That's good news! I'm up at Mt Racey at the mo. It's turning to snow here too. Windy and unpleasant though, will be calling it a day shortly and hitting the onsen! Hope to get a good amount tonight and tomorrow.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Well, hopefully the dry spell of the last couple of weeks is over. Friday night and Saturday morning a fair amount of rain fell. Up at Mount Racey at Yubari on Saturday, the snow was unsurprisingly very poor. Then at lunchtime the wind changed and the temperature dropped. The rain turned to snow, but the slushy snow got very icy. It was time to call it a day! Photo looking up from the base. Only the lower lifts were running due to the winds higher up.
Saturday night the weather really closed in. We had very strong winds and snow. We also had a fairly stong earthquake, 6.9 over near Obihiro.
We were out at a party. Interestingly, our cellphones all started buzzing with the earthquake warning about 15/20 seconds before the shaking started.
Sunday the snowstorm was still going. Not many lifts were running anywhere, so I decided to head up to an old abandoned ski-jo called Kami-Sunagawadake to hike it. A decent amout of new snow had fallen so the skiing was good. At the top, the old lifties hut looked as if they'd just left it as it was. Old documents, pens, the phone and all the electrics were still there. The calendar on the wall was from the Japanese Heisei year 17 - 2005. There are many old ski areas like these around Hokkaido.
Heading up next to the old lift towers
At the top lift station
Inside the lifties hut with my friend Peter. This is his backyard as he lives just a couple of kilometres from the hill.
Then heading down, the drop from the lift platform was too tempting not to hit!
Peter riding down
Then heading home the wind and snow continued, making for a slow and sketchy drive!
Looks like we're back on track now, with snow in the forecast through this week. Next weekend we should be doing Kamui and Asahidake.
After all it is free
After all it is free
My first day on the snow will be this Friday. Looks like I've timed it well. Phew. That's give me about two days before the CNY insanity really kicks in...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Yep nice timing Ordinary_Skiier! Forecasts are looking nice for the weekend. Especially down south of Sapporo.
We had another 20cm or so last night, and its snowing today, so hopefully the nighta at the local hill will be lots of fun after work.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
BTW, is there a quick and easy way to check and decide which resort to hit each morning based on overnight snowfall?
I'll be basing myself in Hirafu and would like to ski Niseko United, Moiwa, & Kiroro based who gets the best snowfalls.
Niseko United is fairly straight forward as I can check Niseko 360, but I'm having trouble finding updated reports for Kiroro & Moiwa.
Trouble here is that:
- I have no idea how to read weather/meteorology sites to make the call myself, and;
- I'll be relying on the various shuttlebus services to get me between resorts so info needs to posted fairly early.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
You can check the current radar images then watch the precipitation in the last 3 hours, and the prediction for the next hour here:
If you keep an eye on that through the evening and first thing in the morning, it should give you a rough idea of where's looking good.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Good evening up at the local hill. I was snowboarding for a bit of a change. The snow that's been falling all day was light and dry.
Think tomorrow will probably be clear, before dumping again Thursday and Friday.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Noice.
Same here.
Wind forecast for Thursday and Friday though
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Great pics, and thanks for the tip. I can see myself lining my iPhone up against maps every morning and squinting at the screen...
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Ordinary_Skiier, there won't be much difference between what falls at Moiwa and Niseko United as they're basically the same mountain. If you are happy outside the backcountry gates and have a half decent sense of direction, you can ski between the two pretty easily. Definitely worth making the time to go to Moiwa though even if it means foregoing a day in Niseko.
The JMA forecast is a good way to check out what weather Kiroro is getting. It's a less popular place though so you can probably still get tracks the day after a storm without too much difficulty.
Also don't forget Rusutsu. Think you have to pay for the bus but it's an awesome place too. Gets tracked out quite quickly and gets similar weather to Niseko so I found you had to make a decision to forego a powder day in Niseko to get one there.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thought I'd dump this here. Wee video I made of the 27th December to 2nd Jan, mostly in Hirafu.
What a unique place to ski, coming from an Alps/Scottish Highlands veteran. Best New Year ever!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Fergus, nice! Quite a contrast from Scottish skiing!
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
thebongolian, thanks. I'm not confident to venture outside of the gates yet. I'm still transitioning from groomers to powder and tree skiing, which is why I'm planning to hit Moiwa & Kiroro as much as possible. I've always found Niseko United gets tracked out too quickly to get any decent amount of safe practice in.
Moiwa & Kiroro seem pretty forgiving in that regard, and I'm doing a solo trip this time around so can practice as much as I need without needing to babysit absolute beginners.
I was thinking of doing Rusutsu, but will give it a miss on this trip if it tracks out quickly. Might check it out in March if I get to visit again.
Anyhoo, this time in 24hrs I should be landing at CTS. Better get home and pack...
