As some on here my know I've spent the last 2 winters guiding in a Cat skiing operation near Neaba, Niigata Japan.
When I say guiding, I mean I turned up expecting to work along side other guides in an existing operation.
BUT when I arrived I was presented with this (instructions not included)
Which in the first season, I taught myself to drive an maintain the beast, surveyed the ski area that hadn't turned a lift in a decade and ended up with this
I think we had 10 days worth of customers the first season. Starting from Scratch I think the boss was happy.
In the autumn I returned gave the cat an overhaul, built a new cabin, better seats, heating etc.
Season 2
The cat skiing area is an abandoned side area of Naeba, about 2 hours out of Tokyo.
We are 4km up an old access road, that keeps us very very quiet (less than 10 ski rando per year). While not as light as Hokkido we do get a lot of snow - last year was officially low tide, we got 12m in 2 months!
Wow Idris, what an adventure! The best week's skiing of my >30 seasons was in BC with a similar home-grown single-cat operation (which is sadly no more). I skied at Echigo Yuzawa in 1989, and have great memories of that trip too (and how easy it was to do from Tokyo). Good luck, I'd love to make it out there sooner or later, in the meantime anyone tempted by this would have an amazing experience I'm sure!
I will then begin regaling you tails of mud, oil changes and the general detritus of actually setting a cat op
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.
Might be heading down your way with Ian. Will be in touch.
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'm very jealous! really must amend our Japan itinerary now! if you could put up with a million technical questions about your toy and roughly 7 million "can i have a go's"
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Aftermaths wrote:
I'm very jealous! really must amend our Japan itinerary now! if you could put up with a million technical questions about your toy and roughly 7 million "can i have a go's"
Happy to answer the tech questions. And if you come skiing with us, Yes you can have a go.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@Idris, hope this year go well , as I am out in Tokyo in jan 2020 and would definitely be up for a day with you guys
keep the jan pow stoke flowing
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Dabber wrote:
@Idris, hope this year go well , as I am out in Tokyo in jan 2020 and would definitely be up for a day with you guys
keep the jan pow stoke flowing
Hope to see ya there...only 13 months away
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Finally got back to the Cat
It had been sleeping since March
A few hours work later
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?
A couple of days ago I got the cat up to the top of the area.
We've had some snow since, and I didn't catch all of the area (I'm still learning the drone thing). But you will get the idea
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
