact. It neither starts at the bottom, nor does it make it all the way up the hill, but this one lift is about as fast as any chair lift I've ridden. It also accesses about 4/5ths of the available mountain which makes it kinda decent. This lift is a godsend for Yomase. It cuts down the time spent riding lifts and guarantees you'll feel like you're spending a hell of a lot of time at least riding the snow regardless of how fast you hit the bottom. Due to its central location, it also offers a stack of detours just to draw your lines out and feel like you're not repeating yourself too often. Alas it is still just a shortish quad lift and its never going to carry the strain of a day at Yomase no matter how excellent the conditions might be, but my goodness it does give the resort just a little extra dynamic than it would have otherwise.


(looking up yomase)

Top to bottom Yomase clocks in around 2kms, and were it not for tha qud lift, youd be having a pretty slow ride to the top. A top to bottom ride would require you get on the extremely slow lift at the bottom and then switch to either the quad halfway up the mountain, or a super slow short pair (that takes about the same amount of time). This then connects you to the only lift accessing the top of the mountain. And its a pretty slow ride. Technically the top lift also has a drop off point around 3/4s of the way up, but no way on. If you want to reach the top, you need to go all the way back down to a point arbitrarily about 1/3rd of the way up the main line on the mountain. Don't ask me. I didn't design it!

It is a pity because the top area, although relatively short, has a fun gradient to it (from the low 30s transitioning gently to the high teens) and with lots of little stashes at the side due to its relative unpopularity. On a drop you could have a decent time here for a few hours regardless of your level. You might even stretch it out to a half day with a bit of exploration along some of the lines curving skiers right (though these lines mean two lifts and a massive amount of overlapping just to get back to the top). More time spent here though and chances are unless you're a beginner, you'll feel a bit hemmed in.

So to summarize Yomase: its a fun hill, has an amazingly fast lift taking you up to the end of the "intermediate" (id genuinely suggest they're more akin to high beginner) lines. The lift placements thereafter are a touch whacky and kinda spoil quick access to the top, but no mind. There's usually a stash at the top, not many people seemed to be using that lift, and though short, it did allow for some surfy powtastic speeds. At the foot of the hill is a small line perfectly suited to absolute beginners looking to score their first turns, while some of the lines curving around skiers right offer some mildly entertaining distractions in the trees. Ultimately, half day at the most though for anyone above intermediate level. For anyone more closer to the beginner stage however the mountain is simple, wide, incredibly straightforward and easy to get to grips with. It does have a decent pitch so absolute beginners might feel it a bit of a jump but they'll probably have a blast either way. It seems rather quiet as well allowing for plenty of space to just do your own thing. In all, its a fun place for people starting out or those looking to move around the hill a bit. And because of the consistent pitch, its a nice little warm up area for more experienced riders looking to start out or finish their day.

Area 2: X-Jam/TakaiFuji


(X-Jam kicker line and halfpipe 1)

Around half way down the hill yo'ull find the turn off to X-Jam. The sign posting here is AMAZINGLY clear. Possibly this was forced on the Kosha group in order to gain access to the golf course and keep the riders from ripping up the course. Whatever the reason, it's definitely welcome to see such a clear marked path through to x-jam. The path itself is pretty flat, and you will need to be carrying speed. Likely you will be un-clipping or at least bouncing up the hill to your next slight downhill line, but its not too bad. Its shorter than you might imagine and a couple of pushes gets you to the base of lift 3, and onto the next part of your journey. (To return just take the number 3 lift (accessed from the top of the xjam park lift by the way) and then its a very short scoot back into Yomase). But onwards to X-Jam!

Easily far and away the most popular part of the mountain, and also the oldest and fattest I've ever felt on a snowboard. Suffice it to say i didn't really stick around here. X-Jam has some solid lines to it of course, and plenty of trees you can just drop into and ride down (though its tight and slippy in there). It also has a great steep to it from the number 6 (top lift) dropping into the beginners park area. Its alright as it goes...

But really its hard to talk about x-jam as an old fat non park rider, because there are honestly two reasons people come here:

1. The demographic is YOUNG snowboarder (it covers all the ability levels mind you). People come here to hang out with their mates and meet a bunch of new people from other parts of the country. Its almost like you might consider a club in the UK. (i am of course supremely jealous).
2. The park lines all over the mountain.


(baby park line)

You can skip the park features and just bomb some steeps, and it does deliver a decent line in it, but really unless you're stuck here because your mates made you come, there are better places to hang out. I had a few runs down, but the lifts back up aren't that quick, and though the number 6 line to the top looks to have a great lift run if you can find a way in it as well as some okay trees on the left side of the mountain, it wasn't really the best place to stick about. Come for the park or pick another resort to be honest. Its not just the park line itself though, almost the entire right hand side is devoted to park lines. The number 1 lift offers a baby park line with a few straight-forward small features that would help beginners progress, whilst the number 3 pair line (though the map is rather deceptive since the number three STARTS at its listed end point and carries you back to Yomase, but lets just assume its fine and you know where I'm talking about) has a pretty serious (and aside the small kickers) scary ass (for me) rail line as well as a few other small to medium hits.

As you can probably tell, I'm not the best person to talk about park features, but the real centerpiece of the area is the X-Jam access line on far skiers right. Going from (skiers) right to left on this line:

On the far right hand side from the top of the lift is a powder/tree and mini jump/roller line. As we move to the left you have a four hit baby kicker line. Then the proper medium size kicker line. And finally two half pipes. As the jump lines end, the gradients shallows out into a few kink rails, boxes, and um... park rat stuffs. Sorry... Send krusty or someone to check it out. Seems like an intermediate park with some decent sized hits. You ain't talking US here. Still, if you're into lapping park all day, probably worth at least a visit. I'd also like to mention that I got to ride in a halfpipe for the first time, so there's that crossed off my list! It was fun, vert is um, pretty much what it says it is, eh?

Again in summary, X-Jam does have a nice line in it, much like Yomase it goes from a solid advanced pitch in the high twenties/low thirties dropping into a very soft (unlike Yomase) low teens under the number 1 lift. Its longest line is also around a couple of kilometers making it a bit small and trivial on its own. But its really not why you come here. This mountain is about being with your people and hitting up park features. Be they beginner and soft rollers or getting air in the pipe(s). Accessed via the golf course between Yomase and Xjam (and the pair lift 3 lift back), its a solid addition to the ticket. Its also a solid ride on its own if you're a park rat!

...but im not, so off to yamabiko!

Area 3: Yamabiko no Oka


(main line down yamabiko no oka)

Freaking tiny. Its two lifts with about 4 or 5 lines down the mountain. Still, on balance i think i possibly spent as much time here as i did in x-Jam. Admittedly i didn't spend all that much time in x-jam as you might have gathered by my vague descriptions of it, but for a tiny small group of lines this area is pretty decent for at least a few runs around the number one lift. I should add that I am a little stumped trying to figure out what that one intermediate run on the trail map is. But if it is what i think it is, it's not only locked up, but they've bulldozed a stack of snow under the rope to prevent people from ducking the rope and riding it (not that you could, its right outside the lifty window).

Coming up the lift i was really excited at the prospect of hitting it up since its the only real powder line on the course, but alas its not to be. This line is closed. It is poachable, but er, you first! The other line off lift 2 is a fairly simple groomed high beginner line. It wasn't particularly memorable and you'll end up riding it coming back from Kiji anyway. So really not much to say about this side other than it connects you to Kijimadaira. In itself, not really worth bothering with.

Line 1 however has a nice steepish green run rolling into a mellow green beginner pitch. On its own, aside the trees at either side and a run under the lift, there's not that much interesting about it. It wasn't really swimming and powder and looked pretty widely groomed (though they certainly left enough space at the sides near the top of the lift for a little play in the powder). But really the big draw here is the cross course at the foot of it. The rollers are decent sized and the speed is pretty nippy on it. It is short and they could maybe do with starting it from the top and really defining the zone by it (since there's not all that much else here), but i guess they want to keep enough space for beginners to negotiate the full line. Still, its a bit more interesting an area than you might immediately imagine: have a little play in the trees or in the powder, spend some time buttering around and then off into the cross course. Its not enormous, but you could definitely enjoy it for a while either side of your ventures to and from Kijimadaira.

The Yamabiko No oka area is really a link area. You can't ride this place on its own all day. Hell, its probably even shorter than Yeti. But even though it hasn't got all that much in terms of terrain or area, it still punches a little above its weight thanks to the addition of the cross course, the small powder stashes, some short tree riding, and the general ambiance of the area. Its a nice quiet part of the hill between Xjam and Kijimadaira giving you a bit of space to either lap the number 1 lift by bombing top to bottom; charge that cross course; or just cruise and butter about the groomers here. Its a really nice little place for beginners and intermediates alike. Again, advanced riders might start to feel its time to move on after a couple of runs on the cross-course, and maybe think theyve made a terrible mistake coming here... but really if they're here for massive lines or a big mountain experience, they probably didn't do their research... well, until they hit Kijimadaira.

Area 4: Kijimadaira



Thus far its all been rather quaint. Though the resort has very little in terms of terrain, some careful and skilled organisation has delivered a rather fun and interesting theme park style experience. Yomase gave us nice straightforward decent open lines on a nice gradient, the traverse to xjam was pretty simple, and X-Jam itself delivered a decent party/park atmosphere. The move to Yamabiko off the very under used pair 6 lift at Xjam (and into possibly the quietest part of the xjam area) gently eased us into a nice little cruising area with some fun lines to just muck about on and quick enough lifts to let us lap them. Its all been a lot of fun so far just getting the feel for each area and cruising about exploring some new lines.

And then you hit Kijimadaira, see all the downhill poles and you think... "awesome! so this place is defining itself as a kind of practice area for downhill skiing/snowboarding! Bang goes the only thing good thing I had to say about Sugadaira!"...

The conditions from the Friday meant that the very top lift was closed on the Saturday. This gave me time to have a look around and get a feel for the place. Its more serious than you think. They set aside the lines either side of main quad lift for downhill competitions and practice lines. At first i thought these were free for all, but unfortunately I learned that they're all rented. If you do want to practice your carving, you'll need to get a group together and rent out the poles (and the people staffing them i assume). That being said, the opportunity exists... and if its lunch time, chances are you might be able to poach a few runs while no ones around.

Still, it has a decent line to it. Its a Km or so longer than all the other zones, and seems to have plenty of activities set up to keep you coming back. Quickly (because its not really the point of the review), you can sledge down the very bottom line on the resort on a specially set aside decent length track. There's also a park line on skiers right about 2/3rds of the way down of the main zone with a few smallish random hits on it. There's also a paragliding school to er, well... paraglide off the top of the mountain (or off the small path near the start of the top lift). Finally, it seems like there's a competition going on every weekend/holiday... Oh, and the grub at Panis (base of lift 7) was yummy.... well, the bread was. Love bread and soup for lunch on a day out at the resort <3

The terrain from the base of the top lift to the bottom is solid intermediate to absolute soft beginners (where the sledging is). Obviously they hold downhill competitions here so if nothing else, you'll at least get a good quick run out on some nice tracks with some playful little side hits here and there. It is kinda open though, so if you're not that interested in paying for the poles, entering a competition, mucking about on the mini park or just sitting in the cafe watching the world drift by, youre going to find this zone no more interesting than the others. If the top lift isnt open, its fun to explore a bit, but you'll have a better time on another resort.

IN truth it was all rather shallow and underwhelming. Of course beginners are going to love this area. Its far bigger than any of the other parts of the Kosha pass and delivers enough twists and turns to make it feel like a longer more entertaining mountain than it is. But that's really all beginners have to be honest. For the most part, the lines go from beginner to intermediate gradient as you work up the hill making it a great place for progressing. There is also a hell of a lot of space here. Finally the number 8 quad runs at decent pace meaning you have a good 2-3 kms of lines to play with without too much hassle if you're happy with intermediate level steeps. If, on the other hand, you are feeling its a bit much, simply spend your time on the bottom line. Without the very top lift, its... alright. Its got a half day in it and a decent lunch.

But I didnt really come here to experience the mountain. I can for one line. Every day i rode Nozawa and looked across all i saw was that top line. Even from the station it draws you in. Its not like its massively long or anything, but that drop on it looks serious. I had to ride it. It's been on my bucketlist snce day 1. And after a couple of hours of humming and hawing, at 11am on Sunday, to my delight (and against their better judgement - too many death cookies) they went ahead and opened it.

Third chair up! woohoo! i should have been first, but got snaked. The lift ride was proper vertigo inducing stuff. After white knuckling it to the top, i released my death grip on the bar to slide onto the most exposed wind blasted ice face this side of the Eiger... or at least the top of annupuri. If i'd have tried this a few years ago I would have IMMEDIATELY regretted it. This was possibly the steepest, iciest on piste face ive come across so far. Sure, for more experienced and worldly traveled riders its not that special. Its a mere 45 degrees, but to me who learned everything in Japan, its steep. Its pants wettingly steep. And its also a hell of a challenge to ride it without skidding your turns and taking some decent cuts cross the full width all the way down. Its genuinely brilliant fun the moments you feel comofrtable enough to drop into the fall line and let the board rip. But its going to smack the crap out of anyone not up for it. Treat this line the same way you might treat the line at the very start of b course on Ryuoo. With freshies its alright, you can track into a pitch and just nuke... until it narrows and gets proper steep and icy... and as I discovered later in the day, once it gets a bit of shade, the cut in tracks become a bone shaker. The wind seemed to be blasting from the bottom to the top turning the snow from the previous day into serious crusty chop/crud within a few hours of its opening. If you want to really get the best of the line, either you need to be here first, or you need to be here on a day when no one else is about and its puked.

And here's the bad news: they only open that line on weekends and holidays. So your best chance of scoring those first tracks is to do what i did and sit there for an hour until they open it. Goddammit! For best results, score a few runs on it, then get the hell off that face once the conditions start packing in.

Lucky for you though there's another line serviced by the lift. And its a doozey.



It requires a mini traverse (about 50meters) to the back of the mountain. You'll then find yourself in a free for all open area VERY similar to Tanuki on Nozawa. I was all ready to declare the steep to be the gem in the Kosha crown, but this line murders it! Its a fantastic little run through the trees and into the powder. I must have ridden about 5 different lines on it without repeating myself and still ended back out in the right place. There's loads of variety here, and you can pretty easily venture slightly further out for a spot of discovery without finding yourself in too much shit (disclosure of course that you may in fact find yourself in the shit - i personally didn't is all I'm saying). In total its obviously shorter than Tanuki top to bottom, but its maybe close to 2/3rd or 3/5ths of its length. Its also LEGAL and if its open, assume its safe-ISH... it isn't like patrol are always around and its out of the way meaning the lure of fresh lines pulling you into stupid areas as well as the whole "no one seeing you if you **** up", thing. Of all the lines, this is naturally the most dangerous and shouldn't really be attempted on your own without a bit of slackcountry experience EVEN IF the resort opens it. So qualifier in mind and back to the point...



its a brilliant bumpy, powdery, steepish tree run/chute into the area around lifts 6 and 7. In conjunction with the main face, these two runs are definitely going to keep an advanced rider pretty happy for at least a half day giving them a reason to legitimately pick up this ticket (beginners and early intermediates would be better off avoiding the top lift in its entirety to be honest). This one lift turns the whole Kosha ticket from a fun playful muck around cruising place into something just a little more serious and engaging. Its a brilliant part of the mountain and really justifies the price of the ticket.

All in then, unless you're a park rat or an absolute beginner, you'll probably find yourself spending most of your time on Kijimadaira. It's obviously the most serious (as well as the largest) zone on the ticket, so you might hope it'd pull a decent amount of weight. And my genuine feeling is that it does. It has something for everyone to do and is a pretty decent place as a stand alone resort SO LONG AS THE TOP LIFT IS OPEN. In many ways it reminds me of Yakebi on Shiga Kogen. Not so much in the mountain itself, but that if you do find yourself feeling underwhelmed by the rest of the Kosha ticket, (or you're done exploring), you can pop over there and enjoy the rest of your time just cruising down it or mucking about finding your own lines from the top.

For me, it was really that back line that sold the resort. If the powders dropping and its open (check in advance if you can), and you don't fancy risking something a little less known (tanuki) or fighting everyone on your hill for tracks, then you've just scored an amazingly fun ON PISTE face shot chute/tree line in the back bowl. Brilliant stuff. If comparatively short. But brilliant none the less. I had to literally drag myself away and make a break for Yomase just to catch my bus home.

Ipps in Kosha - Concluding remarks.



I'm not going to get over enthusiastic about the place. It has plenty of issues, and i genuinely don't know if there will be a second visit for at least a few years. Unless they open that top lift on weekdays and I happen to be spending a few weeks holidays in Nagano, its pretty unlikely you'd want to pick this as your routine place to go. If you've been here for a couple of days you'll be left feeling like you've seen it all. Its fun, but I doubt youdfeel a burning need to return. None of this is untrue, it is pretty short after all with the longest runs barely squeaking past a couple of kilometers. And its hardly swimming in advanced terrain. Still, it does have a fair few things going for it.

Before we get into that though we need to answer one key question: Is the Kosha ticket worth it?

Yes. Don't bother with a single resort pass on your first time. For 300 yen and a stack more options, you'd be barking to not pick it up.

So with that out of the way, lets try and answer why you might like to come here?

Well, first up, X-Jam offers a brilliant fun party atmosphere. It LOOKS a great place to hang out if you're around uni age and love hitting park. (Well, maybe not if you LOVE hitting park, nothing was SO big that it made me puke even looking at it (as the muju kickers did when they moved them up the hill in March). Its medium hits at best). But if you just want to tune your skills in Japan and lap up the Sugeee!'s, then it makes a welcome distraction.

Second, no beginner or low intermediate will hate this place. It provides two ESSENTIAL components for them to have a great time: First, it has a huge area to explore all with a different and unique vibe. And second, all of it (aside the top lift at Kijimadaira) is accessible for all but absolute beginners. From Yomase to Kijimadaira there isn't a single line i can think of that would be classed as intermediate let alone advanced. This means beginners to low intermediates can just spend their time in areas until they get bored and head somewhere else. This is a FANTASTIC place for them to ride. Most of the terrain really suits them with the harder stuff mainly being out of the way and not on their main path around the mountain.



Third, the main face on Kijimadaira is cracking stuff. Sure, youll probably stop hitting it after your third or fourth time and do something else instead, but if you've never ridden it and you feel like it's worth a crack, you should probably head here. It pays for the ticket on its own,and there's plenty of fun and varied cruising areas/park lines to play on if you find yourself needing to kill time. The cross-course is great fun for example, and you can always try and poach some downhill runs.

Third, the back line is phenomenally good fun. Pick a line, go where you like, come out where you need to be. I went pretty far skiers right on my last run through the trees (i was in sight of the main face), and still looped all the way back round to the back line before being spat out in the right place. I could honestly have ridden that all day were it not for the death cookies all over it. Its a great little free for all line. On a powder day it'll be immense! If you spend your time fighting for tracks, save your cash, come here on a weekend on a dump and do what you should be doing. The place kills.

<<<<<Addendum... there is one more thing that im NOT QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT IN ANY WAY, but just as a heads up for the proper junkies out there. There's clearly some gnarly steep lines heading from the top of Kiji down to both Yomase and Makinori (as well as from the top of yomase). Mad BC and organisation/planning skills definitely required, but there's a decent line or two in it by the looks of it. Well, maybe... i aint looking at a topographical map here, just using my eyes. You'll have to not take my word for it and confirm that info for yourself. But it gives you something to at least scope out and see if its 1) worth it, and 2) doable. Again, not qualified, just saying its maybe worth a look.>>>>>

Finally, its just a nice big area to cruise around on. It doesn't sound like much, but you'll easy fill a couple of days just mucking about and exploring it, (unless you're really fussy and ONLY ride x-terrain!). Each area has its own vibe and signature ride. Yomase has big open empty consistent terrain, and some little fun runs between the trees (not IN the trees) to keep things on the gentler more peaceful diverse side of things. X-jam has its park hits as well as the brunt of the party atmosphere, whilst Yamabiko offers a super quiet and peaceful shaded area dotted in the trees. Finally, kijimadaira offers a proper rounded resort experience with a whole lot of stuff to keep you busy and entertained, from paragliding, to sledging, to downhill competitions, to small park hits, to slackcountry pow and tree lines... and even just all round classic riding down a hill on a plank of wood. It has a little bit of everything.

In my honest opinion, it should really be doing better than it does in terms of numbers even if it was a solo ticket. In conjunction with the rest of the Kosha ticket, its genuinely shocking that its such a quiet mountain. Ah well, everyone else's loss is your gain!

If you have never been here, i do strongly urge you to check it out. Its a fun way to spend a weekend. I mean, don't expect Niseko or even one of the bigger resorts in Nagano. Its pretty short. But for a one time trip its brilliant fun. You get to wander about, see loads of new stuff as well as some fantastic scenery and just soak up the whole ambiance of a quiet (X-Jam excepted) but excellently organised hill. As i say, it might not be the kinda place you'll visit again in a hurry, but its definitely a place you'd want to come at least once.

Overall, I genuinely think its well worth the cash and time for a weekend once every few seasons. Plus, you really do need to cross off riding that face from your Japan "things to do"-list. It's totally worth it. If the powders swimming, your local hill is packed, you're sick of fighting for tracks AND its a weekend (you need that top lift open dammit!), then it might be a great time to come and check out why despite its rather obvious flaws, I'm more than happy to bang on about it.

Sugadaira - The Preamble


Who: Ippy the munificent, keeper of the keys and slayer of the 100 day monster. So er, 120 days or thereabouts. You knows the score, not very good at snowboarding, nor staying in shape, nor remaining flexible, and completely incapable of recovering from any injury sustained whilst hitting up jib features he clearly has no business riding.
When: February 24th 2013.
Where: Just down the road as it happens. Ive even cycled there. Its a KILLER of a bike ride. Ran out of water about 3km from the top in the middle of summer. But for the fact fans, about 40km East of Nagano up the mountains somewhere between Suzaka and Ueda.
Why: Free tickets brah! Plus i always felt kinda lame for giving it short shrift and never visiting it whilst at Suzaka, so this was my chance to make amends and show i could equally enjoy the little out of the way places.
And did you? No. Im telling you this right now so that you understand that no matter how fair and objective im going to be 1) my loathing of the place is going to make its way through into this review, and 2) my desire for "objectivity" is going to simultaneously cause me to underplay some of the things i genuinely disliked about it. However, I will get on to this point elsewhere and it should go some way to balancing the force.

