get up to terakoya in Shiga kogen, Ichinose Diamond is a good area to play in as well

Hey Jishipi, I saw a cool photo you took of me the other week, the 360 degree one of the railjam, I was the skier on the box (the blue and yellow blur) as you took it. It's a wicked idea, never seen a photo like that before.
Herbies Rail Jam Jan 29th 2010 in Hokkaido

Great pics.

Keep 'em coming

Last day on Monday and it was a hoot, the snow started falling as we were eating our breakfast and didn't stop till about 6pm tonight. We were able to find fresh lines all day and as the snow keep falling the better it got. Climb the peak as soon as the gates opened and got a run out thru Gate 3 and although the visibility was poor there was some good snow to be had. A few more runs thru Gate 5 and we headed over to Niseko Village and by the time we arrived there was a nice 5 - 10 cm on yesterday crust and very few people. Pick of the runs would be Superstition and the tree runs between Misoshiru and Unforgettable. Next stop Annapuri and again a nice cover of snow and no people. Hit the trees on the side of Silver/Paradise etc for while and then the fukayuki - Rinkan area under the gondola before having a late lunch. A few more runs and it was time to catch the last lift to get back to Hirifu.
Getting back to Hirafu it looked \as if they had had some decent snow as again there were opportunities to go deep in the trees on the side of Miharashi and pick plenty of new lines.

There may off only been 10 odd cm metres or so but it looked as if there was much more. At the end of the day we were really surprised with what a great day we had and especially in the afternoon we were getting mid boot deep freshies.

This trip has been my best so far with over 2.1 mtrs of snow falling over the 10 days we were here.

We had blue bird days, a big dump of over 40 cm, freshies for 9 of the 10 days,visit ed two new spots (Rusutsu & Mowia), \boarded in snow that was really two deep(never thought i would say that), found some new and great restaurants (RIN in Hirafu and The Red Lantern in Kutchan) and shared a lodge with 8 US F15 Jet fighter pilots (pretty wild boys but great people to have met).

All in all it has been a week of memories & experiences that I wont forget for a long time

Hey Jimmer

Thanks for posting that pano bit of a mission freezing skiers/boarders hitting the rail but cool to see it on this site ( THANKS SNOWJAPAN )
Down south in Shiga Kogen right now and hoping for some snow as the conditions were pretty awful today on the mountain... warm, zero vis and spring like snow.

Tubby looks like there are some great spots to shoot and cheers for the recommendations - i am going to have to get the ski's on to get into some of the Ski only sections...my skiing friends forgot to tell me about that !
Camera back pack and steep runs will be a struggle for a knuckle dragging snowboarder like me on skis !

Nice photos mate.

They look more like sugi than pines though. Not really old growth either. Just post-war. They grow fast and straight (the name comes from "massugu").

If you want to see old-growth version of the same tree, go to Okusha at Togakushi.

Woah right ! Thanks for that Mr Wiggles.
Got it - old growth - yeah didn't check my facts on that one.
Sugi pines it is.
Would love to check out Okusha some day..

Beard + face shots = snow beard


Why hello Mr. Fox! Saw this guy in the G7 gate area of Annupuri.

Ha Ha Nice growth !

Here's the difference 2 months of snowfall does to Kutchan. Taken from my bedroom window.

07 Dec


07 Feb

Good snow beard Santa.... more!!!

Damn that is alot of snow - blow some south will ya !

Yes please!

Taking measurements from Niseko Now, as of 12 February 2010 Hirafu is up to 12.1m of snowfall at village level so far this season.

And the February snowfall is already up to 1.7m

Happy Snow dance

Got to Hirafu about 5pm last night and it was light snow, but the flakes were BIG!! Had a few beers and retired for the night to get 1st lifts ('well pretty close). Woke up and it was snowing harder, got onto the mountain and stone me but it was knee to thigh deep of the lightest powder I have ever seen. No major waits for lifts, even the chopped up powder was light, fluffy and easily rideable!!
So cutting through all the hype of Niseko........people who say its all that......are absolutely correct!!! roll on tomorrow!!

It's just all marketing hype mate, don't get carried away with it!

The slush yesterday and skating today was fairly good in Hakuba.

yeah, now I'm peddling that hype!!