Sweet weekend here. Was undecided whether to head north to Asahikawa, or south to Rusutsu. Friday night we made the call to go north.
Saturday was Kamui. There was probably around 30cm or more of fresh snow overnight. Deep and central Hokkaido dry. Lots of cracks had opened up in places, some of them very deep. But they were well marked by ski patrol and easy to avoid. A few too many people up there for my liking though! Us locals got a bit territorial, grumbling at the tourists. Lots of buses of westerners heading up from Niseko and Furano. All good though, more than enough pow to go around!
Ross under the gondola.
Tree jib
Dropping into the back bowl. Unfortunately, my heelpiece ripped out on landing this. Probably retirement for this particular pair of skis.
A hike out, and a ski down on one ski later....
The next day, after a good night in Asahikawa we headed up to Asahidake. No wind, and alot of dry snow overnight, so conditions were superb. Again, tooooo many people. The wait for the ropeway (especially in the morning) was ridiculous.
But the pow was worth it. Very very deep in the trees, and dryer than an Asahi Superdry.
We've got a national holiday tomorrow (which is one of the reasons for the crowds this weekend) so I've got the day off work. Will be heading to Sapporo Teine to plunder the secret pow stashes that should still be in good shape.
Teine was also good yesterday (Monday). It had snowed through Sunday night, so there were freshies to be had. I didn't take many pictures, as we were lapping the quad chair quickly, getting in as many of the back bowls as we could.
Coming off a ridge into bowl 2
Brian, the brother of a friend, visiting from the US. I reckon he's enjoying himself.
Skiing one of the narrow couloirs under the old ropeway.
We've got a sunny morning today. Not sure what the forecast is like through the week. Will be heading to Rusutsu next weekend.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I hope MagSeven doesn't mind me hijacking his thread. We got here on Sunday, 36 hours of travel hell! Still just hanging out around Niseko getting the lie of the land. I'm deeply confused by this snow that isn't hard ass sastrugi and what on earth are these weird twiggy things. Bit of fresh this morning and snowing on and off all day, great fun and it's really interesting to be skiing on mountains with trees on them.
This is the only thing I've bothered filming so far just out of one of the gates on the Annupuri side:
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
We're here till the 23rd. No fixed plans and will definitely try to head out and about cause there are soooo many people here.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Get yourself to Moiwa tomorrow meh.
Over the head and untracked at 3.50 pm
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Cheers Mike.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Good call, was a race against the sun but we switched aspects through the day and skied some fresh tracks through the day with a really short walk.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I love Moiwa.
Pity we get to catch up meh, I'm already sitting at work back in HK...
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Fun today skiing trees all day.
Ordinary_Skiier, indeedy, maybe another time, will be back at some point for sure.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
It's durrmping tonight. Work is going to be tough tomorrow looking out at the pow. Looking forward to Rusutsu on Saturday though....
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Only got one run in through the trees skiers left of Miharashi before most of the mountain shut down. Super windy, super low vis trees but also amazing. Lots of snow filling in everything so when everything reopened it should be epic.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
meh wrote:
Only got one run in through the trees skiers left of Miharashi before most of the mountain shut down. Super windy, super low vis trees but also amazing. Lots of snow filling in everything so when everything reopened it should be epic.
Sometimes when the gondola shuts hanazono 1 will still be open so it can pay to jump on the bus to ski blueberry and strawberry fields
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Went up to Moiwa and it was excellent, easily one of my best ski days. Lots of snow left as the gate was shut. Most fun was the short shot down skiers left under the quad, the wind has left some fun sized cornices to launch off into the slope and lots of deep snow to ski.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Excellent.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Lurve Moiwa. What soundtrack were they playing? They seem to be particularly fond of James Brown this season, and there's nought wrong with that...
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Another amazing weekend! Saturday was Rusutsu. The wind was alot calmer there than elsewhere, and we even got some sunshine for a while. Alot of fresh snow, more or less bottomless, so lots of big drops and face shots. It got a bit tracked out after lunch, but we weren't complaining!
Mrs MagSeven with the GoPro
Driving home through Sapporo last night, it was dumping, and by all reports it had been all day. It was a no-brainer that we'd be hitting Teine today. It was the best day I've had up there for a long time. Deep deep pow, faceshots every run. A bit busy, but we were still finding fresh lines until the lift closed.
My mate Peter, nice pow turns
Launching off a pillow overlooking the bay
Dropping
Landing
Submarining
Surfacing
This was the last run of the day. Still freshies to be had. What a day.
Forecast looks great this week. Snow more or less everyday. Next weekend we're heading over to the Tokachi (South Central Hokkaido) region and will be hitting Sahoro and Tomamu. It'll be a first time for both, so looking forward to checking out some new spots.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