Conditions: Freezing cold, like proper frostbite cold. Pretty blustery and low visibility as well. There was 5-10cms of fresh on the main groomers around Davos, jumping to around 20cm over at Pine Beak. Off piste and the trees in the less popular/tracked areas were somewhere between 40-60cms. On the more exposed areas of Taro/Davos though it was sometimes akin to riding an ice cube. The wind does a hell of a number on the snow around here.

Access: Took the bus direct from Ueda. I believe theres one from Suzaka as well. Ueda bus is 1200 yen each way, fairly straightforward. Super empty on Sunday morning, which is a blessed relief since its just a local bus. Probably a bit pricey for what is around a 20km trip up a hill (if you have a car though, its WELL worth driving instead). Ueda, (for them that dont know), is around 40km south of Nagano. Trains here leave fairly routinely, and if you're coming from Tokyo, the shinkansen stops here before you arrive in Nagano making it fairly convenient. Bus from Ueda is around an hour.



Sugadaira explained.



Ticket Info: 4300 yen for a day ticket, or 4500 yen if you pick up the lunch pack (pretty much making it 3500 yen in truth). Can't find the season pass info, but i remember finding it earlier this year and laughing IN ITS FACE!!!! So probably around the 40-50,000 mark. The resort also has a snowcat operation taking you up from the top lift on Davos to the very top of the mountain. The cost is 3000 yen. I honestly can't tell you if its worth it. Not only would i not pay 3000 yen (though if I'm reading their website correctly, its gone UP to 3300 yen) on top of a lift ticket, but thanks to the semi white out, I couldn't even see up the mountain to get a sense of what you were paying for.

The terrain at the starting point though is MEGA soft. Like barely breaking downhill and runs like that for a good 200 meters before dropping into a decent pitch. The top of the lift operations is 1647m, whilst the cat tracks up another 600 or so meters. Three thousand yen for that seems a little... i dunno. If you have the skins, I reckon you'd be better off just hiking it. And if it IS steep, well, 3000 yen for a short bomb down a hill even if the powders fresh flowing seems also a little... if money isn't an object though, probably beats whatever else there is to do on the mountain.

Any other Info: Sugadaira is rugby world! Its the home of Japanese rugby union. First time I came here I was STUNNED to find about 15 rugby matches going on (they have a LOT of rugby pitches here). Its a beautiful little flat area at a rather high altitude making for great cool weather in summer, and some seriously wild winters. Its a functioning town and owes its existence to its outdoor pursuits and its farms. Since its a town first, that means plenty of resources, but they're all kinda spread out. If you have a car, you're completely fine. If you're using public transport its going to be a little messier.

And why is Public transport messy? The first thing to mention is the lack of a central area. Its pretty hard to know where you need to be. Sure, there's an information center. But its miles away from the lifts in a sort of no mans land between the two main areas meaning youre unlikely to find yourself there unless you happen to be staying around this area. Mainly its just a bunch of roads, with some lift possibly somewhere around you. This causes problems as I personally found when I got off near lift five at Davos and found the nearest coin lockers to be either a 20 minute walk up a hill, (or 2 lifts and a traverse via snowboard). Guess which one i chose, board bag and all?

And second, theres a good two or three Kilometers of fields, farms and houses between the Taro area and the Pine Beak area. You won't be walking this one. These two resorts are NOT connected by lifts or a traverse. If you're switching between the areas, you'll either be needing a car, or you'll be riding the shuttle bus. And this is where it gets spectacularly messy. For you see, the shuttle bus actually charges you to ride the resort you've paid your ticket for. It's not much, but it really irritated me that i had to pay 400 yen for a round trip to access the parts that my pass was apparently paying for (well... not me though - yay! free tix! but had I have paid, i would have been incensed to be honest). Worse still, it runs every two hours. It does two loops (around 20 minutes per loop), then its gone. If you miss the bus, its back up the hill and an hour and 20 minutes twiddling your thumbs waiting for the next one. And if you switch out, you better have your timings well planned to make it back in time for your bus back. If you are coming here then and using public transport here's my two INVALUABLE pieces of advice:

1. Pack very lightly. Preferably get a backpack with straps to carry your board, wear your gears to the resort so you don't need to bother with lockers. They aren't all that common it turns out.
2. Memorize the bus timetable. Fortunately i went there and took a picture of it, so this means no matter what, you're gonna have a better time than me.

And here's that shuttle bus timetable:


Explaining the review: In effect, it's really two areas: Pine beak and Davos/Taro. These areas are completely independent from one another. You cannot just ride from one part to the other.

But i figure the best way to explain this resort is really to break it into the four main sections listed above: Pine beak 1 (the main pine beak area); pine beak 2 (the smaller mountain connected to pine beak 1 by a miserable traverse); Taro; and the Davos area. Obviously I tried to hit up as much as I could, but I maybe rode around 60% of the runs. I don't believe i missed out on some amazing secret though.

Breaking Down the Mountain

Part 1. DAVOS

(Top of Davos lift 1)

Davos is a weird one. On paper it's got a bit of everything: a load of soft runs for the beginners around lift 4 and lift 6; some fun little stashes around lift 5, a fun advanced beginners rolling bumpier course from lifts 2 and 3, a nice big central area at the base of lift one. Lift one takes you all the way to the top of the Davos area and itself has a few fun beginner-intermediate lines. On top of this you of course have the snowcat operation which might (i honestly cant comment on it - visibility at the top was less than 50 meters) give more experienced riders something to do.

The area in general however is much more suited to beginners and low intermediates (and I assume advanced riders wanting to score some fresh lines by earning their turns hiking to the very top of the mountain). Intermediate and above will find the lines far too short and not particularly engaging. Snowboarders will also find the traversing required rather irritating. The lift placements are somewhat disjointed possibly because lift 4 (area 11 on the map) has to service both the line down to lift 1 and also the line to lift 6. This cuts the area up a bit making it all a bit underwhelming. If you really want to enjoy yourself in Davos, you're probably best off making a bee line to the area serviced by lifts 1, 2 and 3 (area 12 on the map) and sticking around there. Lifts two and three really overlap in many ways so ultimately its two lines. Beginners will honestly enjoy them, as will burgeoning intermediates looking to deal with a spot of speed since there are a few decent pitch lines mixed in. In general the lines here are okay, nice and open, straightforward and probably a lot of fun for someone in their first twenty or so days... they are somewhat on the short side though making things a touch frustrating for anyone looking to bomb the hill. Finally, the area seems to get seriously exposed to the winds meaning that even in a drop you have a good chance of the fresh snow being blown away. It was also incredibly cold. Stay warm!


(getting ready for the hike to the top).

Turning to the other half of Davos (chairs 4, 5, and 6 - area 11), you have some SERIOUS beginner terrain. Chair 4 possibly has the softest terrain on the mountain. Its an awesome place to lap for first timers. Theres no real challenge from the pitch and due to the fact that line 1 seems to be the popular part of the mountain, the traverse between the two areas actually keeps people from riding it. This means there's a lot of space for you to do your thing and learn your skills. If i ever decide to pick up skiing, this part of sugadaira is going to be high on my hit-list. Chair 5 on the other hand has some really fun looking lines for intermediates and above. The only problem here though is that the lift is INCREDIBLY slow, and the terrain is as you might expect, rather short. Lapping seems like a great idea until you sit on the lift and realise you don't really want to waste your time here on such a small tiny line. Pity. i would have really liked to have hit up some of those lines. Its probably the only part of Davos that a progressing intermediate might find interesting and worth the bother.

This leaves line 6. Line six is your connection to Taro. It's got a few restaurants hidden in the trees i wanted to go visit, but aside that its a pretty mild run to the bottom. Getting to the top of line 6 from line 4 requires a bit of skill and speed if you don't want to unclip, and the resort was kind enough to add some rollers to keep you moving between the two. As i say though, great place for beginners to ride, but there's nothing here (aside those restaurants) for anyone who can ride a bit. Its super soft, super mellow, short and wide. It's real value though for most people is that it connects you to the Taro area and to the shuttle bus to Pine beak.


(Line 6 from up the top of Taro)

In summary, the entire Davos area (aside the short lines from chair 5 and the hike to the top) would suit a very inexperienced group. It's got a nice atmosphere at the base of lift 1 making it very family and beginner friendly. For solid intermediates and advanced riders not doing the snowcat/hike, there really isn't that much for you guys to do. Its kinda dull, the pow is super exposed and wind blasted, and because the snow level isn't so deep, the trees are pretty tight and scrubby. It's worth a look for the nice views but i wouldn't really sit around here for too long. There are better lines to play on.

But not necessarily at Taro...

Part 2: Taro


Looking at Taro from pine beak 2

Great terrain, but stupidly short. The lifts chug up at a decent speed keeping things moving, but most of the lines seem to mirror one another and all seem to be mid 20 degree straight runs to the bottom. I hit up a few of these lines and i'd suggest that the more technical and fun lines were found on the side facing pine beak. The side facing Davos is of course fun to play on, but it is barely breaking 500 meters whilst at least the Pine Beak side pushes out a couple of hundred extra meters. None of these lines though break 800m, so that should give you some sense of what you're really dealing with here: a rather tiny hill with a decent gradient. Again, nowhere near enough snow to cover the brush.


(its got an alright pitch to it)

Theres really not all that much to do here. Beginners will find it rather intimidating, intermediates will of course enjoy the challenge of the steeps, and though advanced riders will enjoy a proper good steepish run to let rip a bit and bomb the hill, its going to be short lived and again somewhat underwhelming. The only thought going through my mind here was that i could be riding similar but MUCH LONGER versions of these on just about any resort I've ever ridden. As a stand alone area, it kinda blows. Connected with Davos though its a bit more charming. It does at least offer a progressing beginner/low intermediate mixed group a convenient and fun challenge once they start getting tired of the softer lines on Davos. And really that's how I think of this place...

Taro on its own is around 12 short runs of totally mixed terrain - beginners paths mix in with 28 degree downhill bomber lines. If you choose to ride all of it, you'll easy kill a half day. Mix it in with Davos and a lowish level group's going to have a genuinely good full day out. But it just wasn't for me. I took a couple of the lines either side, mainly the steeper ones and reckoned I'd seen enough to get a good idea of the place. Maybe if someone else comes here and spends some time they can tell you in more detail about the area (I do feel that not riding the A course might have been a bit of an oversight since it looks like it had a bit of fun to it). However, for me, the Taro area really was a stop gap area between my bus home at Davos, and the shuttle bus across to Pine beak (it goes from areas 3, 4, and 5 on the map) and as such didn't really do much to hold my attention. It definitely has more fun lines than Davos, but it really is held back by its length. A pity of course, since what little it has, is rollicking good fun. But stay here and you'll be riding lifts more than you'll be riding the course, and since I'm no longer in Korea and have actual options, I think id rather spend my time riding the course to be fair. Naturally, if you're leafing and side slipping your way down a 26 degree course, i dare say you'll take a bit longer getting to the bottom making it a bit more of an effective use of your time.

Part 3: Pine Beak 2.

BBerzerkah! looking up pine beak 2. In truth, this is about as high as it goes and where the lift drops you up 3/4s of the way up. The very top is more like a down then up dip.

After a couple of runs the view of pine beak was becoming somewhat tempting. Effectively a bowl with a flat run out it seemed to offer at least something a little different and hopefully slightly longer than what I was currently riding. Both Taro and Davos (in particular) had been hugely disappointing, so perhaps a trip to the other side would lift the day. By pure luck I arrived at the bus stop in time for the 11.52 bus across to Pine Beak. I've already moaned about the timetable and the extra cost so ill just pretend that I'm not holding some kind of grudge about it by adding a sentence into the review of the zone moaning yet again about it... so back to the story!

Pine beak 2!

I'm starting in pine beak two because that's exactly what I did. The bus drove past pine beak 2 (I had no clue where i was) and then pulled into the main pine beak area. I checked my handy map, realised I had 3 lifts and then a traverse. I was cold, kinda fed up and bored. Pine beak was a bit of a revelation. The very short lines between the connecting lifts to the top were decent fun. I realised coming back here might be a decent option after all. However first I had to make sure Id checked out everything Sugadaira had to offer, so at the top of the lift I took the path across to Pine beak 2.

Its a fun little run through the trees... for about 300meters. And then it gets flat. And i dont mean it gets flatter. I mean it gets flat. Absolutely spirit level flat. You will be unclipping and you will be walking. And its a considerable distance. At least a good five to ten minutes. Thankfully by now i was so primed for boredom and annoyance that it didnt particularly phase me and i only let out a single muttered "i ****ing hate sugadaira!!!" before happily skating on my way.

I grabbed a quick lunch and then scooted up the hill. Really you might as well consider this one lift. It goes from the base to the top, with a small drop off zone about 3/4s of the way up. Its a nice quick lift making lapping possible, and because its kinda out of the way no ones really around. Theres just you, a few beginners cutting the teeth on the baby lift/run, and an amazingly fun looking downhill practice line for skiers, and get this! SNOWBOARDERS!!! Theres a snowboarder downhill line!

If you have an alpine board and want somewhere to give it a wee run out on a practice course, dudes! pine beak actually accommodates you! This was really awesome and made me like the place almost immediately. I dont know if its a dedicated line, or if they only had it up for the day, but it wasn't a competition or anything, it was 5 or ten dudes on their alpine sticks just bombing down the line. Its not long or anything, but it looks a fun little line to just blast on!

On the exact opposite side of the lift just prior to the first get off point is a nice little powder zone. It was closed, but well, in the interests of research i er, had to you know... and its a blast! Decent pitch, lots of powder, and very lightly tracked.

And if you do get the lift all the way to the top, guess what? TREE LINES AND FRESHIES EVERYWHERE!!! Whee! the hidden gem of the resort. Again, the lines are shortish, but the fact you can get in the trees here gives you something to drag those lines out a bit longer with a few happy face shots.

Of all the zones, this is the one that really delighted me. It has very little for beginners and maybe low intermediates, but solid intermediates and above will really enjoy this small out of the way area with only a few runs to its name. It definitely cheered me up a bit, and what with the lines id spied over at pine beak 1 it seemed like my afternoon might deliver something a little more entertaining than the morning session at Taravos. (copyrighted!) Truthfully its got a few laps in it. You'll likely get bored after a couple of hours, but they're a much better couple of hours than Id been led to believe were even possible in Sugadaira. Well worth that miserable traverse over here.

Part 4: Pine Beak 1.


(looking at pine beak from the base of Taro)

Possibly a worse traverse back if im honest. Ah wells... Just know its coming and mentally prepare yourself for it. It will end! it will end! it will end!

As for the resort area itself. Id already got a quick feel of the place making my way across to pine beak 2, and was rather impressed. The park line looked immaculate and good fun. Higher up and the pitch turned into a decent bobbly messed up choppy powder-scape. If you are a powder hound its pretty clear that pine beak is going to offer better quality and deeper lines (with the *possible* exception of the hike to the summit over at davos of course) that those found over at Taravos.


(a bit washed out im afraid. But up around teh top of pine beak 1)

The lines were also a great deal more diverse, entertaining and fun. They're pretty identical in truth given that its a bowl area, so straight drop into a run out, but it does offer quality terrain, a semblance of length (though still not what youd class as even a medium length decent run - unless you truly try and drag it out by running all the way to the very bottom so you can ride three lifts back up). Beginners will find the lines serviced by the lower lifts certainly accommodating, whilst park rats are going to at least have a decent line to lap (i never hit it of course, but it looks like they have a beginner and intermediate line). Finally more advanced riders are just going to love cutting in and out of the trees up the top and playing with the steeps and bumps.

Its cut up, its tracked, its moguled in places, and if it gets icy, its going to be utter hell, but in a drop, its well worth a look in. Lots of ways to plop down from the top lift, so really if you find one run cut up (possibly the two flanking the main lift to the top) you can just pop a little further along for slightly less steep but also likely less cut up lines to muck around on. In all, its a fun area. Its also fairly popular compared to the other parts of the mountain which gives it a bit of an atmosphere. It's got a little bit of everything which makes it a great place for a mixed group to consider basing themselves. It was a little busy mind you and you can see its the kind of place you might be fighting for tracks. But a fun (little) place.

Summary - Pine Beak or Taravos?

Youve got a day, youre using the bus so its a pain in the ass getting from one side to the other. What to do? Well, genuinely i think the two areas offer a completely different experience from one another. High intermediates, park rats, and powder hounds are definitely going to want to skip Taravos. Aside the whole centralish hub feel of the surrounding area, the actual terrain is either too soft to enjoy or too short to let rip. Throw in the exposure to the elements and its not really all that enjoyable. Beginners and intermediates on the other hand will find almost the entire area accessible to them and theyll get a great sense of accomplishment tackiling some of the more tricky faces of Taro. I also think of the four, the Davos area is possibly the prettiest part of the mountain making for a genuine "experience".

Pine Beak on the other hand definitely suits the more adventurous rider. The steeps are steeper, the lines are longer, and the pow is deeper. The tree riding, (though short) is nevertheless a nice break from the endless groomers over at Taravos. Pine beak 1 offers an all round fun small hill to kill time on. Its not somewhere I'd probably find myself really wanting to head to, but if I found myself stuck there for some reason, then it definitely offers something resembling a slightly alright ride to it.

Finally, the powder hound looking for fresh lines and not really too concerned about pitch (and the Eurocarver looking to refine their skills) will definitely enjoy a couple of hours over at pine beak 2. Its a great place for doing your own thing and enjoying the stillness (once you escape the omnipresent shit music blatting out of the speakers).

This is really a decision that makes itself based on your skill level and what you want. If you want fresh lines, a bit of a challenge with the terrain, and some runs through the trees, probably spend more time over at Pine beak. If you want the AWE of being on a ski jo with a happy friendly unchallenging line where you can just splat on your face then base yourself around Davos. If youre after moving up the mountain a bit and want to have a crack at some different terrain then Taro/Davos is probably going to give you plenty to keep you interested. The two in conjunction would work really well for a beginner to early intermediate group looking for something not too intimidating, accessible, and a decent enough area to keep it diverse.

Finally if you want a hike, well, why the hell not just follow the rest of the people skinning up to the top of davos and pick your line?
At a push, theres honestly something for all levels to do and enjoy.

There is a video on the main sugadaira site that might give you a better idea of the area. Or at least paint a nicer picture of it than i might be at the moment. If you are set on coming here, its definitely a good idea to give it a look.

Conclusion - Ipps goes to Sugadaira:



...but Its that qualifier. I cant seem to remove it from my head... "at a push..."

You see, I can't think of a single way I could enjoy this place. Sure, I loved pine beak, But its a relative love. Its a fallback love. I love it because its not Taravos i guess and that it gave me at least some degree of joy from a rather dull day. But even compared to little Togari, a small resort that i was absolutely charmed by, there just isnt that much to like... let alone love.

I liked pine beak 2. Its a charming little area. Quiet, deep, fun, and empty. But In effect its one lift. And just how many times could i conceivably lap that lift before I'm either throwing myself off a cliff just to try and find something new? At heart Im a bit of an explorer. I like to find stuff. That i bothered to find it at all, is frankly enough in itself. I could have maybe stretched out an extra hour or so, maybe two or three even if i popped into the cafe for a few beers. In fact, getting drunk and falling down it seems like a great idea since its just you and a few other people... but the point is, the happiness that such a place even exists here is only comparative. It's still small. It's still one lift. And just how much exploring can you honestly do here since its ultimately rather short top to bottom?

So i could head to pine beak 1 and play there. With a car this is a great plan. Pine beak 2 then 1 then back to 2! great day. But without a car, I guarantee you wont be wanting to ride that traverse ever again. And pine beak 1 is a bit hectic. Its fun! In miniature its like going from kagura to naeba in many ways. You go from a quiet peaceful, powdery untracked area, into better lines, more fun terrain, but more tracking, more chaos and more chop. Its a fun diversion, but that's all it is. Once you've ridden three or four of the lines you realise you're riding a mirror of everything before it. Its pretty much charge, bounce, bounce, run out. Or charge, bounce, trees, run out. Variations on a theme of bowl. All paths go to the same place, it all leads to the same line. Yet again, its too short to make the various lines feel any different from each other. So yeah, with a car, this place is working. Without one... not so much.

So what about the other side? Well Davos offered me nothing... other than of course the sheer joy at realising i was (barely) riding a plateau. The top of it is probably alright, but without it, its a few short semi-intermediate lines to the bottom with some crusty shallow pow and scrubbed trees you likely cant get into. The traversing yet again is miserable and the lifts are too slow to really outpace the time it takes to charge whatever line you pick up on. Taro suffers a similar fate. Though it has a far steeper pitch and some decent runs in it, they're simply too short to make up for the time spent on the lifts, and once youve ridden a couple of them, you realise youve ridden them all.

And this is really one of the (many) problems i have with Sugadaira. If you can carve, you're really outpacing the lifts. You're also going to realise very quickly that you are riding pretty much the same line just with a few degrees difference either way. There is just not enough run out to make it feel like you're getting a different line. Of course part of this is because i only rode the steeper and more obviously interesting lines, (and skipped over the paths as much as possible), but really why would i want to ride a reasonably soft gradient path crisscrossing through the woods? Don't i have enough of those stretching 6 or so Kms in Nozawa or on any decent sized mountains?

What does this place have that i cant get anywhere else bigger, better and more varied?

And the answer is nothing at all... well, with the exception of a dedicated alpine course and the very much on piste hike at the top of Davos. Since i have neither an alpine board, or a splitboard/snowshoes, I'm stuck with the resort itself, and i really cant say with a straight face that there's anything that would impel me to return.

If i HAD to come back, sure! If i lived here and i had a car, and it saved mucking about, then sure. If i didn't already have a season pass and i was broke and this was a free ticket and the only way to give me a day out, then SURE!!! why the hell not? Its better than nothing... but i literally mean "Its better than nothing."

