Japan 2010

[dmc]

GEtting the Kashmir crew together for another stupid ski trip...
This time to Japan... Looking into Sapporo and Nagano...

Lots of skiing there...

Probably going early Feb when the snow is really good...

Firem at 11...

 

[severine]

Have you read Skiing Zen? It's about the author's experience ski bumming in Japan.

 

[dmc]

Have you read Skiing Zen? It's about the author's experience ski bumming in Japan.

Thanks for the heads up... Ordered it...

 

[Puck it]

GEtting the Kashmir crew together for another stupid ski trip...
This time to Japan... Looking into Sapporo and Nagano...

Lots of skiing there...

Probably going early Feb when the snow is really good...

Firem at 11...

Nagano does not compare to Sapporo for snow quality. Snow is also more consistent up north.

 

[dmc]

Nagano does not compare to Sapporo for snow quality. Snow is also more consistent up north.

Whats your source?

 

[Puck it]

Whats your source?

I work with the Japenese a lot and talk to the ones about skiing there quite a bit. I have trips to Japan and always ask where they recommend and the overwhelming response is North is much better. Snow is more consistent and terrain more varied.

 

[dmc]

My friends in Japan say Nagano is a blast and a quick bullet train ride from Tokyo - we will have women in tow that like a good ski town... So we'll do a couple days there and head up to Saporro for the remainder of the trip. Where it will be more remote..

 

[skiadikt]

there's niseko place in hokkaido. place looks huge.

http://www.nisekoski.com.au/info/trailMap.jpg

 

[dmc]

there's niseko place in hokkaido. place looks huge.

http://www.nisekoski.com.au/info/trailMap.jpg

it's on the list for sure...

 

[Puck it]

My friends in Japan say Nagano is a blast and a quick bullet train ride from Tokyo - we will have women in tow that like a good ski town... So we'll do a couple days there and head up to Saporro for the remainder of the trip. Where it will be more remote..

It is a shorter trip, but if you fly all that way, you will say for what. That is what they tell. So spend more time up North.

 

[dmc]

It is a shorter trip, but if you fly all that way, you will say for what. That is what they tell. So spend more time up North.

whatever.. I'm not going to take your advice so your wasting your breath...

If I say red - you say blue... thats just the way you treat me.. So.. I could care less what you have to say..

 

[hiroto]

Whats your source?

I second Puck. I haven't skied in Hokkaido area myself but I have a couple skiing friends who grew up there. According to them, thing different in Hokkaido comparing to around here is that it stays consistently cold once they are in the winter.

Also it is cheaper to ski in Japan than around here, even with the current low dollar. Like Niseko mentioned here, is top notch resort better than any in New England, but still, their day rate is at 5500 yen which converts to $61 now. Also they have 8 hours ticket for about $55, and their multi-day tickets discounts more generously than around here. Niseko is interconnected multi mountain resort (like Sugarbush) so there are lower rates if you stick to one area at a time.

 

[severine]

Hokkaido is, IIRC, where Rick ends up in Skiing Zen working for the man who skied Mt. Everest.

 

[hiroto]

Oh, btw, I have to mention that it is pain to go straight to Hokkaido from US, because of the poor connection from international flight to domestic (you need to make two hours train ride to go to other airport), which also my Hokkaido friends complain about all the time.

 

[dmc]

Thank you Hiroto.

I'm definitely headed to Hokkaido.. It seems like my kind of terrain... Already have a possible guide setup for some BC around Niseko.

But I also want to experience another place - with more glamor and stuff... Taking the bullet train from Tokyo to Nagano sounds like fun... maybe stay for a day or two then head up to Hokkaido.
It should make some of the crew happy before we go remote....

Kind of like last trip - 2 days in Dubai in the middle of everything... then 6 in Kashmir in the middle of nowhere..