Its really the best thing i can say about it. There's nothing here for me. Maybe for a group of beginners it'll work. There's loads for them to do. Heck, Id even suggest they should come here for a couple of days just to make sure they can explore the whole thing. But for me, its got nothing that i couldn't find elsewhere. In a fix, it'll do. But if I'm honest, it was a bit of a letdown and a wasted day on the slopes (well aside, the opportunity to moan about something!). Unless i carry out my threat to pick up a pair of skis, its fairly unlikely ill be back for a second helping. Sorry Sugadaira, thanks for the ticket, but in the words of Ivan Karamazov, if that's the cost of entry, i think ill have to respectfully decline. Ticket two is winging its way back to the SJ dudes for someone who honestly will enjoy it to have a stab at the place. It can be fun, I really think a low level group will have a blast here, but it's just not for me.

Madarao Tangram: Day 1 Review

So I got me some tickets thanks to SnowJapan and Madarao. Tangram gave me NOTHING! those guys can su... ha! One love! Jah rastafarai! Thanks for the freebie dudes!

Where?:Madarao/Tangram.


When?: January 27th 2013
Who?:I hate snowboarding. Im sick of it. "Take this job and shove it! i work here no more!" But yet... i keep getting up and riding trains and buses every weekend instead of lying in bed and contemplating the existential futility of it all. Why do i feel like im getting worse and less comfortable trying new stuff? Its annoying. It also feels like an endless merry go round of riding a lift, riding a hill, riding a lift, riding a hill, riding a lift, riding a hill, riding a lift, riding a hill, ridin...

Ticket Info: http://www.madarao.jp/ski/tickets
Day pass is 4200 yen, whilst the madarao/tangram joint ticket is 4500. This is a no brainer to be honest. Unless you really really know that you are only going to enjoy madarao and are definitely lapping the only high speed quad in the whole place, then just get the all mountain. Its 300 yen more and it means not only more terrain to play on (and decent terrain at that), but more importantly it gives you a way up the mountain that avoids the crappy one seater tea tray bottleneck at madarao to get to the top. Easy worth it!

Public Transport Accessibility: Direct bus from Nagano station. Left at 9.20, arrived around an hour later. Bus back was equally convenient, left at 4.30, pulled in at nagano station around 5.30. Bus was 1400 yen each way... a bit pricey, but youre at the resort with no drama so pretty straightforward.
Conditions? Bluebird. Apparently there had been a drop with 20cms covering, but i was genuinely hard pushed to accept that. Not only was the resort cut to crap, but the snow in the trees felt decently packed. Not wet or crusty, just well packed. Im going to suggest that this was a couple of days old freshies... so not freshies. But you know. No crust layer, just choppy cold and cut up well packed snow.
Crowds?: Surprisingly rather crowded. The five people on the bus led me to believe that everyone had gone to Myoko or Hakuba instead. No such luck. The place was pretty busy. Queues for lifts weren't awful, but on a busier day you're looking at some definite bottlenecks. Indeed the tea tray to the too is a nasty little bottleneck on a normal sunday. I shudder to think what its like on a holiday weekend. Again, the tangram lift pass pretty much means you can skip a lot of those crowds and just get the Tangram 2 lift up to the top.

Lifts: To be honest, the lifts here blow. There are too many lifts in the first place taking you really sort distances. Theres also some traversing in places making placement seem a bit odd, and on top of this theres some serious bottlenecks. As the only lift to the top, it seems SCANDALOUS to make it a single seater. Finally, they are probably the slowest lifts ive ridden. Theres a couple of decent quads there, but only the madarao one goes at a decent pace. The rest are slow and mellow. This is arguably the worst feature of the place.


(teatray to the bowl up top, queue at 11.30ish).

Resort Facilities? Reminds me a lot of Naeba in many ways. Its got loads of stuff for families and to keep the little ones entertained from day care to game centers. Outside that I cant honestly tell you from this review, i spent very little time inside im afraid. Its got some restaurants on the piste, and a big welcome info center/restaurant by the looks of it. Again, cant be too specific. It didnt seem lacking in anything in particular, and if the continual whirring of snowmobiles were anything to go by, they also have a racetrack just off the resort as well. Seems like you might have some stuff to do if you fancied a day just chilling out here without climbing the walls.

Anything Else? Actually nope. Thats about it to be honest. Theres a bus from Nozawa to Togari to Madarao, and there's a fabled bus from Iiyama making trips here pretty easy. But yeah, i think I've covered most of it. It seems like a decent family resort with a nice hotel as its centerpiece. Its not too far from Nagano so day trips are fairly easy if you live in the area. You can ride it in a day, but I reckon you really need a couple of days here. A day isnt enough to get your fill of it.

Madarao! Tangram! FIGHT!!!



Preview and Preconceptions: Looking at the data... the longest run is 2500m, the vertical is a very modest 400-500m, and its pretty much a solid distribution of beginner to advanced courses (30%/40%/30%). Lifts look annoying on the trail map, but it sorta reminds me of Naeba in its general shape. Maybe a smaller scale Naeba.
Its also famed for its tree riding and to a lesser extent its snow, so preconceptions were rather on the mediocre side. Sure it might get some snow, but its a family place, its going to be pretty busy, and its really rather small if the vert is anything to go by. So er Naeba vs Kamui?
Not expecting the moon on a stick, but kinda want to see what the hype is about and whether there's something I'm not seeing in the stats and trail map.

Madarao-Tangram for Beginners:


(cruising the skiers right beginner path).

Here's the problem: I really don't think this mountain is beginner friendly.The whole resort has the makings of a bowl. In fact i'm fairly certain it is (If you pop over Tangram you'll see that its a massive bowl). And like a bowl this means steep descent often into flatish run out. And that's pretty much the case here as well. This means there's no real decent intermediate lines to break things up and give progressing beginners a way to get around the hill. More often than not, its super steep bumpy dangerous black diamond lines into a super soft flat absolute beginners line. This doesn't mean a beginner wont have places to play on; there are plenty of places to ride! It just means there's a real problem for beginners looking to explore the mountain and wanting to maybe hit up most of the sights. If you're an absolute beginner I wouldn't genuinely use any lift that takes you more than half way up the hill. And it's not a huge hill, so really that keeps you in a narrow band of the resort. Horizontally there's a fair bit to play on, but it doesn't really give you a MOUNTAIN to ride. More half a mountain, and mostly the bit without the awesome vista and sense of exploration we all want on our first few days learning to ride.

Getting back to riding though, the tangram area probably has the most beginner friendly terrain overall. The sheer majority of this area is green runs with only really the quad taking you into slightly more difficult terrain. Aside the pair lift on the madarao border, none of the lifts go into the top half of the mountain, meaning you can pretty much get on any base lift and enjoy yourself. The three main lifts (and the fourth lift over the far right hand side of the trail map) access all the beginners lines making this zone a great choice for people picking up their first turns. Its a fairly light gradient around the mid teens for the most part with a few steeper sections coming off them in places. I dont recall the top of the quad lift being that problematic even though its listed as a red run but theres a zig zag path cut into it to on the skiers left hand side to make it accessible for beginners. Again, so long as you only ride half way up the mountain (which is pretty much any of the lifts from the base), the whole of Tangram is pretty much your oyster.

To get back to Madarao, just take the furthest base lift on the Madarao border (lift 1). This line brings you down the Madarao Skyview course on a fairly nippy line and into one of the next big areas for beginners to lap: The crystal course, (serviced by lifts 11 and 12 and dropping into the Banff restaurant) is an excellent little area for beginners looking to progress towards carving. Its a bit steep maybe for absolute beginners towards the top of lift 12, but lift 11 should be straightforward for lapping and learning to get those first turns. Its also a great place for progressing beginners who to start developing their edge control a bit more. If you can turn, the two lifts are a great place to move forward, if you can't turn I'd just lap the bottom lift there until you feel comfortable to move on.


(the crystal course on lift 12 i reckons - since thats the tea tray across from it).

***At this point I have a small confession to make. I had no idea how the hell to get out of this area without taking the lift all the way to the top and coming down the lines from there. I dont think you need to do this however, since the trail map shows a small lift/tow rope/walkway next to the Banff restaurant. Im not sure what it is, but I just figured it was a restaurant - oops! Shows that one day on the resort isn't really enough to write a decent review****.

Anyways, assuming the walkway is still up and working, that's probably your best way back to the main resort area.

And once there you have only really have a couple more lines to play on: A few runs serviced by the number 5 lift, and the line skiers left serviced by the number 2 quad. I didn"t ride the line off the number 2 quad so can't tell you anything at all about it, but the champion course of lift 5 was a decent mellow pitch and interesting enough to keep you going. The lines looping further out though get pretty flat, so expect unclipping if you brave them.

Ultimately, theres a decent amount to hit up. And in total it does make up a fair amount of the mountain, the trouble is that it isn't really progression friendly and its often cut up by extremely difficult red/black lines. Overall, the best place by far is clearly Tangram for the diversity, space and terrain you can play on. Following that I'd just lap the two lifts on the crystal course and maybe look at that tea-tray and the associated cut line for the sheer terror of it and some cheap thrills. In all, plenty to hit up and you wont be going out of your mind with boredom, its just that there's a bit of a progression gap and a lack of diversity of its lines once you start feeling comfortable with your turns.

How About Intermediates Then?



Every review of this place says its an intermediate area with predominantly intermediate terrain. But Im going to be honest. This is also not really an intermediate mountain. Well... not if youre kinda just moving into intermediate territory. If you're a strong intermediate rider its got a fair bit going for it and you probably should come here. But hand on my heart, i found the whole resort pretty challenging. Id put myself in that strong intermediate bracket now (6 seasons 120ish days lifetime, very happy on a bomb) and even I was reluctant to just let rip here. There's a few reasons for this, and I'm putting it down to these three or four things;

- First, it gets cut up, check the pics of some of these lines.
- Second, it gets COLD. This means if theres no freshies, its going to get pretty cruddy in a lot of the designated runs. Check the pics.
- Third, 60% of the whole area is ungroomed. And that pretty much means all the runs from the top, so north eastern facing, cut up, ungroomed, its going to get cruddy.
- Finally, it's pretty bloody steep once you get out of the beginners area. Its good in that moguls dont really stand much of a chance here, its often too steep to cut them in, but you will get moguls and they will make some of those lines bumpy and sketchier than you'd want if you like a bit of a charge. Again, just check the pics of the steeps.

Allegedly the resort had 20-30cms on it from the night before, but the place was shredded. Far more shredded than it really should be if there was a serious top up. The "groomers" were pretty icy as well making the running extremely fast and rather bobbly. This isn't an easy mountain to ride. It's pretty steep, but throw in the aspect and it gets also a little hard and bumpy. Intermediates WILL have fun, but its going to be hard won fun. You'll definitely feel like you've had to step up to enjoy it.

However, that being said, there are a few obvious lines out there for intermediates to hit up. For instance the giant course in the main area of Madarao, or maybe you'll just bomb down the crystal course and dial in your turns. There's plenty to lap and play with on the super quad, and given that its the only high speed lift in the whole area, you'll probably have a great day just riding it and maybe venturing into the more tricky areas like the powderwave 1 or the world cup MOGUL course. Should you head further up the hill (and why wouldn't you?) you'll find plenty to play on, but you ain't going to be riding this stuff easily. Its going to spank most intermediates because, (and i cant stress this enough), this mountain isn't really intermediate friendly. There are more playful and appropriate lines out there.

What makes a good intermediate mountain is a few things. For instance, a consistent relatively steep terrain in the mid 20s like the Skyline and R1. Also some soft trees like the middle of Akakan or the lift runs in ikenotaira make great slackcountry beginner/intermediate lines. Diversity and exploration also make a great intermediate line. If you can access almost all of the hill using the reds and greens, without having to ride to many black runs, its going to be a decent hill for intermediates. Finally, maybe a decent dump turning places like Ushikubi into fun mayhem or the top of Toomi on Goryu makes a great intermediate line.

The lines here on the other hand are... fun?... for intermediates but not necessarily suitable for them. Its hard to express this clearly, but i just didn't feel this mountain had a lot to offer a genuine intermediate rider. Its steep, its choppy, its icy and its not at all easy to get to grips with. It is a hell of a lot of fun, and it will help you push forward, but it's not necessarily what youd call "fun!" fun. You sort of need to earn your fun here. Same over at Tangram. The top lines are great fun, but they're not easy. Let the board run a bit and you're probably getting spanked over there.



If you're a progressing intermediate there's a lot to do here, but someone moving from beginner to intermediate is really only going to find themselves either cruising the softer lines at Tangram, lapping the crystal course and exploring some of the powder lines, (but invariably skidding their way down most of these runs). Which is great and all, and it can be serious fun! You wont have a BAD time here, but you'll just have a more SUITABLE time maybe elsewhere. This place in a drop is of course going to be hilarious, but once it gets a bit cold and icy its definitely going to feel like a lot of hard work for some of those turns.

If I had to give this resort a designation, i'd suggest that the people who'll get the absolute most of what this place has to offer are strong intermediate to advanced riders. Its very rare I feel confident enough to say a mountain "is a mountain for riders of X ability", but this one is ticking the boxes. Low intermediates or progressing beginners are going to feel this mountain is missing a whole stage of progression and that the challenges posed by the steeper runs are maybe a bit out of their depth, so they might feel restricted o certain lifts and lapping the same parts over and over. Whilst solid intermediates are going to find this place hard work and a bit of a slog for the goods. Progressing intermediates though will find it hard work sometimes, but the chance to hit up some serious tree riding or bomb down some tricky and complicated piste runs will certainly give them plenty of challenge to sink their teeth into. This is a great place for strong intermediates because the whole resort has a really nice consistent challenge to it that will keep you on your toes.

In a proper drop of course, all bets are off, but in the conditions we had yesterday, it was pretty tough to ride those runs. And those tree runs ain't soft like Kagura or even a lot of the Myoko stuff. They're steep and fast as hell.



Which brings me to...

Madarao and Tangram for the Maniacs.

I can see why BM loves Madarao. It's like someone designed powder wave2 and those tree runs off tangram especially for people to point their board down and just nuke. The trees in the respective powderwave courses are EXCELLENTLY spaced making it a decent run for progressing intermediates, but the pitch is pretty steep meaning if you love bombing your trees (which i kinda don't), then you're going to be hitting some atrocious speeds in here. This place is genuinely awesome for on piste tree riding.

Over Madarao side there are few ropes and few restrictions, so you have a BAZILLION lines to pick from. As i say, the whole top half reeks of a bowl. Get the tea tray up to the top, head along the ridge towards the 'adventure course' (beautiful view of Nojiriko by the way), drop in anywhere at all and BLAM! fresh lines all day. Alternatively head past the adventure course (a very narrow up/down/flat path taking you towards Tangram) and now you have the whole of powderwave 2 to play in. Honestly, its face shots all day even if the rest of the resort is cut to crap. "If you're good enough to rip it in there, you're going to have a good time." Alternatively you could head towards the high speed SUPER quad and just ride powderwave 1 all day. Its got a lot of lines for you to hit up.


(abandoned lift stanchion over at tangram - pity, there was once probably a decent lift up here meaning easy access to some great lines).

Tangram is more obviously a bowl, but there is a ZERO tolerance to tree riding here. People do get their passes pulled and ski patrol is VERY VISIBLE in patrolling the obvious exists. There's a beautiful looking area in the trees for example under the Tangram 1 lift, and i was just thinking about the line i was going to take on the lift when i looked across to see a ski patrol dude just standing exactly where you'd cut back into the resort. He was still there when I came back up the lift the second time. I was speaking to a couple of dudes from the UK who rode that exact line and said the only reason they got away with it was because a group of Japanese kids came out ahead of them and were busy getting bollocksed by the ski patrol. They ain't kidding. No skiing in the trees in Tangram. I should also add that I had my lift pass checked EVERY TIME i used the lifts. Tangram are pretty strict all over. Which is fine. Consistency and enforcement is good in a resort.

Tangent aside, the "groomers" on Tangram are PHENOMENALLY good. They're super steep, no ones riding them, and though some get cut up and even mogulled, they weren't unrideable trenches like you get on the mid 20s runs like Schneider and my beloved Ushikubi on Nozawa. You can also "flirt" with the trees a bit by ducking in and out of them to also break off the ice wall feel of it all. Overall, the Tangram piste runs are some genuinely fast, complicated runs that really will beat the crap out of any slip ups. The lakeview/kings slalom line is a challenging fun ride with almost no one else on it, whilst over the other side of the mountain you'll find the village line, which is cracking good fun to be honest, (but completely spoiled by requiring two lifts to lap it (one of which is tortuously slow - actually they both are... actually all the Tangram lifts are... actually, all the Madarao lifts beside the super quad are). Definitely worth at least one trip down it, but after you get the number 6 lift back up, you can decide for yourself if you'll bother having a second crack at it). Realistically, they're closer to difficult intermediate lines than advanced runs, and really advanced riders would really find those trees far too tempting, but once it gets icy, it's double black on all of those lines from the top.

All in all, advanced riders who like a bit of pow and a bit of a run in the trees down some pretty heavy steeps are going to love this mountain. As I've said throughout, treat it like a bowl and you wont be too far from getting what this place is about. You get to the top, you traverse to where you want to drop in, you drop in and blast down a pretty damn steep tree line with well spaced trees before being spat out into one of the open lines down to the bottom. Pretty easy and straightforward stuff. If you like your trees and you like face shots, this is probably a great place to come. Pick up the Tangram pass too and you can break up the tree runs with some fun bumpy ripping runs to the bottom. As far as Advanced riders go, this place is pretty much leaning towards you. The Naeba facade of the whole welcome area and amenities is pretty much the surface of this mountain. Look a little deeper and you'll discover the real heart of this place: steeps, trees, freedom to go where you like, and massive face shots.

Ipps in Madarao and Tangram: Part 1.



"Part ONE!!!??!?", i hear you splutter! But yes, its just a quick first impression. Obviously I couldnt see everything AND enjoy myself in one day by riding fun lines. This trip was more of a recon mission to scope the place out and decide if it was worth adding to the list of places I actually enjoy. First impression is positive. Not ecstatic. It ticks a great many boxes it needs to, but it is ultimately a medium sized and borderline small hill...

I'd say at a push maybe its a decent place to hit up for a long weekend. Longer than that and you'll be taking in the incredible views of Myoko, Nozawa, Ryuoo, Togari, and whatever else it was I could see up there, and maybe feeling like a nice long 8km cruise down suginohara or skyline might be in order. Whatever it is, you'll start feeling like a bit of a change from trees and pow. It's got a sort of Kamui vibe, but not quite as interesting. Don't take that as a criticism though. If this is as close as I'm getting to Kamui, I'm bloody grateful its here at all. Its FANTASTIC that here in Nagano, I can even make the comparison.

For me, it's a 5 or 6 days a season type place. Which I shouldn't need to say still makes it pretty solid but it's not the sort of place you could honestly ride everyday for a season without feeling a little stuck and hemmed in. Its got BRILLIANT tree riding and (I'm assuming) some really good snow when it drops, but it's still kinda smallish top to bottom and though you wont notice this on day 1, and maybe even into day 2. By day three its going to be all you'll see and your mind will start longing to be elsewhere i think. So a few trips a season on a drop though and it's going to be one of your favorite little secret stashes that you can shock and awe your less informed mates by bringing them here.



I wrote elsewhere that it "out Myoko's, Myoko" in its off piste policy and its tree riding. It certainly delivers a cracking day or two and despite the lack of a decent lift taking you up the full length of Tangram (or madarao for that matter), Tangram really adds a tonne of value to the Madarao ticket. It's a small place, its only got 400 or so meters of vertical, but the sheer wealth of lines, and the complexity of its drops make it a seriously little contender for few days each season in the Nagano trees. It's not the worlds most complicated place to get your head around, and its kinda short, but each top to bottom run is long enough and steep enough to make you feel like you worked your ass off for it - and that's going to keep all but the hardest of the hardcore happy.

Even without the extra free ticket id be back here. It's the kinda place you come to for a change of pace from your main mountain. Again, like Kamui. I love Kamui, but I wouldnt want to be there for a whole season either.

Its not huge, but its got something unique and exciting for a day or two of buzzing about in the trees and on whatever line you want to play with. Its great fun, but its not soft or mellow cruising in the pow "fun" (which kamui sort of is), its a bit of a bitchy hill with a vicious little sting in its tail. Once you look past the bubble facade, you realise its not half as friendly and welcoming as you think. Its sorta mean and kinda difficult to ride when you get to the real heart of it. Every other resort has difficult lines of course. This isn't unique, but this place just has walls of them. Almost every line above 1100 meters is going to be a nasty 30+ degree pitch either on a chopped up smashed to crap groomer, or through some terrifying trees, and that's going to ultimately define your relationship to it. I loved it. Ill be back. It's a wicked little place.

The subject of the thread was how camber is awesome and how rocker and hybrid boards just couldnt hope to compete with it. Well, you know, i kinda agree with it, but i decided to see just how much i agreed with it.

Sorry for the lack of editing. I might format it later, but the tldr version is that micro changes are smashing this argument into the ground.

It's really more of a breakdown of carbon array from my berzerker and pop walls from the highlife. If youre interested in ride boards and particularly those two techs/boards this might fill out a bit more of the details. In a way then its a supplement to the berzerker review and also some of the comments ive made about the highlife as well as an obvious continuation of the age old "Rocker is a bullshit fad" argument.

Its long... so here we go:

Camber sucks!

Yeah, weve done this a million times, but lets open the minds here. The blanket statements that nothing can reproduce the effect of camber is open to a challenge and is far more interesting anyways.

We know what the qualities camber brings to our ride: springy, energetic, locked, on point, reliable, consistent, and responsive.

Take those adjectives, have a wee wander around the world of tech and youll start seeing a lot of those being mimicked. And mimicked rather well.

Two techs i fell in love with from Ride for example:

Carbon Array
Pop walls.

Carbon array is one of those things you look at and think "ah, marketing... im not going to feel it, its just under the hood doing stuff, and in computer models its likely knocking it out of the park, but again, to me, the person with limited experience who rides under 30 days a year... im not really going to care nor realise its even there..."

And it takes a while to piece the puzzle. You get on the board, you ride it, you enjoy it and then you try and explain it. You look at the camber, the sidecut, and everything else, and its all good, but theres this nagging feeling that your missing the wood for the trees. And then it dawns on you. The reason you feel so tight on your edge, the reason it feels like youre railing on your edge, and the reason you feel like your weight is perfectly balanced and centered throughot the length of the edge is carbon array. Its awesome stuff.

Its really hard to explicate without riding it, but think back to a time when you had alright technique. Not great, not awful, but alight. Sometimes you felt a little like you were riding a bit ruddery on the tail, sometimes a bit digging in, and often you had to genuinely concentrate to keep that feeling of being centered with your weight. Kinda like an edge sweet spot. You hit it, youre perfectly poised. Your weight is distributed across the entire length of the edge and you dont feel like its in any one place but throughout the entire edge. The thing is though, its still taking a bit of work. Youre still having to fight sometimes to keep it there and more often tan not you slip back to old habits and slack off a bit.

Well that feeling of your weight being distributed throughout your entire edge is how carbon array felt ALL the time. You feel on your edge, completely on point and utterly stable. Its like youre on rails, or better yet a maglev (since it feels kinda weightless in a way).

To be honest, i might be overplaying it. I havent been on my zerker since last year (though i had a couple of runs in november before the lifts shut down when i swapped out the riot for a play on it). So i dont genuinely know where the abstract is colliding with the actual reality of the situation. But i do know its having a definite affect in the ride. Its just that maybe the explanation is downplaying technique a bit is all.

What this is providing though is really solid stability without having to dick around with the sidecut and create extra contacts. Its making a board with a rocker nose, one contact point and a shorter effective edge for it feel a lot longer and a lot more in control than youd really expect. As i said in the review at the time, the idea of washing just didnt even occur to me until the train home when i realised the idea of washing didnt occur to me. It was just so on point. Youre railing, but its not hooky or catchy. Its just a normal edge. Youre not digging in because the sidecut and rocker nose are working together to make that turn initiation flawless. But youre not feeling like youre riding a shorter edge. And despite the fact the board is directional in every way (flex, length, sidecut and camber profile) at no point do you feel like youre steering with your bag leg. Youre riding centered on that edge. You feel like youre in control and have your weight over every part of that edge. Its genuinely astonishing. Maybe not so much at the time because it feels like a camber ride in many ways, but certainly after a good think about it and you realise youre on a shorter effective edge, one less contact, and youre still railing (only youre not digging in).

The second tech is pop walls.

I think ive mentioned my love for pop walls before. I got to demo this years highlife UL and the board was abit much for the conditions (May waterpark slush), so it felt way too beefy for the conditions, but man alive, if one thing stood out it was how energetic and lively that board felt. Now i ride plenty of stiff boards. I always think i want stiff boards and always buy them and try desperately to enjoy them. Theyre zippy, lively and really aggressive. But they dont work for me. Im too lazy, theyre too tiring, and they en up feeling like im just charging down yet another line like im in a race to ride the lifts! THe pop on them, when you hit it though is PHENOMENAL. When you hit that spot, its effortless. Its that perfect still feeling of total weightlessness. Id liken it to what im talking about with centering your weight over the boards edge. When it happens, the response goes through the roof, and its like youre in perfect harmony with your ride. Well, same is true when those boards pop. Far from feeling like you had to work for it, or you had to load that board, it feels like it just snapped in all by itself leaving you hanging in the stars. If you love camber, you love pop, and if you love pop its because you know exactly what im talking about (even if my description might be a little more colorful)

So whats this got to do with pop walls... im getting to it!

Why i bring it up is because often times, again, if youve got alright technique, for every time when you pop like that, theres plenty more times when you try and pop, dont really load it right and just kinda get a damp little bobble. When these boards are on point and when youre good enough to get that ride out of them, theyre unbeatable. Theyre phenomenal. You cannot be bored or tired with a board like that if youve got the technique and skill to make it work. You cant because it delivers all the explosion of that release making your whole run feel lively and the stuff of pure joy.

But when you cant make it work... when you spend your time trying to recapture it by trying to load it, you get knackered. Absolutely worn the hell out. It runs away from you and you spend your time chasing rainbows. Loading this type of board is physically and mentally draining. And whats left when you dont have the energy to attack the board? a dull lifeless, one dimensional (though stable), quick ride from the top to the bottom with a few bouncy side hits and the occasional bit of life to it. Fun for a while, but after a few runs it gets old and you start wishing you could maybe tone it down, or work a little less for it.

So whats this got to do with pop walls?... IM GETTING TO IT!!! the highlife UL is a tank. Its less nimble than my berzerker, its slower to build into speed than my berzerker, it feels slower edge to edge and less fun to throw around and spin about like my berzerker, but my god is that board a tank. It destroys everything in front of it. Its slower out the gates, but in a race id not be betting against it. I tried letting it run for a bit, but it scares the crap out of me at speed. Not because its unstable, but because it doesnt seem to reach its top speed. It just goes faster and faster until you really think you have to reign it in or youll be zipping through time. I liked that about the board. Its a tank. Its utterly uncompromising.
But its stiff and its got no real give to it, so you aint really going to butter it unless yorue a powerlifter with legs like tree trunks. Thus youd think "i know you! standard ripper. Point down, charge! Im sure if i could load you, youd be great fun, but theres..." BOING!!!

The board is springy as hell. Its not really pop so much as it is energy (if i could try and make a space between the two words often used interchangeably, id say its more snappy than poppy). You spring your turns, you spring your hits, you spring off everything. It takes what would be a one dimensional hulk smash style board (well... not entirely true, loads going on in that board, but see the description above on actually being able to ride and control it), and gives you something else that you shouldnt really have in it. A cheat, a way of making a board that should take years to master feel instantly full of life ad ready to use. This might seem like a negative in a way, and it is. But what pop walls bring to the table isnt just enhanced pop. What they bring is easier pop. They bring effortless pop making loading and solid technique less important. They make it fun and approachable.

The board feels super lively and energetic despite your skill level and technical ability/stamina to control it. And it simply has to be the effect of the pop walls. Its just too stiff to cheat like that and get that kind of performance from it. As a lazy slacker in all spheres of my life, i have to say, that kind of tech, in the sidewalls of all places and having no effect on the boards flex (long/torsional) or weight like stringers can is game changing. I cant see ride keeping this to their high tech line. This is going through their softer reverse cambers over the next few years and really delivering something thats going to threaten the idea that only with camber can you really have an explosive energetic ride. Its a small tweak, theyre both small tweaks but theyre making stiffer boards malleable and more accessible and softer boards more responsive and packed with energy and response.

Its radical stuff, but it seems so small and unnoticeable when you compare it to things like camber profiles or reverse sidecuts. But their impact is huge. Its not sci-fi tech of course, im not going to pretend that its THE grand solution here when im hearing about crazy shit like swisscore ...or that head board that a mate once showed me with computer controlled stringers stiffening and softening the board as it will. But its giving you a board thats got all the edge hold and consistency of riding on camber, with the potential for the pop and energy and release youd get out of a loaded, decent flex (with enough resistance) camber stick. Its interesting because despite the fact it doesnt need to be camber, what you have is the reproduction of camber, with the advantages of reverse without as sharp a drawback as maybe just hybridising the board and sticking MTX all through the edge to make it "stable".

Will camber be replaced, does reverse camber reproduce the effects of camber? No. If youre a solid rider, if you spend 100 days plus in a year pressing the shit out of your NAS or your riot or your custom X or your anthem or your highlife, then this isnt really going to affect you (though pop walls might make it feel a little snappier and i bet youd rather have them than not have them). But for someone else, who wants a nice damp stable ripper, but feels it might be too much board or too restrictive or a little beyond them, these techs are going to completely overhaul this idea and bring even more diversity and choice to the point that the camber profile wont matter anywhere near as much as it appears to right now (or rather wont define the boards ultimate limitations). Thats the real punchline. The next few years will see the REAL hybrids and crossovers hitting production and we will really stop giving a shit about the camber profile or the idea of massive trade offs by switching away from X camber style.

Then again, i might just be over exaggerating it all a bit

NeverSummer Premier F1 Review




Its a long day at work with no classes so need to fill time, so heres a review of the Premier F1 based entirely on TWO RUNS on skyline (1 hour tops).

Rider Info: Inutil the anarcho-syndicalist, defender of Catalan. Season 6, about just over 100 days lifetime i reckons, and 13 days this season. Can not ride park, also terrible balance. What the shtook is up with that, god? Can pin track carve groomed steeps though and happy to let a board reach its top speed without too much "oh shit! oh shit! oh shit!". I will get bounced to shit on cut up bumpy natural terrain though and still mentally blank going through tight trees. What im trying to say is i suck. About 175lbs of pure man meat.

Board Info: Ahhhh... here you have me, no idea if it was the 59 or 61 i took out. Could honestly have been either, but im assuming the 159. Wasnt planning on making a review so just kinda went with it.

Disclaimer: First time on a neversummer and first time on c2/r+c hybrid styles.

Disclaimer 2: This review is 100% based on two runs of skyline on Nozawa. Its a straightforward ridge run with an average gradient in the mid to high 20s with some steeps, and some not so steeps (theres even a slight uphill part). It also includes one of the runs off skyline which is just seriously smashed to crap steep powder (about 35 degrees or thereabouts). Groomed run, plenty of bobbles and naughty baby moguls since the weather was kinda sunshine and its exposed with temps creeping above zero.

But its supposed to be the boards element, so it'll give a sense of what its about i reckons. Demo board = no real powder riding in trees or in slackcountry (which is where i really wanted to take it - but was good and stuck to the groomers). Definitely didnt hit up park on it. Consider this a very narrow review of what i assume is the board in its element.

Bindings: My trusty dialed in and part wrecked forces. Bindings were full set back and moderate duck (18,-6)

REVIEW

Preconceptions: I could have chosen the evo, the sl, the heritage, the cobra or the proto, but "Premier-chu! i chose you!"

I aint no park rat, i like my ripping boards so time to see what vario plus r+c does. From my mates slight disappointment on his reverb rocker id written off hybrid to be honest as lacking energy, floaty, but ultimately kinda garbage. So was almost tempted to not bother with it and just go play in the trees on my sierrascope. Preconceptions were thus somewhere between "whatever" and "lets get this over with"

Round 1: Skyline.

Clipped in, had a wee press and was DELIGHTED to see that nose lift effortlessly. Yeah, its the R+C and not a real press, the boards pretty stiff, but i was surprised to see how high you can get the board just from a bit of pressure on the tail. Its not butter, but its not as big an effort to lift that nose up as i theorised it might well be. You score a few more inches than just the pivot rocker in the middle with minimal effort. Takes a bit more effort to load it thereafter and youre probably going to need to be going at speed to get some proper snap out of it.

Unfortunately i had my tablet with me on that first run so was being kinda careful with it (only camera i had with me that day and was originally planning on taking some pics of the tanuki line before deciding to run the demo). So took it easy for the first part, just popping up some walls, bouncing around on the bumps and skidding down with some quick carves. The edge hold seemed great though, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and let it open up a little on the run in to the flat/slight uphill part. I realised my earlier caution was misplaced. This board rails pretty damn well. Had some fun on the second half, still held it back a bit, but it started to give some serious hints at wha it was capable of. It started to feel really fiesty and energetic. Turns were super poppy and the board felt really nice and responsive. Realising i needed to ditch the tablet and let it out for a proper run (and with time pressing) i bombed back up the gondola and prepared for round 2.

Round 2: Skyline and the little powder run coming off it.

Clipped in, and immediately started bouncing off all the side hits. This board is packing serious energy. Got past the winding bit and into the ridge line proper, picked my line (its kinda busy), and shtooking charged it. Flat basing is nothing. No chance of a catch on it. Had some super fast carves running towards the uphill bit with some serious energy in the changes. This board is ninja like. Super nimble, and with BUCKET LOADS of energy. Honestly, if theres one thing that sells this board to me its the sheer energy and response you get out of it. You aint losing your line and nothing is stopping you doing what you need to do.

Had a play in some of the crud on the sides and even when it did finally get bounced off its line and back on the groomer (and i was sure id be picking mountain from my teeth), the board miraculously pulled itself back onto its line and off i went.

About 3/4s of the way down i headed off the main skyline and off one of the steep ungroomed lines coming off it. Its a gnarly line. Its cut to crap and usually one of the first to show cracks on the resort after a bit of sun. Pointed the board down and flew through it. Board felt super easy to control and adjust. Had great pop when you get a bit of speed on it, and just felt super lively. Reached the flat run out at the bottom and planed it. Board floated effortlessly. Only a tiny bit of weight shift required and it murdered it. Nothing more fun than seeing the nose of your board in thigh deep without associated thigh burn. Sure, its not a pow stick, its not what its for, but its a pretty decent one for resort pow at least.

Popped back up the hill, returned the board and then proceeded to chew the guys ear off about it. I kinda loved that board to be honest.

Pros and cons:

Cons: Two things really, one absolutely trivial and the other not so trivial but more whinging.

---- First its pretty heavy. I mean just carrying it and dangling it on lifts. You definitely feel like youre on a heavier board.

-+ Second and less trivial though, the dampening which is supposed to be like the BESTEST THING EVER!!! kinda sucks compared to both the highlife and the berzerker. Its not that it isnt damp, its just a little on the wrong side of too much response from the terrain. Could be a personal thing though. i just preferred having pure stealth crud silent murder from the highlife when im charging.

As for the pros:
(should add, the +s and -s are beyond what i expected).

+++++ Insane energy throughout the board. Had the bindings set all the way back and it still felt super energetic.

+++ Edge hold is phenomenally good. Not bitey, nor was it loose. Just utterly solid and dependable. Vario works.

+++++ Edge to edge is Mega fast. Possibly fastest edge to edge of any deck I've ridden.

++ Thanks to r/c pressing it was effortless. Of course you ain't pressing it so much, its a stiff ass plank at the end of the day, but pseudo pressing is effortless and makes it feel a little playful.

++++ Pop in turns was great.

+ at speed you could get a decent load on it, but otherwise not all that snappy.

++ Planes in powder effortlessly. Shift your weight slightly over the back insert and you're floating.

++ Good speed on it. Not the fastest board ive been on (the highlife wins that), but definitely fast enough youll know 'youre going fast'.

Conclusion:

Brilliant board for carving. It really rips on somewhere like skyline. Even on crud you'll stay on your line. Its also got great potential for tree riding and decent pow surrogacy. I really want to see it in the trees but obviously its a demo and its not mine to trash but it nukes the hell out of groomers. Its definitely the type of deck you just need a nice steep line to let it run and do its thing though. Its also utterly dependable. It feels like a board you've ridden a few seasons and know all the ins and outs on it immediately. Sure, not true at all, but its solid, holds its line, doesnt get bounced, is damp, quick, and amazingly energetic. The board is really really responsive though and for me, thats the big pull on it. I mean its supposed to bomb shit, but i really didnt think it would also feel so lively on top of it. An amazingly fun deck for a hard charging type of rider.

If i didnt have the zerker id probably have this one at the top of my list right now. Its a ripper for sure, but i just love the energy it has going on it. I honestly wasnt in love with the endless hype that neversummer gets, and was happy preparing myself to feel non-plussed with it all and declare it "a decent solid dependable ride but a bit dull and one dimensional". Its not though, its all that, but its super nimble, really fast edge to edge, and super energetic. its fekkin aces. They definitely deserve some love... at least on this line from me.


Source: Neversummer Premier F1 Review

This is probably not for you.



Yeah, you wont be interested in it. Its like a diary for me. I know what with my awesome and detailed posts from previous incarnations you might think this would have something vaguely interesting, but its not going to. Its going to be turgid. Go watch some doctor who or something. This is interesting to one person in the universe and even then thats not a given. Im not even interested in this.

Day 1: November 23rd: Hakuba Goryu

Due to er, certain people getting seriously drunk the night before, the day started rather late. Arrived at Hukuba around 1.30pm and was on the slopes by 2. The dump from the previous week which thrust the resorts open was now in its dying throes. But no worries! Got 2 hours in on E course remembering how odd it is to balance on a snowboard. Aside season 2, no other season has started with me completely forgetting how to ride a snowboard. It may have been the effect of the Riot, but im pretty sure it wasnt. It took around 3 or 4 runs to really loosen up and figure all this out again. Rather weird start to the season, but no one was hurt, so its a little win for me. Also got to switch with my mate (lets call him mike - not his real name), which meant i could sit back on the cherished berzerker, love of my life. Good fun being back on it again of course. Didnt like the Rome s90s though. I mean, they were alright but aside the comfyness of the straps they felt pretty unresponsive and clumpy. Ill stick with my busted up forces thanks.
Overall, kinda lame starting so late, but a couple of hours on a small area was sufficient to get the old legs working. Also mega cheap thanks to the tracks dudes. (zero yens ).

Day 2: November 24th: Goryu

Rubbish. One of the worst days on the slopes. Started MEGA late, and didnt get onto the course until about 3 (through no fault of my own ill have you know). I even threw a mini hissy fit in escal plaza over a box. Got really pissed off with mes compadres who spent their time side sliding. It just irked me. We started late, and then when we got on the resort FINALLY we barely managed a few runs. Worthless. Utterly worthless. I was gonna ride the next day, but was so pissed off with it all i went home on the 10.00 bus. (ps. for posterity sake, was on the sierrascope).

This photo was one of the only two i took. It was taken while i was pissed off, waiting for the bus home:



Day 3: December 2nd: Happo

This is more like it. A normal start, some decent snow, and a much bigger area to play in. Arrived around 10.30ish, grabbed an early lunch and had at it. Sure, it was only really the top half above the gondola station with a little bit reaching down into the downhill course, but under the lifts and down the semi locked off areas you could score some freshies and have a ball. Put the smile back on my face. Generally a pretty decent ride out and arguably the first half decent ride of the season. Again, on the scope.



Day 4: December 9th: Nozawa Onsen

After a tonne of deliberation i finally decided between the myoko season pass and the nozawa one. Purely for the reason that yamabiko seems to carry the powder just a little bit longer in february/march (myoko you kinda need to be there on the day it drops otherwise it gets nasty in late feb, whereas yamabiko gives you a day or two window to get there), i went for the Nozzie pass. Rather stupidly i spent my season pass money on my lekky bill, and er... only had 58,000 yen with me after id filled in all the forms. No worries! ill happy pay an extra 3000 yen! why the hell not? ... idiot

So first mini powder day out there. Conditions werent ideal, but the resort had a nice top up meaning you could ride yamabiko to paradise. Spent most of it up the top of yamabiko running the lift line. I remembered people popping down ushikubi, but foolishly waited until my last run down before joining them. Honestly a truly fun run. A nice little bumpy mischief line putting a massive smile on my face. I love that line from mizunashi to ushikubi with all my tiny heart so was stoked to get a nice slide on it without the crowds you usually get in january. Brilliant day out on the scope.

Speaking of ushikubi, i had to take a pic because i was kinda stoked to be there



Day 5: December 15th: Nozawa Onsen. (day 1 season pass (SP1), 57,000)

Garbage. Bright warm sunshine. Sticky ass snow. And for some rather strange reason when not even a breeze was blowing down below (or witnessed in the trees up at uenotaira), the gondola was shut down due to wind. Only the bottom lines were open, and really with the god awful conditions out there it didnt take me long to realise id made a terrible mistake. Decided to get the early train home around 3 and come back after it got a bit of snow on it. Once again, on the scope.

Beautiful day though:

Day 6: December 16th: Nozawa (until i pay off the season pass its nozawa all the way down i reckon - SP2, 54,000)

Conditions livened up a little and the resort opened up a top to bottom line down the paradise cat track bit on skiers right. Luckily the area was generally pretty icy so the slower areas around the middle of the resort and the cat tracks meant for nice nippy lines. Had a ride on ushikubi again but it was clearly not on. Sticky snow once you came below uenotaira. Still, an alright day and nice to get a real nice thigh burner or two under the belt dopwn the one line id always skipped when i came to nozawa. The line itself is nicer than id been led to beleive.

Day 7: December 22nd: Nozawa (SP3, 50,000).

Midweek snow meant one thing... sno... hang on. Since the first journey at the start of december i havent seen so little snow on the way to nozawa by train. Up to iiyama there was barely a sniff of it. And yet... the whole resort was open! Whats going on? Arrived to find a bustling little nozawa onsen. The packs of tourists were roaming around and the season was clearly getting into gear. Hoping for yamabiko to keep the powder that had fallen as well as to pick up a wee spot more, i took a chance on the slasher. It didnt pay off entirely. Kinda weird riding a board so long, and the lack of a proper wax job (just went with a quick wax) really hampered it lower down. Nonetheless, got a few firsts: First boot pack out of a stupid line i shouldnt have taken, and first concussion from the aforementioned wax issue leading to the board sticking at rather high speeds and throwing me about like a rag doll. Yay! the seasons on! Aside the conditions not really being that great it was a joy to get to hit up some of those runs id been looking forward to ride again.

Day 8: December 24th: Nozawa (SP4, 46,000)

It was clear even on the train that we were in store for a decent day out there. The snow went from 5cms just outside nagano, to ten then to 20 and finally to a foot of freshies by the time we were scooting past Iiyama. I got up early for this, i spent the saturday waxing and tuning, and this is what id been waiting for. Aside a few of the lines off skyline and paradise, the whole resort was open. I got in the gondola, popped straight down to mizunashi to hit up ushikubi, but thought id take a detour. Rode the lift back up, decided to hit up that cool little line i was riding last year between the two mizunashi lines, when i suddenly realised id made an HORRIFIC mistake. In my keenness for pointless fresh lines (they were bloody everywhere anyway), i forgot that nozawa was around 1m deeper when i rode that line last year, covering up the fields of scrub and more importantly covering up a rather blatant creekbed. The snow was also too deep to really ride and created plenty of sluffs each time i got a turn in. After a PROPER 20 minute swim/hike out of nexk deep (i kid thee not) snow, I decided wisely to learn my lesson and stick to the resort. Spent it pretty much running down ushikubi and skyline. Honestly, aside that first hiccup, one of the better days im going to have this season. Swimming in powder, on my nice freshly waxed slasher, no real crowds, and free thigh deep lines all over. Saw no one on ushikubi and only a few people on skyline. All in all, awesome day out.



Day 9: December 28th: Nozawa (SP5, 42,000yens to go).

First the bad news. They did it! those assholes went and did it! Ushikubi is tore up into lines of stupid mole hills. Instead of just enjoying the powder and the choppiness of millions of fun lines, its imporant in japan to organise the powder into nice neat little mounds and then avoid it completely by skiing down between it in a little ice track like a bunch of ****ing morons... ummm, i mean er.. sorry. Dont know where that came from? :?

Now for the good news: It was a gorgeous day out there. Grey skies everywhere, but visibility was half way around the planet. Ive been to nozzie a few times, but never have i seen the fabled view of the sea of Japan. Im pretty sure i saw it today though. Beautiful overcast conditions keeping the temps below freezing and the powder mega dry. It was as light and fluffy as youd ever hope for to be honest. Some brilliant lines through the trees at the summit kept my attention for the majority of my time out there as you might expect.

Now for the bad news... THEEEEEEEYREEE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
I shouldnt be a jerk, last year that was me. But the crowds are forming. The tracks are getting cut and the queues are starting on the lifts. Its all still this side of awesome. But my little season pass and early season riding is clearly making me a douchebag. Just seeing 10 people in front of me for a 4 seater is enough to have me splutter in a pique of mini rage hissy fitting. I must not be a douchebag and learn to share the mountain...i must not be a douchebag and learn to share... Uhhuh.



Day 10: December 30th; Nozawa (SP6, 38,000).

SERENITY NOW!!! Good way to describe a day on Nozawa when the weather is just absolutely right.



Beautiful conditions out there and although the holiday crowds are moving in, theres still short queues (though queues nevertheless) and space to just do your own thing. Im writing this a good week later so details are fuzzy but a few things of note: Increasing numbers around the village as youd expect. I even had to share gondolas! I also had a 2 minute queue for the lift up to the skyline which is frankly not on!

But bluebird above the cloud layer (about 500-800m), and super fun zen snowboarding when the visibility suddenly plummets to 20 feet. A perfect picture day. I suck at pictures though... Muika would have loved it though Resort conditions though were tip top. The temps soared, but due to the rather sureal covering the base snow stayed protected whilst the elevation kept things cool up top. The trails were nice and quick, and powder stashes were to be found all over yamabiko if you headed either side of the lift run. Indeed, found a completely untracked area round the right hand side which I honestly didnt realise was bringing me back to the lift (theres a small hiking line maybe a board and a half thick cut in to the snow pack bringing you back on the trail). I also obviously almost threw myself over a cliff trying to tease out the line a little longer than i should have on one occasion, so obviously take it easy. Generally a great day for just bounding along and enjoying whatever you could find.



Day 11: January 4th; Nozawa (SP7, 34,000)

Cluster****. A meter of snow in 48 hours. Yamabiko was off the wall. Forgive me, but im about to utter the 5 most controversial words in the snowboarder lexicon: There was too much snow.

Well... not too much all over the mountain, but definitely too much up Yamabiko. The top of the gondola to the bottom was great fun. The icepack moguls forming on ushikubi were reduced to rubble as the extra meter top up filled in all the gaps. Brilliant stuff. Ushikubi/mizunashi and schneider back to their best. But then i made the stupid mistake of heading to yamabiko. No idea why to be honest since its shorter lines and the pow was all over the resort anyway. I compounded the error by trying to play under the lifts and in the trees.

Even the charlie struggled. Though it was endless freshies, the sheer depth made the going slow, heavy and difficult. If a picture could summarise the day it would be me, chest deep, trying to stay clipped in whilst digging out my slasher so i could move again. I even had a lucky escape when through sheer exhaustion i took my eye off the ball and dived face first deep into the snow. It took almost a second for it to sink in what id just done. Overall though a great day. Pity it was on my own though since its really one of those days you need to be laughing at your mates getting stuck in the pow and spraying them as you cruise past.



Day 12: January 12th, Nozawa Onsen (SP8, 30,000 - half way!)

Cracking day. Looked like it was going to be horrendous mind you when i ran for the 8.34 train to nozawa. Never seen it as busy. Three buses pulled up to the station to cart us up to the resort. And upon arrival it was HEAVING. No matter, sun was out, the snow condition at base level was more quick than sticky, so great day for park rats.

I made a bee line for yamabiko, not too bad. Enjoyed some super light freshies riding the creekbed between the two lifts and arrived at the bottom of yamabiko ready to sneak around the side line that no one else runs when i came face to face with an 8 by 30 people queue. Seriously muju levels here. On the way up the lift i kept telling myself just ride the resort, just ride the resort, even if its just a 5-7 minute run in great untracked pow, a five minute lift queue and an 8 minute lift ride... its not the best, but its fine! just ride the resort. And immediately upon leaving the lift decided to pop under the ropes and head to T.Chutes instead.

A few things. 1. First ride here all season and it was TRACKED TO HELL. If it was a secret that only the hard core rope ducker knows or dares to ride its safe to say the secret is out. 2. Its still awesome. 3. Of the twenty or so people i saw riding it in my three journeys down it, all of them (except me) were japanese. Only two skiers and one dude in a group of 7 snowboarders (all making a racket) had backpacks or any safety gears. So er, gaijins not responsible for this one. Had a great run, immediately took the lifts back up and had another crack at it. Tried to get lunch after the second run but no chance, utterly heaving... so skipped it. Saw a neversummer tent and decided to break the monotony (ha! what monotony?) of the day by trying out one of their boards. Got to play on the Premier down a couple of runs of skyline and freaking loved it! Total ripper, carve genius board. Super lively and energetic, held its line beautifully and even with the light getting dead on the second run, even the invisible bobbles did nothing to bounce it from its intended line. Brilliant board. Ran back to the demo tent, chewed the guys ear off about it (i think he only wanted to hear the words "i loved it! im going to buy one!" to be honest, but im me, and that doesnt cut it. I loved it though, and told him id buy his ex-demo off him.



Finally took another bomb down Tanuki, got my stuff together, realised i had five minutes to catch my bus, and flew down the hill. Sorry if a dude in a blue jacket and helmet skittled you on the way down. Brilliant day out. Im a bit embarrassed about how enthusiastic i was about the board so apologies to the neversummer crew for rabbiting on. But yeah, you know, verbiage... Its what i do.

Day 13: January 14th Nozawa (SP9, 26,000).

Bit of an odd one in truth. First the weather played silly beggars with me. Around 15cms in the chikuma plains, but as i approached Nozawa realised there was far less Iiyama way. Snow in all the wrong places as a few people remarked in the forums. Second thing of note was immediate fogging in my lenses. Eventually realised the seal had gone and thats them done for. The left eye is fogged up, the right eye is clear. Just about enough to get me through today, slowly, but its back to the splices until i get a new lens. Saw about 6 people head down tanuki as i was arriving on the lift, so decided id be alright. Headed in, immediately lost them, and suddenly failed to recognise anything. Took it slowly, but it really was disorientating. Beware the flat light and small covering should you ever run it. Was just about to have another crack at it, when i looked down and saw my toe strap was at a weird angle. bent it back and <SNAP>. Lost half a toe strap. Fortunately its still workable, but only just. One more tooth down and i wouldnt be able to ratchet it down. So just enough goggle to work, and just enough strap to work. Weird fekkin day. Had another pop down tanuki. Didnt really wnat to if im honest, first run put the willies up me a little, but really wanted photos of those tracks. Its a busy line. Got down with little incident and made my way up for a pizza.

After lunch, was kinda feeling off about the whole thing. The snow was whipping in, but it was super thin and nasty. Headed down ushikubi to witness the misery of that line now. Hardpacked from edge to edge. Theyve taken it as far as they can either side leaving nothing for boarders to do. Its a pure class A shithole now. Had one more run down challenge then called it a day. All in all, crappy conditions with flat light and wet snow (and not enough cover for the hardpack from the last few days...) And if that wasnt enough, on top of that bust goggles and a broken strap. Grabbed the early bus (2,40) and came home. It was just one of those days. Could have been alright, but things just werent really working out.



Day 14: January 19th, Nozawa (SP10, 22,000).

Hilarious day. Started bad, almost failed to make it out, but the temptation to hit up the berzerker again was too much. My mood was further improved by glorious sunshine on top of around a meter of likely untracked. Arrived at the station, kicked a wee dollop of snow and realised it was pure freshiest of the fresh. Come on, get some! Pulled up at the top of yamabiko, decided to play in the trees to skiers right of the lift. The goggles were a bit foggy, and the light was fetting seriously flat, but no worries. I figured a bit of air and theyd clear up. Popped to the left as usual to have a wee play in the powder before cutting back into the resort before the serious ride and found myself in weightless heaven! Hang on...

It took me a surprising amount of time to realise that this small drop was not actually landing.

As i smashed into the ground i had just enough time to wonder what the hell was going on? I looked up. The bastards at nozawa had cut a lower path through my usual line to make the small walk from the lift to the run easier. Blind as a bat, id just ridden off a 2 meter wall. The goggles got air. Had you have seen me, you would have wet yourself laughing.

Which brings me to mistake number 2. Same place, other side. Popped under the ropes to hit up the trees. I knew it was deep, but the brain disengaged and instead of keeping a high line, i second guessed myself and followed a few lines down. 3 lines became 1 line, and it took me a few seconds to realise i was following someone else who probably screwed up. Immediately tried to traverse, but every tree meant a little further down until it flattened out and that was that. Fortunately a passing group of skiers also popped down a little too far and were cutting a track back to the resort. It took them about 5 minutes. It must have taken me over an hour of crawling on my knees in easy chest deep before i made it back to the right side of the ropes.

After an hour or so sit down in the cafe, had a few more runs on yamabiko but wasnt recovering so decided it was time to head to the bottom and figure it out. Got as far as mizunashi before the stoke returned. Took a few lines down the run and then decided to throw caution to the wind and give ushikubi another chance. And so glad i did. It ripped. Reached the bottom ready for another slide only to quickly change my mind when i saw the gondola queue stretch beyond the restaurants. Pretty busy out there. All in all a rather eventful day. Kinda fun in a weird way



Day 15: January 27th; Madarao (SP10, 22,000 FREE TIX!!!)

8.54! I can bloody make this! I ran out of bed, got my crap together and for ONCE beat the train (ive lost three days stood behind that bloody barrier watching my train ride past). Bus (9.20) was a doddle. Six people including the driver. It was clear madarao was not going to be busy!
Pulled in just after 10, dawdled getting ready, but eventually strapped in. First important moment... its bloody downhill! First place ever whee you strap in and are literally riding the resort. Second important realisation... ah crap! its going to be a bottleneck when i want to catch the bus :| Third moment... this lift queue on the quad is looking rather busy... fourth... this traverse to the top lift is a bit flat... fifth... "A TEA TRAY!!!" the only lift to the top and its a fekkin tea tray??? This better be worth the MASSIVELY LONG QUEUE to ride it.

Alright, ill stop. But suffice it to say, the second, third, fourth and fifth impression (and i havent even mentioned the "adventure!" course) wasnt great. I should also add the sheer grievance i felt having to fork over 400 yen for a locker since that appears to be the only size they have while im moaning...

But it didnt take long for all that to melt away. Madarao is punching surprisingly far above its weight (actually that sums it up, so im putting that in the proper review). Its a resort that seems to promise an alright day, but delivers something far more entertaining. I wont go into the details here, but had a genuinely fun day exploring the place, and with the tangram ticket on top of it, felt even a little rushed for time to see it all. The snow was a little dense (not wet, just really well packed) and all the tree runs were kinda cut up requiring detours off the main lines for freshies, but it was actually an excellent little place. Tangram in particular had some amazingly interesting lines and definitely merited the extra 500 yen. In fact i spent so much time there just checking it out i sorta didnt get to see enough of madarao. No worries, i have ticket number two still to burn. What i will say is this: ryuoo is the super secret gem of nagano, but madarao is the super secret tree riding advanced run, powder gem. Honestly, it out myoko's myoko. It gives you more terrain and better trees and an average terrain way into the mid 20s all over (though really its 30s except the flat bit at the bottom). Its a great little place. You should hit it up.



Day 15: FEBRUARY 2nd; Nozawa Onsen (SP11, 18,000)

Fact is, every day i dont ride, i spend it sitting at home watching movies and eating crap. Im getting fat, So this week i resolved to make it out saturday and sunday. Stupid week to make that call though. The freezing point shot back up to 2500m, the temps soared, and a massive front arrived bringing rain. Throw in peak season and its dodging bodies, sticky lines, and long queues. But i was determined dammit!

Waxed the zerker, made it out for the 8.10 train only to get stuck again behind the barriers. No worries, its going to be crap anyways. Finally arrived and clipped in around 12.30. Conditions were slushy, but surprisingly still quick enough, so maybe it wouldnt be so bad. Got the gondola up, started riding, got past the barriers at the bottom of paradise, and was met with a WALL of bodies. Ridiculous numbers out there.

Decided immediately to hit up kandahar. First run down took it easy, the light was way too flat to make anything out. Second run let it go a bit more. And since the bindings were back in the middle the berzerker roared back into life. Thank god. Thought it was just the mad weight gain since last year. Turns out full setback just sucks the life out of the board.

The rain returned. Had another couple of runs, took a few pics of the cracks over at nagasaka and headed back to the gondola. The lunchtime lull was over. Ten minute queue. Immediately scooted up to yamabiko and decided to try my luck there. No dice. All runs below about 1500m were sludge. The 100m or so above that were slow mind you. Possibly the first time ive seen conditions on yamabiko turned to absolute crap. Had some fun tree rides since no one was in there, but decided there was more fun to be had elsewhere and popped down to the skyline. Started off horrendous with the sheer numbers clipping in, but quickly passed them and into wide open space. Visibility was still rough, but conditions were soft enough to keep the board on its line despite the bobbling, so just let it go. Plopped into Karasawa half way down and suddenly found i was actually enjoying myself.

Karasawa is a weird little place. Though it was fairly busy today, its just too out of the way for most people, but the run is absolutely great fun. Nice mellow pitch for buttering and playing in the ungroomed side areas, but long and consistent enough (if you take it from the very top) that you can pick up some serious speed and just nuke it. Closing the lift to the top of it seems silly. Surely in peak season its worth opening up? Its such a fantastic little area so long as you get the full thing. Half of it though and you might as well not bother...

Anyways. Whinge aside, karasawa cheered me up no end. Flew back up the hill and into my last run of the day down the middle line and ushikubi. The path into mizunashi was pretty fun. The sides were soft enough to really get a launch when you popped ff them making the ride a classic end of day cruiser. Was delighted to find the moguls in ushikubi reduced to a couple of lines wide giving a bit of width either side to just charge on. Hit the base, was honestly sad that i couldnt steal even a lift ride up higake before the bus came. If i could i would have probably made it to last chair to be honest. What was supposed to be a pure trash day was made pretty decent by of all things, the conditions and superb maintenance i assume from the groomers. Wet, but so long as it wasnt deep, it was still quick enough to get a good run out of it.



Day 16, February 3rd, Togari Onsen (SP11, 18,000)

Back to where it all began. Five years ago on the February long weekend, me and two of my mates went to Togari to learn to link our turns. I never thought all that much of it to be honest. I mean i LOVED the view across to Nozawa, i remember a brilliant nighta slightly tipsy on the chu hais, and i remember a drop that was so pants wettingly steep that I had to lie down to look over the edge. As for the resort... cant really say to be honest. Nothing really stood out. So 5 years later and it was time to look at my play school with grown up eyes.

The place has a lot of character. Even the hardiest cynic is going to be swept along by the kids screaming in a mix of pure joy and terror as they side slide into a yard sale. Snowballs are flying freely and snow burial photo shoots all add to the genuinely playful and easy going atmosphere of the place. I was rather quickly charmed by it all. As for the ride... great fun. Nothing too serious, but because few people venture off the groomers and into the trees or up the banks, lines were pretty much yours for the taking. Its not nozawa in its slackcountry. Theyre short off piste/on piste/off piste style runs, but they made the place one of the delights of the season. Everything was just really mellow and easy going. ETA: also rode the line i could barely look down. No problems. Around 35 degrees. Amazing how things look so much bigger when youre little.



Day 17, February 8th, Myoko Suginohara, (SP11, 18,000).

This wasnt supposed to happen. I was supposed to be teaching elementary. Due to an event, they cancelled my classes. And for once i decided to be a jerk and take advantage of my contract and go home. After confirming with my company it was all legit, i bombed it back home and made it just in time for the 10.10 train. No matter how crappy it got in Myoko, this was a great day!

Picked up the 11.35 bus to Suginohara, got off the wrong stop at the junction just before suginosawa that takes you up to the lifts, no matter! its a great day!

Exhausted, stumbled in to the base station, picked up my ticket... great day! Got ready, hopped in the queueless gondola to the top, clipped in, took a quick cheeky run down the middle... and BLAM! Its great to be home! Now people dog suginohara for being flat, but for me, this is home. This is the first resort i really fell in love with. I love her, she loves me. We take care of each other. And boy did she deliver today. COnditions were sublime. The resort was empty, the powder was dropping, and the lines were fresh and ever flowing. Theres honestly nowhere id rather be in the world than just chilling on an empty suginohara on a drop. Purest of pure light freshies, easily the best conditions all year so far. God its great to be back. Even missed the bus yet again (thanks tiny stupid slow pair at the bottom of mitahara). but who cares. Suginohara! Honestly, last week i declared togari my best day of the season. Suginohara just murdered it! top day of the season, one of the top ten lifetime. Just such perfect immaculate conditions on my absolute favorite resort. Dont ever change suginohara! even though the bogans are infesting you, and even though prince hotel is trying to rip the life out of you, dont ever change!



Day 18, February 9th, Mo-zawa, (SP 12, 14,000)

Im not stupid! I know whats up here. The crowds are coming, the avi safety level is probably through the roof after yesterdays snow. This is SIMPLE: Stay off the top, avoid the temptation for sidecountry, just lap the nagasaka gondola and this will be an alright day.

The plan was great! Perfect in fact. This is my mountain, i know how to get around it and where to go to keep the day running smooth. Im no beginner here getting caught in bottlenecks or not realising that yamabiko is probably one of the most tracked parts of the whole damn resort, and ONLY worth it when the rest of the place is ice and its still cool enough for some lines. Easy plan! this holiday weekend wont even phase me!

Now id always seen those lines coming from skyline into the middle line and wondered about them. So why the hell not kick start my middle line run by checking it out. Seems fairly innocuous: top of skyline lift into shitty path (bunabayashi into yunomine), pop down, after the super flat bit, then whee!!! off you go. And so it came to pass! innocuous, fun, longer than i expected, incredibly soft and light, and plop! into the path and meandering around to the middle for a bit of a powder cruise down mizunashi, ushikubi and then the GENIUS move, off to nagasaka to lap it again.
On the gondola back up, i was looking at the grand prix and thinking "that needs more tracks!" so decided that was my next target. Stupid idiot move number 1 for the day (Spoiler: theres going to be at least two more serious ones), First part is fine. Then you kinda look down and wonder why theres a ****ing huge debris field in the middle of it with boulders the size of cars. Some serious slide activity. Too late, im committed. Rode it, had some tricky navigation, but came out unscathed. Time for lunch!

Yay! Over lunch i mulled the line down the middle from that top part and vowed to follow it a little further. First though, a yamabiko interlude. Had a couple of lines, decided id seen enough and it was back up the lift to the skyline to see whats up! Immediate and unheralded triumph! came out further down... only for reasons that evade me, followed a line a little further along. Unclip time! walked back to the resort, but sorta... i dunno man, just kinda veered back into the trees, followed a couple of lines, thought what the hell am i doing and still kept following them. And this is where i ended up on possibly the sketchiest face ive ever ridden.

Somehow id found myself yet again past the point of no return. Any slide on this slope and i was being carried. Even side sliding created a slough slide that carried me pretty quick into the trees. It was only thanks to the sheer abundance of trees i could arrest myself any time it happened. It happened several times fact fans. Convex, lots of snow from the previous 24-48 hours, no real packing (thank god in truth!), weather affected, 35-40 degrees, way off piste, no one around. I was pretty much aware id done it for real this time. I was in serious shit. I couldnt go back up, it was too steep, i just had to hope to christ the face would hold those moments i had to traverse it.

After some careful navigation and choice line finding, somehow i made it to a slide chute. And then a dude shot down from above right past me! In fact the whole area was completely tracked. I must have been in tanuki! oh how stupid i was! i swore i wouldnt touch it today! I chuckled to myself and figured id found another way in. Looked across the face, and thought, "hang on! thats skyline up there!" And as i was doing that, two skiers started sliding (one at a time of course) down a way powdery 45 or so degree line. So theres three ways in then? I shit thee not. Almost got myself in way over my head, and yet heres my brain trying to figure out the best way in here. :> Got down to the flatter area, realised id made it none the worse for wear, headed to the left side for the untouched powder, and WTF!!! THERES A ****ING MASSIVE HOL... HOLY SHIT!!! THERES ANOTHER ONE!!! Somehow id managed to swerve around both of them. I wasnt out of the woods yet... Which was somehow apt since the next line was the single most tracked tree line ive seen in my goddamned life! it was 100 paths through the trees with a tonne of natural little rollers and jumps all perfectly cut in. You couldnt groom this place better! Happily made it through and popped out of the top into nagasaka and could finally catch my breath.

And before the jelly legs even stopped, here i was at the top of uenotaira clipping in and trying to figure out the best way in there. Evidently id come too far the first time. Maybe theres a safer route higher up. Skyline lift queue was horrendous. No matter id just pop up the bank from bunabayashi... Found an ice wall i could ride half way up. unclipped and hiked the rest of the way up, had a good look for lines, and there off a little higher up towards the gondola from where id walked up was a little chute with a few ines headig down it. A few lines became 10-15 and i knew i was on the right track. Popped back into the middle line and was delighted i didnt need to kill myself to find it again. Now i just had to ride it. Took it cautiously, stayed on the right hand side, realised the holes were due to a creek bed that was too big to make effective snow bridges, so kept away from it, cut through the trees, but veered really hard left. Again, stupidity. Saw two people head past me that way, so figured they knew where the hell they were going. Ended up in a really nice untouched powder line with a beautiful creek bed on my right. After a minute or so the walls to my left started getting higher and the creek bed was getting closer. I watched the two dudes in front of me unclip and then i realised we were all kinda in the shit here. Again.

There was a snow bridge. But man, proper boot sized holes peppered it, and it was easy 2m straight into the water. The banks were laden cornice like over the sides, and a good 2 meters above the water. If you fell in, youd be needing a rope to get back out. The first dude scrambled across. Then the girl with him ninjad across. As they were clipping back in i turned up. He shouted to "walk slow!!!" And yeah, i was really up for that until i looked down and saw those huge holes. A couple of gingerly made dainty ballet running steps and i was safe! After a second stumble requiring a small climb up a bank, we were all safe and happy riding nagasaka again.

Came home. The end. (great day though despite the insanity, wobbly jelly legs, and all round realising id kinda pushed my luck a bit).



Day 19: February 10th, Madarao (SP 12, 14,000yen)

I dunno what it was. It might have been that i forgot my ipod, it might have been the bumber of people waiting for the bus, or it might just have been the screaming kids. Id pretty much had my fill. Actually, rewind, it was none of that. I was in rather decent spirits when i arrived. Bus number 2 meant empty bus, the kids were super cute all starfished and happy. Even the crying kids, crying for no fekkin reason whatsoever and annoying the hell out of their poor hard done by instructor didnt annoy me. Nor in fact did the massive queue for the super quad. I had a plan, all i needed was to get to the top, traverse across and "so long, suckers!" And the plan was genius! Headed straight for the crystal course, lolled at the people queuing for the tea tray and breezed effortlessly across to tangram. No queues. I win.

And then i rode down tangram... and i realised i was in for a shit day. Either it was the crowds at the foot of the resort making lapping impossible, or it was the ice wall id just ridden. Something flipped my mood. I tried a lap on the quad. Went down to the crappy side area. No joy. Tortuously slow lift back up to the main area. Had lunch. Oh lord! why did i forget my ipod today of all days??? Just bedlam. Faced the lift queue, and decided i was getting the hellout of here. Tangram was added to the list (it currently reads: akakura onsen, tsugaike, tangram). No matter, id go with plan B and just lap powder wave. But er, its a tracked out ice wall. I dont mean tracked out like maybe you might think strawberry fields is tracked out. I mean a bumpy icy hellscape. When i end up in hell and they let me snowboard for good behaviour, itll be on powder wave 2, 10th Fenruary 2013. Utter dross.

Well, now im out of plans? I guess er... nope. Only thing left was to face the music, head over to the super quad, deal with the god awful queues (10mins - probably more if you werent snaking the singles line), and just play under the lift. It was 1.30, i had 2 and a half hours of this shit left to go. And you know what. It wasnt too bad. Final run was a real stormer, followed a certain someones advice and enjoyed a great run through the trees. Decided to walk back to the hotel rather than ride down to the lift and sit in the queue before slowly making my way up the hill. Lucky i did, wouldnt have made the bus home.

IN summary: Im probably not going back there. Last time it was all new, so i wasnt paying attention, this time the mega resort McSki-jo came screaming through. Pure cynical ski fodder. Theyre doing some great shit with their lines and opening up the place, but its super busy, its hella tracked, and ultimately stupidly short. If theres powder, you can go anywhere, if there isnt and its reasonably busy, then its a blast down the groomers (about three minutes), then a ten minute lift queue, then a ten minute lift ride back up. I stopped going to yeti as well when i did the math.

I was really tempted to upload the "BUSYYYYYY!!!!" photo, but ah to hell with it, Heres a nicer one as a small bye bye to the place:


Day 20: February 11th, Nozawa (SP 13, 10,000yen)

Had no real intention of getting up early for this. Was even contemplating sitting it out when i read an unusually early Nozawa now report. It was rather positive. Time to get my shit in gear.

Got the 9.36 train and was on the resort around 12.15. Damn, i wish id come earlier. No queues. All the holiday weekenders were gone. I even got a few gondola rides to myself. Decided id take it easy. Avi level was probably around "are you insane?" and my ekiben chopsticks fractured into a million pieces. Not chancing this one. And who needs to anyway when youve got waist deep off the groomers, and knee to thigh deep everywhere else? Spent it hitting up as much freshies as i could, avoided completely yamabiko and pretty much stuck with ushikubi/kurokura.



Kurokura KILLED it by the way. Most fun on a groomed line in an age. Brilliant stuff, reminded me of ushikubi mayhem from last year. All moguls were soft bouncy launch pads into fileds of mushrooms. A day of pure snowboarding nirvana. Hard that i just cant say anything about it other than it was just awesome. Just one of those days that keeps you riding even when you feel like you should be doing something else with your life. Perfect conditions, perfect day. Almost on a par with suginohara, but im biased towards suginohara so im putting it at number 2 this season... even though it was deeper and arguably more fun. But sugi is great. So it wins. But between you and me it doesnt. Today was best day of the season. And you know whats great? This is the third time ive said this in the space of 7 days. February is properly delivering the goods.


Day 21: February 16th, Nozawa (SP 14, 6,000yen)

A spectacularly uneventful day. Im still trying to figure out what i did a mere 4 days later. Rode some lines, sprayed some pow, stuck rigidly to the groomers and the trees VERY NEAR the groomers. But overall nothing worth honestly reporting on. Genuinely a fun day of course, since it ws nice and deep keeping everything bouncy and entertaining. Just had a play if im honest. Nothing special, nothing crap, just a nice day out snowboarding... "Better out than in" as my mum used to say when shed let one go. I could honestly have written "day 21: nothing happened." But i like padding. So here it is. Umm... i missed the early train because i lost my glove and my regular facemasks. I rode pow. It was wicked pisser. The end.



Day 22: February 17th, Nozawa (SP 15, 2,000yen)

Next time im in nozawa, the pass is paying for itself! hooray! and ive still got all of March and some of April to go

But thats beside the point. Fun day. Lots of exploring. Sun was out, and after the previous few days of snow it was good to have a solid bluebird. Having mentally decided that i was bored of the groomers again, I figured it was time to head back into that middle nagasaka line (or in the chutes - though the chutes honestly scare me a little more).
MASSIVE queues at both skyline and on the lift up to Yamabiko pretty much ended any real chance of hitting up the chutes, and also prevented me from figuring out the line into nagasaka directly from the top. No worries, headed down into Mizunashi and had a play in the powder for a couple of runs. by the third one though, it was time to move on and i was feeling comfortable enough with the snow in the trees to head a little further left into the mid line. Instead i came across a much more fun powder line. As pretty much everything to do with that middle line, its the access thats the serious worry (counter tanuki where reaching it is a doddle, but the line itself is scary as ****).



I did have a small worrying moment yet again when i had to choose between a line going left and right (from about a minute into the line from the vantage point at the start of skyline), and the wrong one (i went right) brought me onto a rather untracked steep convex face. Further compounding my worry were the chunks breaking off under me. After a quick fiddle about and a few small slough slides i verged back to the left and onto a safer looking line and into the main area itself. Fairly uneventful as it turned out, but it did feel like id once again gone in a bit over my head. I dont learn, it turns out. I blame the green curry. i always end up the worse for wear after lunch.

Had one more crack down it and an enjoyable run through the trees again and then it was off to hikage again. A run down the side of Kurokura showed me a new tree line id never really contemplated (meaning mogul avoidance), whilst the final run of the day turned out to be a serious bolt of fun.

Realising i didnt have enough time to take both the hikage gondola and the quad up uenotaira, I figured id just cruise down panorama and Schneider and off back to Nagasaka on the road to pick up my stuff and catch the bus. And then i noticed (arguably for the first time this season since the last time i rode it, it was pure mogul) the little gate leading to the 39 degree challenge line. I figured what the hey, and went for it. Popped slightly into the trees as i do, when i suddenly noticed a group of park rats above me. Turns out that not only is there a line through the trees here, but stay high enough - i didnt, you can cut back up though - and youre in the trees between the challenge course and utopia. These trees were a tonne of fun. I suddenly realised this side of the mountain actually had something mroe than the terrifying looking run in among the trees and under the Hikage lift from the cat track under Yunomine. Though i could honestly do with less reasons to base myself around Hikage, the challenge ---> utopia tree line at least gives me something to do when im pushed for time and can only fit in a run half way up the mountain to catch my bus.

All in all, another cracking day and a little bit more understanding of whats available to the slackcountry kid looking for a bit of fun off the beaten paths.


(id like to tink im nailing an impressive tail slide here,but i reckon im just turning over onto my heels)

Day 23: February 23rd, Nozawa (SP 16, +2,000yen)

Yay! the season pass is paying for itself! As for the day, another one like last saturday. Pretty much did stuff, rode the mountain, enjoyed yet another dump, got more familiar with the middle line, had a fun day just cruising about running a sort of greatest hits: a bit of skyline, some grand prix, a line off kurokura, through the trees off paradise, and into the middle line above nagasaka. Avoided yet again Yamabiko. All good. Nothing really worth mentioning. The zerker is still killing it but its getting late now. Soon be time to switch out to the scope again probably, but heres to a few more weekends of storms and snow! Crowds are sort of thinning out. Not quite as fast as id like, but give it a couple of weeks and itll be good fun again.



Day 24, February 24th, Sugadaira (SP 16 +2k)

Free tickets, one shouldnt be rude when you get a freebie, and it gave me the opportunity to experience it. Sometimes though when you head out specifically to write a review, the flaws in a place are maybe all youll end up seeing. Sugadaira was a hugely disappointing place. Looking at the trail map I was actually somewhat intimidated by how much terrain id have to cover. I expected i may require at least two or three days here to get my head around the place. Davos seemed though to be the place with the best options. My calculations and expectations were quickly put to rest when i arrived. Davos, though pretty was a windblasted ice rink with incredibly shallow lines. Even moving to Taro did nothing to cheer me up. Sure, the steeps were more fun and posed a bit of a challenge, but as soon as you feel warmed up your rides over and youre back on the lift. I grabbed the bus across to pine beak and though this area was a huge improvement being deeper and longer (its much more sheltered than Davos and Taro), the lines were still rather insubstantial. Aside the wnd, conditions were pretty decent, but it just lacks any kind of downhill... unless you pay 3300 yen to ride up to the top of Daos n teh snowcat. I wanted to like Sugadaira because its not too far from my house, and would have been a decent option for a season pass next year, but it wasnt meant to be. The place was not only disappointing, but a waste of a decent powder day. The only consolation was that lifts were being closed down on other resorts in teh area due to the wind. Scant consolation though if im honest. Not really a place ill be back to.

Nozawa Onsen: The Review.



Where?: Nozawa Onsen, Nagano, Japan.
When?: 2 days in Feb 2010, 3 days in Jan 2012, 1 day in March 2012
Who?: Ippy Vangelis. Clutz. About day 80 lifetime. Awful balance. Likes slackcountry and the trees, used to like air, but became gutless last year and stayed in his comfort zone this year instead of fighting his cowardice.

Ticket Info: 4600 yen a day (i swear it was 4500 when i was there last). There is also a thing they have where you get 500 yen off if you bring a previous day pass. So really if you're there a few times over the year you might as well consider it 4100 yen. (Of course that was this season, so maybe its not the same next year). Season Pass is a fair 60,000yen which is pretty much comparable for most of the other decent sized places in the area (hakuba 47 and Happo1, shigakogen, myoko big 4 etc.). Fifteen times and it starts paying for itself. http://www.nozawaski...ift_charges.php

Public Transport Accessibility: Bit of a faff, but not too awful. You can get the bus from outside Nagano station for about 1500 yen each way which drops you off outside the resort. The problem with that is it doesn't leave until after 9.20am if I remember right so you wont really be on the course until 10.30 or even later. An alternative (and where the faff exists) is to get the train to Togari-Nozawa Onsen (about an hour journey), and then get the bus up to the resort itself. The problem is that the buses and trains arent entirely linked up all that well (you usually have a good 15 minute or so wait) and even when you do get up to the resort you then have to either walk another ten or so minutes up the hill or wait for the shuttle bus (which also wasnt exactly running in perfect harmony with the rest of the network). Basically it all felt like a bit of a mission. The reason is (of course) that first there was the spa town, then came the ski town (from december to late march). The schedule isn't really made for tourists without their own transport.

Snow Conditions?: First trip it was spitting rain, no real coverage, hard and icy in plenty of places. Second trip was insane pow. The final trip in March this year was late season sticky snow up to the top of the gondola, but fluffy up at the peak.

Crowds?: Over the bank holiday weekend in Early Jan (on the sunday in particular) the gondolas were pretty busy in the early morning, but by around 10.30 most people were spread out over the mountain making waiting times pretty much normal as they go. Small queues, nothing too dramatic. For the life of me i cant think of a single pont where i felt id cocked up and ended up in a bottleneck. Arguably the reason for that is that the two gondolas pretty much do the leg work here. They get everyone up the mountain nice and quick and let them hit any one of the four main lines (each with a few smaller lifts to break it up even further). There isn't really a congestion point. Probably the busiest area is the Uenotaira area and maybe the link lift to get you over to the Nagasaka gondola when you come down the Uenotaira/Schneider side into Hikage. If you're looking for a nice quiet spot though, the middle line down towards Ushikubi (after the beginners turn back on to Uenotaira) and the Karasawa areas never seemed to have that many people on them.

Resort Facilities?: A few cafes and restaurants and a couple of shops as well as a museum. But really, on piste there isnt ALL that much. There's enough to keep you going at the base, and there's a little crypto-cafe at the top of the gondola as well as a typical skijo restaurant at the foot of uenotaira, but I wouldnt exactly say its brimming with facilities or anything.

Anything Else?: Nozawa is a little town nestled in among the mountains. Its GORGEOUS to wander about in on a saturday night in peak season when the snows falling. Its even pretty enough to keep significant others who hate riding entertained for a day. Truth be told i have my stoke on about Nozawa resort right now and though the town itself is the stuff of chocolate boxes, I dont really feel like chatting about it. Its pretty. You should wander about it to relax at night and see if you can catch one of the events they have there routinely during the peak season (free soup/sake nights, fire festival etc). The nightlife though still isnt exactly kicking. It's fairly sleepy and come 10pm the party pretty much stops for all but the hardcore. It aint niseko or hakuba but its gentile and quaint. So er... thats pretty much it. Lots of free onsens, but i never used them (since theres usually about 400 dudes all crammed into these tiny little baths). Nice footbaths around the town, and plenty of little shops to look in (mostly restaurants and omiyage/tat though).
Anyways, summary over. The towns nice, it'll keep you entertained for a nice evening stroll. But i aint really here to review the town. So on with it.

Nozawa - The resort.

Beginners:

(Karasawa on a typically busy day)

Absolute beginners are VERY well catered for. The base of the resort ares itself (between the three ridge lines) has a decent incline with loads of open space and plenty of lifts to get you lapping the zones fairly regularly. If youre learning to side slide, leaf, garland or grabbing that first turn the 3 areas (hikage, nagasaka, and Karasawa) are almost the perfect pitch and just long enough to give you a bit of a practice, but short enough to keep you feeling like you're moving a bit. Once you've learned your turns (or if you just want to see a bit more of the mountain itself), there's also the Uenotaira area which slips into a really long very shallow green path bringing you down to the base of Higaki. As if that wasnt enough, theres a nice little green path going down the middle ridge (the panorama course) which then pops over to the paradise course at the base of the Uenotaira area before plunging into that path down to Hikage. Finally, you can elect to head down the skyline a bit before taking the first turn off it into Karasawa and enjoying what is an entirely wide open, completely empty part of the mountain for you to get comfy doing whatever it is you want to do. Basically beginners have a LOT of the mountain they can play on before they're liable to feel they're repeating themselves.

Intermediates:

SKYLINE:


(skyline 2010)

On my first ever snowboarding trip to Togari Onsen I remember looking across at the skyline and wondering how long it would be before I could ride it. The skyline was just this thing of pure beauty. I knew nothing about snowboarding, but I knew absolutely that i was looking at something sublime. Now I'm being a little effusive here... you'll forgive me. Unless you too were learning to turn on your second real day of snowboarding and looking across at it, you probably don't get what I'm saying and you might be naturally wondering if I'm being a little over the top here. Well obviously I am. It's just a run after all... a perfect, delicious, incredible, terrifying run. But just a run...

Nah, it ain't. It's freaking awesome. I defy anyone to run it full pelt for the entire thing. Consistent fall line, some serious steeps, a few nobbly bits, the greatest optical illusion I've ever seen since electric brae (ayrshire represent!), a nice long ride, and all round one of the finest bombing runs I've had the pleasure to play on. You just have to rip it. Theres nothing else to do on it. Point the board straight down and rip. Its exhilarating stuff. I've also been spanked on it at full pelt onto my head (backwards), so i know just how much a slam on it really will give you a proper concussion even with protection... So er, take it easy, and don't push yourself too much. It might list itself as an intermediate run and it might seem straightforward (point board down, bomb, ???, profit), but be aware theres some hidden little bumps every now and again that wil catch you in flat light late in the day when you're a bit knackered.

Skyline is probably the best fall line on the mountain for an intermediate. Its nice and long, it's going to be a challenge and it's gonna give speed freaks a serious kick. Obviously be careful of the people in front of you though (and be careful where you stop), it can get crowded near the top where it is a bit twistier and narrow, and since it is kind of the crown jewel ride of the mountain, lots of people want to have a crack at it regardless of their level. That being said though, if you are fortunate enough to get an open line, you do what you need to do!

Yamabiko:



At the very top of the mountain and slightly cut off from the rest of it (you need to take a lift back up to reconnect to the top fo the nagasaka gondola area), is the Yamabiko area. I kinda gave it short shrift the second time out since its pretty small and powder was everywhere anyway. Its fun, has a bit of tree riding between the main runs, and for an intermediate starting to flirt with the trees or slack country its a great little area to muck about in. First time I went to Nozawa it was decent fun, felt a bit short though so by the second trip i felt it wasnt really worth the trouble. Cue trip three though, late march and powder starved. We popped up there and was STUNNED to find fresh dry fluffy untracked powder still hanging around. It didnt hurt that a couple of days prior there was a top up in Nagano, but it was still superb quality freshies. It really changed the entire dynamic of the day. Obviously we decided to hang about there and skip the rest of the mountain. The area is GREAT for powder when the rest of the resort starts getting a bit tracked out, sticky, moguled and slow. Pop up here and get your groove back. Some great lines, as i say, a bit short, but nevertheless a stack of fun.

Speaking of Pow... when it drops, the line down the middle on Ushikubi is AWESOME fun to hit up. Its STEEP, and it will scare the hell out of you if you're seeing it for the first time, but once you start splatting into soft fluffy pow, who gives a crap? It gets wild and bumpy, its way out of most peoples difficulty level in truth (i dont think i saw many people ride it like it was nothing), but it was puking, the pow was wild, everyone was grinning and enjoying the whole bumper car spirit of it all. Id avoid it once it gets a bit barren. Its steep, moguled and pretty much double black.


(Mizunashi area)

As far as my mates in January were concerned (one a solid intermediate and the other a beginning intermediate), the Mizunashi into Ushikubi was their absolute highlight. They kept making me ride that stupid mizunashi lift all day when i just wanted to play over at schneider The Ushikubi was maybe a bit much for the burgeoning intermediate if I'm honest, but the other one was ripping it. (I was just launching off the bumps and splatting every three or four turns by the way - it was a blast!)

Finally for intermediates there's the Hikage area. But truth be told, though its a little steep at the very top of it, it wasn't really that bad. A glorified green run if you ask me.

Advanced:


(ushikubi pow)

I'll let you into a secret. I already wrote a review of Nozawa after the second trip. I accidentally erased it from history when I had a brain fart and copied over it with my Kagura review. I mention this here because it was really the advanced part that was the troubling part of the review for me. You see it's like this: Skyline is great, the powder is great, and the steeps are AWESOME. But there's just this massive middle break in the fall line between the top of the Nagasaka gondola and the good stuff that really lets Nozawa down. It was around this thought that the entire review ended up being less than enthusiastic.

I still feel that to be accurate. The best lines for advanced riders (aside skyline which is genuinely an advanced ride, but a bit of a one trick ripper), are found in the bottom half of the mountain coming off those ridges. Ushikubi is the highlight, and the line coming off that into the top of Higake is pants wettingly steep and ridiculously bouncy. In the three days i spent riding that area i never saw a single person own that line: its pure chaos. Over the other side and similar but slightly mellower in its incline is the Schneider area. I'm fairly sure the first time i was there it was nothing but SERIOUS moguls, but the second time it was just powder. So hard to say. When its powder, its arguably easier than the lines coming off skyline and Ushikubi, but once the snow stops i can only imagine it to be utter hell for a snowboarder. Alas, the only time i spent any real time over this side was the first trip up, so ive kinda forgotten which one of Uopia or Challenge course that had a ridiculous steep to it as well.


(foreground utopia, behind that are the drops off the ushikubi ridge line, and behind those is the skyline and the drops from it).

To summarise. There are a LOT of awesome little steeps you might want to play on here. The only trouble is you kinda have to ride through a tedious bit of crap at uenotaira or yunomine to get to it. Where it is awesome, it's seriously challenging and interesting stuff, but when you're spending ten minutes of your ride cruising through very slow gradients and praying you dont have to unclip (i always did: my bataleon and the wax job i gave it kept letting me down), then it can feel kinda tedious. Eventually i just started getting off the gondola at the middle station just to avoid it all, and well, that kinda sucked in truth.

That broken fall line really put a massive dent in the nozawa sheen for me which i found hard to get over. Of course I still loved the place, but it meant that the pull i felt looking across from Togari (and the serene beauty I experienced on my first trip there) was gone. It had a massive flaw and it was all i could see. The fall line was broken, the mountain was really really small and way too spread out once you start getting the gondola up only half way.

And then i went out a third time purely because i had the free tickets from Snowjapan and wanted to use them to save a bit of cash.

The Third Trip to Nozawa:



So there we were mucking about on the walls (the slow parts are a bit more fun when theres no snow - lots of little walls to ride). It was alright, we were enjoying it, it was free, i hadn't done skyline yet so there was that still to look forward to. I took us down ushikubi but it was a bit gnarly, so really I was looking at a day of bouncing around on the walls. What snow there was on the side was kinda sticky. The groomers were fast and light, but in the sides it was a bit heavier and not really worth it. So i figured we might as well head up to Yamabiko. Well, ive already mentioned above how fun it was but I'll reiterate: Lots of nice little lines and ridiculously light powder to still be scored. Some great little sidecountry and all in all, pretty much great times. But somewhere along the ride i got greedy. I saw some lines heading under the ropes on skiers left and off the side of the mountain. I wanted to know where they went, so being ever the idiot I followed them and figured if i had to hike back, so be it. And this is when Nozawa seriously blew me away.

The line is dangerous. Im going to say that now. After the first ride on it i wasnt entirely confident i wanted to ride it again. Not because the line itself is super steep or prone to sliding (though it probably is). It was more that flanking it were loads of little walls that clearly were prone to sliding and any slide was definitely shooting down the line you're on.

This is a classic terrain trap.

If it slides and you're caught in it, I dont fancy your chances much even with safety gear and mates. There's plenty of trees, it's plenty steep enough to carry you into them and even with your gear on, i can envision serious impacts. So yeah, my brain is definitely aware that this is slightly dodgier stuff than I'm used to and that maybe I need to be a bit more careful riding this than maybe the slackcountry at Kagura. This is kinda the step up between slackcountry and backcountry in my head. I know that makes me sound even more stupid because slackcountry is DANGEROUS FULL STOP and only an idiot marches into any part of the mountain that's unpatrolled thinking it isn't dangerous, but there's an ocean of difference riding this and riding some of the slackcountry areas i've ridden the past couple of years. Most of the stuff i'm hitting would barely qualify as a red run if there weren't any trees and it was groomed - Kagura being a prime example (except for the face that pushes into Tashiro... which I'm always happy to be off and into the trees on the other side, death free .

This area you definitely know is dangerous. You just need to open your eyes to see it. And even the hundreds of lines you see half way down don't exactly comfort you. So yeah, much as i want to say "dudes! this ride was freaking awesome!" (and i will say that), I also think it's really really important that I stress this put the willies up me. I didnt have any safety gear that day because I was sure Nozawa didnt have a real off piste, but I got lucky the three times i rode it. Next year there's not a chance in hell i'll be heading to Nozawa without my safety gears.



So public service announcement over. Just look at it! The line is phenomenally good fun. Anyone who wants a bit of a fresh, powder heavy 3km or so valley is going to blast it. I cant really say more about it than that...

Well, I can say that there are TWO avalanche barriers (about 300 meters away from each other), the line comes off the Yamabiko C course and the line pops out at the very top of Karasawa. Just look at a trail map and its pretty obvious. Other than the fact its a clear avi path for any slide, its a fairly straighforward reasonably steep little run to the bottom. And after the rush of riding all that, it's actually a real joy to pop out into an empty, wide Karasawa where you can just butter about and muck around with some side hits and ungroomed spots. All in all, you couldnt really ask for a better, more enjoyable run... well, I couldn't, but then again i dont hike... so its all relative. Obviously if you're a proper BC kid, this is just a glorified piste run, I imagine.

Nozawa Onsen Conclusion:


(upside down looking up korokura I believe)

It's tough to conclude this without feeling the scowly eyes of people with much more awareness of the dangers of slackcountry (and the danger you pose to the people at Karasawa) burning into my head as I'm typing this. I'm hoping that by trying to emphasise that it's VERY DANGEROUS to ride this area (like you might when you nip into the trees at Myoko or kagura (as a tacit extension of the piste - we all do it)), they might be placated enough to let me type my thoughts guilt free. But they wont because theyre jerks. Jerks looking after you from idiots like me i should add, though! But screw the man!

I know and understand how foolish i am even talking about this. I live in the hope that this review is so long winded that no ones even gotten this far to see it. But the truth is i LOVED this run and i cant talk about Nozawa now without mentioning it if i want to explain my little conversion here.

On the second trip out I lamented the break in the fall line and the fact that the skyline, awesome as it is, is still just really a bombing run that doesn't give you enough variation to want to keep hitting it. Well its all changed now.

Not only does it have the skyline, a very serene and beautiful vista (the blues of the mountains in the distance contrasting with the deep black of the trees on the resort is honestly breathtaking), some fun off piste between the yamabiko lifts, and some excellent terrain once you get past the horrible flat middle part, it also now has fantastic slackcountry on top of all that. Going into season 6 Nozawa pretty much justified itself as the number one place on my hit list for next year. I know theres better slackcountry rides out there, (feel free to school me on it), and i definitely know there's nothing better than pure hiked backcountry (from one whole hike and a ride that was pure face shot heaven). But right now this is the most enjoyable slack line I've seen and until i find something better its pretty much at the top of the list for next year. Were it not for the fact I'm definitely gonna get nabbed at least once next year from patrol (i wont be able to resist the temptation) and they're definitely gonna take my pass away, I'd be saving up right now for a season pass there. I'm pretty much done. Unless I accidentally end up with a job in Yuzawa or Hokkaido before November, It's Nozawa next year for me.

Naeba, Yuzawa: The Review



Where?: Naeba, Yuzawa, Niigata in Japan.
When?: Feb/march 2012 (usually half days).
Who?: Less than 100 days LIFETIME. Feeling the cold in my bones, and too old for this park nonsense. I likes me some bumpy sketch terrain and still feel a sense of accomplishment 50/50ing a rail.

Ticket Info:http://www.princehot...naeba/ski/lift/Day pass (8-5) is 4500yen, 5000 for the mt Naeba (which lets you hit up kagura as well). The full pass (8am-9pm) is 6500 and if you get there early afternoon they even have a 12pm-9pm pass for 5000yen. Kinda pricey, but almost comparable to some of the bigger name resorts out there. However, I believe the nighta is pretty pico (a couple of the family zone lifts).

Accessibility: From tokyo or Nagano super easy. Take the bullet train from tokyo to Echigo-Yuzawa station, then get the bus out of the backside of the station (i think its East exit - the one furthest from the JR train gates). Then hop on one of the buses there to naeba. Gets SUPER crowded peak times in the peak season though. So if you plan on even getting on that bus I'd get there at least 15 minutes early.

Snow Conditions?: First time (early feb): tracked powder; Second time (late feb): groomered (soft in spots, icy in spots, groomed for the main part); third time(mid march): wet

Resort Facilities?: This is a *resort*. When i use the term here though, im using it in the much more classic sense of a holiday destination tourist trap. It's got EVERYTHING you need, and a 100 other things you didnt know you need but are pretty stoked they're there. This is the kinda place you can bring your S.O. who hates the cold and have them chill out while you go riding and have a fun time. Have a family with kids, but dont want the kids slowing you down?... kids play room ahoy! This place will probably have just enough to keep your bored mates a little less than totally bored. It's not a theme park mind you, i dont remember a bowling alley or a cinema, but because its pretty much built around the prince hotel, theres going to be (likely pricey) pampering all over it.

The Dragondola:


Linking up Kagura and Naeba (and thus allowing you to ride both on the same ticket (the Mt. Naeba - 5000 yen and only a little more expensive than the usual day pass for either resort)), is the Dragondola: the world's (fourth) longest gondola. It takes about 20 minutes to get from Naeba to Tashiro and a fiurther 45 minutes to get to the gondola at Kagura. It is the curse of the gondola that kagura is the wrong way around so you end up at Tashiro rather than the best bit of the mountain at Kagura. Were it the other way around the Mt Naeba would be a no brainer - free access to the piste on naeba and the off piste on kagura in the time it takes you to ride a few lifts! Awesome!

Instead you probably have to plan it out a bit more, and here's why:

Getting from Kagura to the dragondola isn't too bad. From the top of the Kagura High Speed 1 (the good part of the mountain), i dont even recall having to ride another lift. Probably takes you 15-20 minutes tops. But getting back is a different story. You need at least 4 lifts, you have a few flats, and it's going to take you 40 minutes to an hour to get to the top of the kagura high speed 1 from the Dragondola (which means 5 lifts actually). It's not a terrible thing, but just something to factor if time is pressing. Going there and back is going to eat away about 2 hours of your days riding time (not including faffing around and maybe hitting up a run or two on your way), so you likely need to decide a bit in advance if you're going to switch resorts.

Anything else?: Nope. That about covers it. Oh wait... I should start this review with an admission. I haven't ridden the entire mountain. I've hit up parts of the sprawling family area and the two main lines flanking the resort. I have yet to hit up the black runs going down the middle of the mountain to the family area. Apparently the riesen banh is a mogul run and the mens and womens slalom is a decent steep (though i suspect after Feb they get pretty gnarly).

But aside those two runs (and any potential secrets lying outside the ropes) i think ive seen most of what the piste has to offer, so i can have a decent crack of explaining it.

Naeba Explained:

Im going to start by saying Kagura is awesome. Kagura is right now my favorite resort in Japan. But it is lacking something. If you love your slackcountry/backcountry, then kagura is wicked fun. It doesn't get crowded, and also it gets puked on. This easily makes it far and away my number one choice for somewhere to ride in peak season if you're not in Niseko. But it lacks a little something.

What it lacks is rather weirdly, a decent on piste line. Once you realise that the gondola run isn't that entertaining, (and tashiro is kinda filled with fun, but kinda short lines), it suddenly feels a little small. Instead, where it shines is in its access to side and back country lines.

"Thats nice, ipps", you might be thinking, "but this isnt the Kagura review. This is the Naeba review! How about you review the resort you mentioned in the title instead?"

But hear me out, i have a reason: For what Kagura lacks, Naeba makes up for in spades.
It's a decent size, has a great fall line, has some excellent little steeps mixed in and just has some nice long runs in it. It feels a lot more fun to just ride and enjoy it. I'd dare say it is a perfect cruising mountain for weekend trippers were it not for the fact you might think I'm damning it with faint praise. . I reckon its got more than enough going on to keep you happy and entertained at least a few days. The terrain is just really good fun.

The first thing you might notice though are the negatives and i want to get them out of the way before i look at the mountain itself.



The first one will be the people. Naeba gets busy. On a holiday weekend (the first time i ended up there), its bedlam. Naeba is the closest ive seen a Japanese ski resort get to the numbers i routinely saw at Muju. If you can help it, avoid holidays and weekends if you come here.

Annoyance number two might be the sheer number of lifts clunking along for the family section. It really breaks the suspension of disbelief that youre in a winter wonderland when youre seeing all these bodies being mass transited up the hills. Its like a ski factory in a way. It definitely bothered me in a way that has nothing at all to do with the ride, and everything to do with snobbery. I just didn't like the idea of being herded up a mountain by some kind of inhuman mechanized operation. As i said though, that's snobbery and nothing at all to do with the actual ride. It's all about an illusion being shattered rather than some kind of cosmic truth. The bottom area of Naeba feels like a cynical money spinning operation and trying to pile as many people as they can onto those mountains as fast as they can. Again, this is not a statement of reality, its one of the ILLUSION of riding many of us carry. I mention it because it is almost diametrically opposed to the vibe at Kagura (which in turn plays into the illusion of the "authentic" and "serious" ski experience). Its a silly prejudice and something i want to chastise myself for.

You see, for all those lifts, the bottom area is nonetheless routinely filled with queues. Naeba is in demand, and with good reason.

Now that we've got that out of our systems, lets actually look at the mountain:


The main brunt of the mountain is the Family zone dfirectly in front of the main Prince Hotel. On the map its the Sanroku station (which is just the gondola). The whole are is fantastic for beginners since it has a lot of wide open spaces, and a decent green run gradient (not too steep but not so shallow that you'll be fighting speed). You can pick your favorite gradient and ride the lift for it until you're happy. The area is seriously made for beginners to earn their first turns and have a happy time at the resort.
Honestly its hard to say much more about this area. It's huge. Its pretty straightforward, and because its way wide, it never feels so crowded that you feel like youre tripping over everyone else. There are plenty of lifts to choose from and plenty of places to ride. And down at the bottom of it all are a stack of restaurants, lockers, hotels, and shops.

Bisecting the mountain:

Getting the gondola 1 and one of the two pair lifts up to the top you get a much more interesting experience. From here you have two really fun lines you can hit to the bottom with a few decent choices in the interim for a spot of variation.
Firstly, you can follow the little red path down skiers left bringing you back to the top of the gondola. From here its a really fun little cruising green run (with lots of side pow on skiers right and some little walls to hit on skiers left) down to the top of gondola 2. At this point the runs branch off and you get to make yet another fun choice.

Alternatively from the top you can plough down the mogul bahn. Right next to it is an awesome face of fresh pow. (I believe they don't rope it off all the time, but when i was there it was roped off every time.) It brings you out near the top of the green cruising run i just mentioned and onto the top of gondola 2.

Skiers right and skiers left:



Heading down the hill you have 2 real options. Ride the main face of the red run, or follow the winding (undesignated on the trail map above) zig zag path. Beginners usually take the path since the red run is actually rather steep and can be pretty bumpy. This brings you to the main junction and yet another set of choices. The central line are the slalom bahns mentioned in the anything else section. I havent ridden them, but obviously if you want a rip these will be your first choice. There's also the mogul bahn at the riesen Slalom course you could hit up. Alternatively though you could just head skiers right and follow the main red line.

This is a cracking little run with lots of little side hits, it also has loads of variation on what you want to hit up. At any time you can just get off the line and head towards the base area. It's pretty much a straight red run/green run piste course thats good fun to either just cruise, play on some of those side hits, bonk some trees, ride some walls, or even just run the baby park they have half way down it. Whatever you decide, its a great little run and if you can link a turn, youre going to find it a lot of fun. In all, the run (top to bottom), is going to be a good solid nippy line with an unbroken fall line, very little twisty turny semi flats and loads of variation (with little spots you might want to hit up to change it a little each time). It's a solid line where you can just rip past all the beginners side sliding it, or you can just chill out with them and enjoy hitting up some of the natural features. It's got just enough of a kick in it to make it feel feisty, but not so difficult that your advanced beginner mate is going to feel out of their depth (though there are some steep little spots on it...)

Alternatively you can go skiers left at the junction heading towards the dragondola and have a completely different experience. This one is pretty much a natural little half pipe through the trees. Loads of side hits, pretty icy, and you can pick up some decent speed on it. Of all the runs, this was probably my favorite (though all the hits are on the right hand side, so if you're goofy, you'll be working on riding heel side/switch up those walls). This is a cracking little run and once you get through the trees just head right and you'll find yourself back at the base resort (follow the path left for the dragondola).

Ippy goes to Naeba: the Review.



I started this review with a discussion on Kagura. By now, the reason should be pretty clear as to why: Naeba's piste is a stack of fun, and brings to the dual mountain ticket something Kagura struggles to deliver - a long, fun, varied intermediate, unbroken ON PISTE ride (Kagura does deliver awesome side country and backcountry rides though). For beginners there's loads to keep you occupied, and for intermediates and above there are a tonne of awesome decent length lines to play on.

Naeba is a wicked little ride. I should of course qualify this by reminding you that this is Japan, it's not steamboat, the trails arent thousands of miles long, but for Japan its a long run with a tonne of options to hit. There's also loads of little side hits and walls to play with all over the mountain as well as some technically challenging terrain to navigate.

In part, thanks to those nice long runs flanking the main central line of the mountain (both with really good solid intermediate inclines), you have a real change of pace from the piste at Kagura. Naeba has what Kagura lacks. And in turn, Kagura brings to the table the off piste lines and slack country in ridiculous untracked powder with almost no one around to score it. Singularly they both deliver an exceptionally good ride and both are great places to hit up, but together they offer one of the most interesting rides you're possibly going to get on Honshu.

Ultimately when the conditions are good and you want a solid ride through the trees or in the pow, id head to kagura. But when the conditions kinda suck, or you just want something a little more fun to muck about with then get the dragondola over to Naeba. A couple of times i found myself a little tired of riding the lines at Kagura or hating the conditions (this weekend for example), and on both occassions a trip to Naeba really lifted my spirits and cheered me up. Because the terrain at Naeba is great fun, it doesnt really matter what the conditions are. You're going to find you can do what it is you want to do... be that bomb the mountain, muck about with the side hits dotted all over it, enjoy lapping the gondola and getting a nice ride and take in the scenery, or just cruise with your mates winging snowballs at each other.

For me, Kagura delivers something closer to what i want in my mountain. But it is much more reliant on its conditions. Naeba supplements this with a few days of decent riding and change of scenery regardless of the conditions. Im having no problems strongly recommending it as a stand alone resort or as a base for messing about on both mountains for an extensive period of time. Because its the terrain here that's the star, the conditions take a back seat. Naeba gives you options and variation you might just not get were you to stick with Kagura alone.

Naeba is definitely an awesome place in its own right. But in conjunction with Kagura, the two mountains hit another level. For my money, this area is serious competition to both Niseko and Hakuba for your money. Together these mountains (along with the other resorts in the immediate vicinity, as well as the close proximity to Tokyo), provide a package that's pretty hard to beat. These two mountains really are brilliant fun individually, don't get me wrong! Yet, because they offer such a distinct ride from one another, together they far exceed the sum of their parts.

Akakura Kanko 2012 Review

Who: Ippy the 'til. Season 5, fast approaching the 100 day mark in his lifetime of boarding, cant park, but can cruise.
Where: Akakan Myoko, Technically Niigata, but pretty much in with the other nagano resorts to all intents and purposes.
When: Several times over the years, but in this instance March 10/11 2012.
Predominantly rode: Hit up most of the groomers, but spent a great deal of time under the lifts and in the trees (as ever).
Snow conditions: Had a few cms the night before, but was quickly tracked by the time i reached it. Day 2 was predominantly slush/spring conditions.

Resort Info: All lifts still in operation. Peak season, tickets are around 3900 yen. Off peak (i think it starts late march), its around 2000 yen. Prices have come down at all the myoko resorts in the last couple of years. Theres also (as with most Prince resorts), a discount coupon that gets you lunch (up to 1000 yen) and the lift pass for around teh same price as the lift pass. Local hotels also will have even better coupons if i remember right from last year. I also saw a 15,000 yen season pass for the late season (26th March to the end of the season around the start of May). Other years it would start earlier i assume, but the heavy base in january/feb gives them high hopes of getting a decent long season out of it which is obviously good news.

Accessibility: Relatively straightforward. Get the train or bus to nagano train station and pick up the train to Naoetsu. Its about 40 minutes, and costs around 650 yen. You then catch the bus to the resort of your choice (340 yen to akakan). There is a proviso though... the trains run about every hour or so, but the buses dont. If you want to be on the resort before midday and dont want to shell out for a taxi (1700 yen or thereabouts), then you need to catch the 9am bus. The next bus is 11.35.

Alternatively you could pick up the direct bus from nagano station. I haven't used it so cant tell you the time or how long it takes, but its probably going to be around 1200 yen and take around an hour to get there (but it will drop you outside the entrance of the resort, so much less faffing) and likely wont leave until 9am (so you get an extra hour in bed).

Surrounding Area: In the immediate vicinity are the other Myoko resorts: akakura onsen (which actually shares some terrain with akakan, though the companies running the two resorts aren't exactly capable of playing nice and offering a joint ticket (without adding a MASSIVE premium). You also have both ikenotaira and Suginohara. Finally a little further out is seki onsen (routinely the highest humbers for snow year after year in japan), Myoko pine valley, and Madarao.

If you pop back to nagano you are suddenly spoiled for choice: Nozawa Onsen, Shiga Kogen, and Hakuba (several resorts) are all easy to access (id advise bus for all three). There's also the resorts in kita shiga kogen (x-jam, takaifuji, and the gem that is ryuoo). Finally there's loads of other little resorts (like kurohime the stop just before myoko) and sugadaira scattered around the area that you can go play in. Basically you wont get bored if youre basing yourself around the area, and if you have a car you could be here for decades before you fancy a change of scenery.

...Oh, and lets not forget that you could just hightail it to the Yuzawa area (also Niigata) if you're on your way back to Tokyo and fancy a little more time boarding.

Anything Else: One thing... Black Mountain alerted me to a deal on the akakan web page. It requires either a bit of fiddling with google translate or better yet Japanese reading ability, but its awesome value and worth the trouble. Just head to the akakan homepage, then look at the STAY menu. At this point you're on your own, but the gist of it is this: Lift pass, plus accommodation, plus breakfast, plus dinner, plus a drink coupon for around 6000 yen. Ridiculously good value for people on a budget looking to score the best deal. As i say, you're on your own, but make sure you look at the bottom of the page in one of the steps for a little green box. If you don't select anything from there (and its easy to miss), you'll spend a frustrating hour wondering why your order isn't going through.

Akakan: Under the Microscope.

With a decent unbroken fall line as well as a solid gradient, Akakan is going to offer a little something for everyone. Thanks to the constant bickering with akakura onsen, the resort isnt exactly epic by any standards. Its closer to a medium size Japanese resort (possibly even slightly smaller than Hakuba Goryu). A top to bottom run might be about a 20 minute cruise... which isnt exactly terrible considering most of that is straight lining with very little in the way of meandering paths twisting you around the mountain. Horizontally there isn't really much going on. To wit!



Looking at the map you can see a few things. First, it would be a great deal more epic were the two resorts on speaking terms (though akakura onsen as a stand alone ride kinda sucks - but it would get you to the village area a lot easier and would at least give you some more terrain to play in). The second thing is that there are ostensibly three lines... the first one coming down skiers right which is fairly straightforward (red run into a red run into a green run and back to the gondola). The second line which intermediates will probably find most interesting, takes you from the top down to the middle. The final run either involves hitting up the curving black run at the onsen border and cruising down the bottom, or following the line from the top past the gondola and cutting all the way through skiers left to the green run bordering the onsen boundary. You can probably tell this mountain has a lot of diversity for its area, so there really is something for everyone to sink their teeth into.

Akakan for Beginners:

Beginners wont find the lines too intimidating and can easily spend their day just lapping the gondola. Absolute beginners will also find themselves accommodated thanks to the two lifts going up from the base to the midway point on skiers right. The first lift from the base is very much the stuff of a bunny hill. Its a super mellow gradient, just enough to pick up speed, but definitely not too intimidating. As you move up the mountain the pitch increases in a way that feels like it was designed by someone who actually knew what they were doing. It feels very rational. Top to bottom you might think of as akin to an exponential curve in a way.

If that area feels a little crowded, there is also a VERY under used beginners area right next to the onsen area. This area of the mountain has a very gentle slope and a nice path gliding through the trees. I personally feel the gradient might be a little too shallow for beginners to really move on beyond leafing, but it does offer an alternative to the main base station for those who want a bit of privacy to catch their edges.

Akakan for the Intermediate Rider:

Much like Hakuba Goryu/47, Akakan feels a lot like an intermediates mountain. But whereas goryu feels intermediate due to its pitch and the challenge some of its lines hold for speed and control, Akakan offers a slightly different experience.

The big selling point for an intermediate rider isnt really the piste so much (though the piste has some great fun long lines to just muck about on that will give you a nice fresh zippy ride), but rather its the accessible tree riding and some of its lift runs. For someone looking to move into dealing with natural lines and slightly deeper powder, its a great stepping off point to get those first turns in the trees without having to duck a rope or potentially end up off a cliff somewhere. Don't get me wrong, a few of those lines are way dangerous, but that's not really what you're going to be playing on. You'll be playing in the trees that are dotted all over the resort and are in fact part of the designated resort (and course) boundaries. And youll find many of these near the champion B course area (the middle line).

Progressing intermediates though might try and cut their teeth through some of the tree runs up near the top of the mountain. The top lift has some really fun terrain to muck about with, and with well spaced trees, plenty of little open lines, and a nice mellow fall line, they let you push a little deeper into the slack country without too many negative consequences.

Of course, the further in you go, the more you need to pay attention, and there are some seriously sketch areas i wouldn't be comfortable hitting myself (under the lift at champion A looks incredibly dangerous to ride even if conditions are top notch). But for the most part there are plenty of areas that youlll find challenging and fun without feeling you've stepped beyond your comfort threshold (the lift line next to champion B and the trees skiers left of Hotel A course for example are a blast to ride for intermediate riders - though dont stray too far skiers left and cut back in as the course itself curves to the right (otherwise you have a bit of a gnarly steep that you might find a little tough to ride)).

I would caution against the trees around hotel C (the red run at the top). The skiers right side is extremely dangerous and i wouldn't personally touch it, and the trees skiers left can be tough if you drop below the course line (since it forces you into the gully and then out near the lift). This year it was no problem, but i remember last year feeling i was a little out of my depth riding that area. So i would advise you to be reasonably confident in your slackcountry skills before dropping too far in.

In terms of on piste, the best run intermediates are likely going to score is arguably the top down through the middle line. Its long enough to feel like youve got a nice rip on it, and the lifts are nice and quick so you can just enjoy lapping it (and mucking about with some of the trees between the red and black sides). There's also the top to bottom line coming down skiers right that can be a nice long muck around. I would honestly try and stay above the middle line though just because after the huge hotel (the midpoint), the slope really does start to get pretty shallow and is best left to beginners (unless youre just lapping the gondola).

Akakan for Advanced riders:

Obviously, Ive mentioned a lot of the areas you might want to hit up already in the section on progressing intermediates. Theres also an old disused course that used to go to a different part of the top which has long been abandoned (this means if you can be bothered to break out the splitboard and skin up, theres a fresh untouched CUT IN course of fresh lines you can play on). I believe it also allows access to some serious backcountry lines, (though I've never myself gone up there to see).

What i really wanted to talk about though was the on piste advanced runs. They do take up a decent brunt of the mountain, but theres one thing i really need to mention about them: Moguls.

Both the champion B and the hotel A are moguled to hell. The champion B i actually think is a blast to ride. The pitch on it means they stay reasonably soft pack and the lines at the side of the mogul field and in the trees are epic fun to blast on. In addition, the line that takes you from the lift to the steep is a lot of fun with some wild pitches and some seriously mad bobbles that spank the unwary. Its a great little run when conditions aren't too sketch (cutting off the side as a nice way to avoid the mogul field). Its actually my favorite run on the resort and i always try and hit it up a few times. Its also great in a party of burgeoning intermediates to take them along the ninja line that hides the steep, getting them to ride it and then showing them just how steep it was and what they just overcame once they get to the bottom. It gives them a nice kick.

The Hotel A will suck for snowboarders (except those weird ones that really like mogul riding). Theyre well cut, hardpack trenches. Should you find yourself on thsi course, youll likely have a lot more fun just ducking into the trees (mentioned above) on skiers left and zipping through them instead. The course itself is definitely more fun for skiers and should probably be avoided since very little of it remains realtively mogul free (they track the whole thing).

The final line is the champion B course, and honestly... i have no idea what makes this a black run. Its definitely a red run that was accidentally bumped up to a black. Maybe its one of those runs that gets treacherous in icy conditions, but genuinely i didnt see what the big deal was. Maybe its the trees? Either way, its not really that taxing and youll probably find better lines elsewhere.

Ipps in Akakan:

I like akakan. Its a nice resort. The lines are varied, the fall line is solid,a nd the trees are awesome for building up your confidence. It doesnt hurt that its Myoko and so does get a hell of a lot of snow at the end of the day. Chances are if you hit this place in january youll be swimming in pow, and February there's a very decent chance you'll be catching some pow days on it. And like kagura, it can get pretty deep...

What i would say is that after 2 days youve probably seen a lot of what it has available and may feel its time to check out something else if the powder isnt dropping. Its got fun lines, dont get me wrong, but as i mentioned, ostensibly they are really a variation of three lines, none of which really offer much in the bottom half (though the ride to the gondola is alright and gives you a nice cruise to the bottom with a few side hits to play on).

Really where it shines is in its accessibility to baby slack country. There are a lot of rather easy to navigate lines that dont stray too far off the courses and offer nice mellow gradients and decently spaced trees. Patrol dont give you aggro, and in fact will readily inform you about potential hazards if you ask them. I believe they don't like you riding under the lifts, which is fair enough, but you dont see many ropes and those you do indicate a genuine hazard, so kudos to the people running it for letting people take a bit of personal responsibility in their line choices.

All in all its a solid ride. It maybe lacks a little in terms of size since you will find yourself running the same courses over and over again, but there's plenty of variation in each of those runs to certainly carry you through for a couple of days. If i was coming from outside Japan and staying longer than a weekend, i wouldn't base myself around akakan alone since i reckon it would wear thin after a week or so. But i guess the whole myoko area would keep you occupied for a month or so if you felt like it.

In summary, on its own its a solid weekend trip that will give you a great time and plenty of decent lines. And if youre a skier, chances are you might eek out even more fun from it. But as a boarder, its pretty much trees, a few red runs, a very small kicker line (unless theyve squirreled their park away most of the kickers are baby size and they only have a few rails and boxes), in the top half, and a solid cruising line the rest of the way to the bottom.

Definitely worth a weekend trip, and youll have a blast, but longer than that and youll be feeling the urge to head somewhere else.

Mountain 3 Yuzawa Review

Who: Ippy the inutil. Reactionary leader of the spartan Navy attempting to curtail the surge in Athenian power.

When: 405BC

Where: Aegospotami, Turkey

Warship Info: About 150 ships

Accessibility: Defeat a small Athenian supply line in Aegina and Salamis to draw out the Athenians, then quickly move around their main navy and nip to Hellespont where you can set up your base at Abydos before embarking upon a few raids threatening their grain supply and forcing their hand.

Port Facilities: Access to Athens last real supply line from Abydos and the end of the Peloponnesian war is a bloody good reason to come here.

Battle conditions: Calm seas, a nice safe harbor and a bunch of Athenians riding in and out every day just to see if you want to come and play before going home exhausted, tired and hungry.

Anything Else?: Probably best to let them come. For real shanigans you might want to wait until the nighta when theres fewer Athenians around and head out into open seas. Youll be treated by a completely unpatrolled area where you can scuttle the entire fleet and lol at the noobs desperately trying to clip back in before they realise youve already destroyed their ride home.

No really, anything else? Oh all right. I came here on a Sunday, it was a one day recon mission. I made no attempt at all to take in every line, nor did I care about finding secret little stashes. I wanted to just enjoy having a wee ride and not spend my time criticising everything for a change. Basically, three mountains, a stack of connections, and just over 6 hours to do it before i had to get the bus back to echigo to pick up my 4.34 train home. This was never going to be extensive, or objective... or a serious review of the place i'm afraid.

Preamble: Getting here is cake. Pop on the shinkansen from tokyo, land at Gala Yuzawa or Echigo Yuzawa. If you land at Echigo Yuzawa just hop on a shuttle bus (or take a taxi- about 1000yen) to Gala Yuzawa. At Gala Yuzawa station theres a slew of facilities (from rentals to creperies) to get you grounded and ready to hit the slopes. Once you're all done pop up on the gondala and bish bosh! youre at the base station. It's about as easy as it gets.

You can score individual passes for each of the resorts if you like, they do work out cheaper (by about 500-700 yen) of course and all offer a little something unique. Whether they all would be worth riding for a full day is a little questionable, but that's what this short (probably not short) review is about.

The three mountains are Gala Yuzawa, Ishiuchi Maruyama, and Yuzawa Kogen.

[NB. If you do get off at Echigo-Yuzawa and want this ticket by the way, Yuzawa Kogen is about a 7 or 8 minute walk from the station. Its a nice alternative to having to go to gala and then come all the way back on the terrifyingly slow (when youre about to miss your one direct train) shuttlebus].

The price is a perfectly reasonable 4900yen. I will preempt part of the review by categorically stating that you won't see it all in one day. I mean, you might get a reasonable outline, but unless you are literally only hopping lifts and nothing else, you will maybe ride about 60-70% tops. The ticket is therefore decent value. Its not three pokey little resorts that you'll be bored of by the afternoon. You'll instead be trying to decide what you want to leave out, or which runs you need to skip just so you can say you've hit all three mountains up and got your moneys worth on it.

Big Mountain Yuzawa Review:

Section 1: Gala Yuzawa

Once you hop on the gondola (thats right! no ropeway! yay!) up to the main staging area you realise you're in a tourist hotspot. This IS NO BAD THING JAPAN! Sure its gawdy, and sure theres a fair few people, but it's modern, vibrant and full of energy. You have everything you need for a day trip, (from repairs to schools to shops and restaurants) all in easy reach. I don't mind this one bit. I know older heads might feel a little like their japan is being crapped on, but i WANT to see a bit more accommodation of tourists in Japan.

When youre spending hours trying to figure out how to get to x resort using trains and bus timetables that are all in japanese, its a nice and very welcome change to see a resort which not only sets everything out in a superbly accessible way, but also signposts and announces in more than Japanese. Hearing both English and Chinese on the PA system really indicated that this resort was very international friendly. This resort wants to make it as easy as possible to get here, clip in and ride. It goes to great pains to do that and frankly a lot of resorts in Japan could learn a little something from this (though they really should switch the blaring racket of Helloween esque squeeling guitar crud assaulting my ears almost everywhere i went... oh to have remembered my damn ipod!)

So the first piece of advice is this: DONT TREAT IT SERIOUSLY. This is a loud, frenetic, tourist trap. It has everything set up PRECISELY for people popping here for a quick stay. It's the McDonalds of Japanese ski-jos. You cant look at it with the same eyes you might look at something thats genuinely nutritious. Its a nice break from the wholesome stuff though every now and again.

...And that's how i felt clipping in and getting on the first chair. It was kinda relieving to know I was just going to ride this place and not give too much of a crap about how good it is.

And this is where you get hit with your first neat surprise.

The terrain is actually... ... pretty decent!?

The groomers are IMMACULATE, but once you get to the top you're met with a nice little zippy red run. After a few weeks of Kagura I'd almost forgotten what a nice fast red run felt like. Sure it wasn't massively long, but it was a fun gradient to just crack out some of those first turns and warm the legs up. A bit of speed and the blaring racket of the PA system was a long forgotten memory. Gala kicked off with a really good first impression.

I took a few more laps up there and then popped down the mountain on skiers left (into a nice cute green run with ungroomed side areas) and grabbed my breakfast. Sorry blue steel or whatever your name is, but your food is awful. Avoid it.

After id choked down the hotdog and coffee and tried not to bring it back up, i popped back up to the top to find they'd opened the south side.

This area was genuinely superb. The powder was light, fluffy, cut to crap, but it didnt matter. I didnt see one glum face here. Everyone was smiling and having a great time and seemed in sheer disbelief that this even exists in a McSki-jo.

The nice thing is the area doesnt seem to get packed. Not many people venture over this side making it not only the most fun part of the mountain, but also one of the quietest. It makes a great little getaway if you do find the bedlam of the main staging area to be a bit much. Its also top quality fun. The lines arent massive (they never seem to be in Yuzawa to be honest), but the powder was deep, plentiful, and great to just roll around in.

The south area really offers a great contrast to the main Gala zone, making the resort itself a little more interesting than you might have initially thought. This isn't just the stuff of cynical tourism here. After riding this a few times it became very apparent that JR were incredibly shrewd in their purchasing of this place. It's not just the kind of place you ride because it's accessible. It's actually got terrain... and pretty damn decent terrain at that. Its also got snow. Of course, nothing ever feels epic, but it does feel much better than you likely think it will be. Its good quality stuff that you could happily spend a full day here no bother. I'm strongly of the opinion that even were there no shinkansen link and a bunch of day tripper stuff here making everyone comfortable, people would still come here because its actually a good and diverse little mountain.

Odd that im summarizing Gala when ive literally rode 60% of it... well alas that's about all i had the time to ride. I didn't really get to the north area or take a few of the lines down. Instead at this point i figured since i was right next to the connection to Yuzawa Kogen i might as well nip across and see whats up.

Lucky for me the ropeway was just boarding as I made that decision (xx.00; xx.20; and xx.40) so off I went.

Section 2: Yuzawa Kogen:

What a VIEW! You pop out of the ropeway and are immediately hit with mountains as far as the eye can see. Alas my stupid gopro has no real means to draw this out, but its genuinely beautiful to look at. The second thing you might see is a more traditional japanese way of doing things. It felt a little more sedate over in Yuzawa Kogen. The MT,3 pass was suddenly coming into its own. The crowds weren't here, the lifties weren't cracking their best disneyland forced smiles. It was more... normal.

I hopped on the little kiddies lift which took me half way up and then got the chair to the top. You can then either run a black powdery run to the middle (and a red steep to the (sort of) bottom) or a long green path that winds around the side of the resort (and probably has some very beautiful areas - i never rode it), into a nice green bunny run back to the ropeway.

There is a third line that i was ITCHING to ride, but ski patrol evidently spied me clipping in suspiciously close to the rope and stood there until i left. (its basically a drop off skiers right from the black run down into a few trees before plopping out on the aforementioned path).

The runs themselves were alright. Bit short, but they did leave some of the tracks ungroomed which was nice. They werent hugely long, but the lifts were zippy as hell, so no bother.

The resort is kind of pronged however. The area i was in really only leads to the middle of the mountain. There is however a single long red run that brings you down to the base of the yuzawa ropeway (near echigo yuzawa station), and it was the entire reason i was stoked to be there.

Unfortunately i rode it and realised it was too zig zaggy to let rip so it was a bit of a waste of time and energy if i'm honest.

At the very foot of Yuzawa Kogen are a few little bunny slopes that bring you to the ropeway staging area where i realised i had a 15 minute wait for the next bus up. Blast.

So i waited then got on the ropeway, trundled up the hill ready to head back to Gala only to realise that they have the exact same times on the ropeway connecting to Gala... they all leave 00, 20, 40. So you get off one ropeway and are left hanging about for another 15 minutes waiting on the next one. Kinda stupid, but there you go. By the time i got back to the main gala area it was around 1pm and i still hadnt got to eat lunch or see ishiuchi. My mood was darkening.

I popped back to blue steel and gobbed down one of their burgers before flying... into a massive queue for the lift. Dammit! forgot about queues.

10 minutes later and i was away. I rode down the green path on the north side (the swan course) through tonnes of beginners, lost my brain, thought id missed the turning to ishiuchi and went back up the lift again only to be told by the lifty that it was actually where i was and i needed to get the kiddy lift to the top. A little signposting maybe?

Got on the worlds slowest pair lift (though the veracity of this claim has been doubted on the snowjapan forums), to ride a little flat around to ishiuchi.

Section 3: Ishiuchi

Of all the resorts i wanted to hit, this place was at the top. It not only had a brochure for its park, but it also had one called ishiuchi powder land. Clearly this was going to be the best of all three. It looked big, open and had great diversity in its runs. It did lack some length of course, but even the photo of the resort showed that fun was definitely on the cards.

And then i got there.

Nothing but ice, slush and crud. All the tracked out areas had melted and frozen and melted and frozen and become pure evil crud. The gelends were bumpy with some nasty moguls scattered here and there, and all round it was just kinda... dull. There were a few lines you could happily just bomb, and thats nice, but without powder the whole zone just felt really flat. I did try and pop into every side ungroomed part, but immediately rued the mistake when it was yet again top quality crud, and rode back onto the groomers. And the thing is, almost all of the groomers felt the same. The only difference seemed to be just how much leeway the groomers let the skiers mogul it out.

It did have a nice cute baby park though which was nice. It also had a fairly solid looking park with several decent kickers and a few jib features. So that was nice as well. But honestly... if id have paid to ride only here i might have been even more annoyed than i was. I guess its my own fault for hyping it in my head, but the place just completely failed to deliver anything but a few charging ice walls. And i mean honestly, theyre nice when you want a bit of speed, but they arent really long enough to be technically challenging or fun. You get off the lift, you hit the steep, you carve down it, you unclip and get back on the lift.

I dont know. I didnt have long here and maybe it was just because it had been relatively sunny most of the day, but it was seriously poor conditions and it seemed really exposed to the point that this would be much more common than uncommon. If you get here directly after a drop it might be a riot, but if a single ray of sunshine should hit that resort its melt/freeze time.

And heres another thing... aside the park side, a lot of this mountain felt rather skier friendly. I dont know if this is correct of course, but my instinct told me that this place is really an awesome powder zone for SKIERS to learn to ride powder. I wish i could clarify what i mean by this, instead im going to suggest that im right but offer no evidence at all to back the claim up. It just felt like if you were a skier this place might be a lot more fun (and playpark like fun) for you as you learn to start dealing with powder skiing.

For me it was a massive waste of my time. I really regreted that i wasnt lapping the chair at the south side of gala. I really really regretted the decision though when i took a wrong turn back to gala and ended up coming back down into ishiuchi and realising the one connector lift to the central gala zone was heaving with people.

<Snake snake snake snake> then bulleted down the green run to the base station through MILLIONS of other people scattering them like skittles (of course i didnt, but i seriously felt like it).

I made it just in time for the 4pm bus to be told there was no 4pm or 4.05pm bus after all and id have to wait until 4.15. (A bus i should add that was due to arrive at echigo five minutes later, but arrived at 4.31). Do you need to know this? I dunno. It annoyed the shit out me though and in part, i blame this on ishiuchi making me into a mean bad tempered little ass

Conclusion:

There's a few things i learned about this little recon mission.

The first was that Gala Yuzawa is significantly better than i anticipated. Its not the stuff of a serious days boarding, but if you live in or near Tokyo and just wake up one day and feel like pulling a sickie to go for a ride this place is going to give you a great day on the slopes. It might get a bit familiar after a few days so i wouldn't come here for an extensive period of time, but a day trip in the right conditions and you'll have yourself a great day out. Its a cracking little place to be honest.

The second thing i learned is that yuzawa kogen, beautiful as it is, is still rather small. Were that red run a bit more open and a bit more interesting (and not just a zig zag cut into a slope), it might stretch out to a day. Otherwise half day maximum. A yuzawa kogen ticket on its own wont really deliver more than a couple of hours. I was barely there for an hour and i felt id seen enough.

Third, ishiuchi is at the mercy of the elements. I have a feeling that given the right conditions it would be a lot of fun for a day out and might even deliver on its powder land promise. But a bit of exposure to the sun and its game over. It makes the place feel really one dimensional and all the runs feel like mirrors of each other. There seems to be a decent top to bottom run in it, but i didnt have the energy, time, or mood to run it. Pity because it might have cheered me up a bit. It does mean though that unlike the kogen, i am prepared to give ishiuchi another crack at it. It feels very much like i saw it in its worst light when i was in an already foul mood from trying to see it all before the day ended.

Finally, the pass itself is fantastically good value for money and easy has two days worth of terrain to hit. But given that both ishiuchi and gala have enough in themselves to keep you entertained im not entirely sure if you need to shell out on it.

Its nice in that it gives you a reason to go and see yuzawa kogen and enjoy it, but maybe a gala pass that included just the kogen would have been a better way to go. The two resorts feel like they complement each other rather well and the link is after all only a very short ropeway across. Maybe they should just throw in a quad lift, link the resorts up, and just call it all gala yuzawa Ishiuchi feels like it has its own vibe to it and its really the gala/ishiuchi that's selling this pass.

Would i buy it again? It's certainly possible. Maybe if i want to check out ishiuchi but dont want to get stuck there if the conditions are kinda lame. I mean it is only 700 yen at the end of the day here. Its three resorts, and i already know im likely to skip the Kogen next time im there, so maybe that gives me a bit more time to play in the south area of yuzawa and also play in ishiuchi before it turns to crud. Its also pretty decent that i can start and end right next to echigo yuzawa station instead of gala if i want.

All in all, 4900 yen and a pretty decent run out with minimal fuss and annoyance. The connections could be improved slightly regarding timings (gala->kogen->gala) and signposting (gala->ishiuchi->gala), but other than that its a great place to come if you just feel you need to get a sneaky day under your belt. The terrains good fun, theres plenty of diversity, there's plenty of places you can also just chill out and relax at. There's not much i can really say that's all that bad... except maybe you shouldn't try and see it all in one day.

If you're here for a couple of days you might be better spending a day at gala first and then shelling out on day 2 for the three day pass. Other than that its pretty much worth it if only to get a little feel for the place. All in, its a nice little getaway. Pull a sickie, pick up one of the cheap return shink/lift pass weekday deals and hit it up. You'll find its far better than you maybe thought.

(Pics and formatting to follow)