Japan 23/24 Season

[gaijin]

Shiso Lemon.

Awesome pics, too.

[Dromond]

Tokachidake parking in 2020 was the most crowded backcountry parking lots I have ever seen. Totally slammed with people on many of the days with hundreds of cars. We still got good skiing though. Those photos look great.

[subtle plague]

Interesting. We got to tokachidake and got a parking and even a room in 2016 without reeservation. But next day was a full on death storm. So there's that.

[gaijin]

Yesterday and today were 14*C. WTF? The forecast is warm for a week. Rain. This year's February feels like April.

This is traditionally my coldest month of the year. I feel out of my element. Lost.

I'm usually outside right now, shoveling, taking brisk walks, splitting firewood with cold fingers.

I was contemplating taking the tarp off my grill and smoking food today.

This winter is fucked. And it's creepy.

[Mike Pow]

Yesterday and today were 14*C. WTF? The forecast is warm for a week. Rain. This year's February feels like April.

This is traditionally my coldest month of the year. I feel out of my element. Lost.

I'm usually outside right now, shoveling, taking brisk walks, splitting firewood with cold fingers.

I was contemplating taking the tarp off my grill and smoking food today.

This winter is fucked. And it's creepy.

Same up here but feels more like March.

7 C yesterday.

Roads are clear which makes for easy driving.

Storm rolling through today and tomorrow.

Rain early next week, and then it's cold & snowy.

[gaijin]

Just a glimpse, or a throw-back, of what early February is supposed to look like around northern Tohoku.

[bennymac]

Oh man that looks like fun. Hope winter comes back for you.

[muted reborn]

we had a great 2 weeks bouncing around hokkaido, onsen every day, excellent food, and great skiing



favorite chips




hit a couple of onsens in the wild




the tokachidake good time crossing


the skiing there was fun, but the crowding was a bit of a shit show with large groups making skin tracks in the middle of runs, etc., and parking was a complete mess

I missed out on the Onsens in the Wild - looks great! As for those chips, if I ate anything like that (and I did a lot) I'd wish I had gum afterwards to clear the funk out of my mouth.

We found the shitshow where you did as well too, we were wondering how quiet Hokkaido would have been if there were no guides to chaperone people around. Everyone we talked to had guides.

Some tourist shit when not skiing:















And gajin, I found a decoder of the hot junk:



So much fish paste....

[gaijin]

So much fish paste....

... results in an amazing broth and flavor throughout all the tofu products. I admit, it's "fish lips and assholes" but still healthier (pure conjecture) than hotdogs.

Okay, maybe it just feels healthier. But I legit love everything coming out of that stewing pot. The konnyaku is the biggest stretch for me. Even though it's technically a starch from underground "vegetable" I find it fairly unnatural in its consumable state. Like hard, fake jelly with zero flavor.

But the eggs, the fish paste items, the tofu items, all get my love... especially with some cayenne pepper shaken on top.

[CascadeCrudSkier]

We toured above Happo for 2 days, above Tsugaike for 2 days, above Norikura for 2 days (up as high as the weather station), and one day on the ridge between Happo and Iwatake.

The deepest day we had was day 2 off the double chair of Norikura. It sucked becaused we skinned up under that chair thinking it wasn’t going to open - then it did and the hordes descended on top of us. But our first two runs were all time in knee deep snow on a perfectly angled pitches of wide spaced trees.

The most enjoyable day was our last one on the ridge between Happo and Iwatake. A pleasing long skin up through beautiful trees and then amazing views and wide open slopes of boot-top to knee deep turns. And no one else around.

That double just opened last year; it's wildly unpredictable on when they decide to open it but it's worth the gamble. Unfortunately much of the good terrain gets sun so on deep days they usually don't run it due to slide danger and then it's a narrow window before the sun gets it when it clears. However, when it's on it's so good and the sheer size of the area it opens up means that even if the sun is out there's plenty of good stuff to find.

[CascadeCrudSkier]

Looking for advice; next week going to Hokkaido until the end of the month. Have a rental car and solid touring partner. The freezing level goes up to 2300m (本当?!?!) on Monday night with rain so nothing will escape that front. Snow follows but not much; a few inches a day the rest of the week. The weather clears the following weekend if the forecast holds. The last week of the month looks decent.

Leaning towards Kurodake for the weekend when the weather clears but at a bit of a loss for finding something high enough to get some snow but that's still below the treeline if the visibility is poor. Furano isn't expecting much, light snow and about 4-5cm a day. The Rusutsu / Niseko area is expecting more rain on Monday and less snow the rest of the week than Furano. Maybe trek up to Nayoro Piyashiri on Wednesday and Thursday? The likelihood of dust on crust still seems high.

It was 20 degrees C yesterday in Tokyo, what a strange winter.

[gaijin]

*****

[bennymac]

That double just opened last year; it's wildly unpredictable on when they decide to open it but it's worth the gamble. Unfortunately much of the good terrain gets sun so on deep days they usually don't run it due to slide danger and then it's a narrow window before the sun gets it when it clears. However, when it's on it's so good and the sheer size of the area it opens up means that even if the sun is out there's plenty of good stuff to find.

Yeah to be clear when I said it “sucked” I mean in a relative sense Woulda loved to spend all day hitting the northeast facing side without the go-go pressure of everyone else around. We managed 4 runs there and 2 off the other aspect. Was a great day regardless! Those first two runs were very memorable.

[boltonoutlaw]

Looking for advice; next week going to Hokkaido until the end of the month. Have a rental car and solid touring partner. The freezing level goes up to 2300m (本当?!?!) on Monday night with rain so nothing will escape that front. Snow follows but not much; a few inches a day the rest of the week. The weather clears the following weekend if the forecast holds. The last week of the month looks decent.

Leaning towards Kurodake for the weekend when the weather clears but at a bit of a loss for finding something high enough to get some snow but that's still below the treeline if the visibility is poor. Furano isn't expecting much, light snow and about 4-5cm a day. The Rusutsu / Niseko area is expecting more rain on Monday and less snow the rest of the week than Furano. Maybe trek up to Nayoro Piyashiri on Wednesday and Thursday? The likelihood of dust on crust still seems high.

It was 20 degrees C yesterday in Tokyo, what a strange winter.

If you want to speak to someone pointedly about Kurodake I'd suggest contacting Gerard at Yukiumi House on IG. He knows his way around there very well, and lives in Kamikawa so may have current conditions info


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[Dromond]

Interesting. We got to tokachidake and got a parking and even a room in 2016 without reeservation. But next day was a full on death storm. So there's that.

That sounds closer to our 2014 experience when we saw just a handful of other skiers.

[gaijin]

Just a reminder to all people who are powder hungry-- this is the recipe that kills. Not to be a downer, but keep it real the next two weeks.

You just had a dry spell, and warm temps, changing the snowpack. This dry spell has also driven you insane, making you tourists feel like you're not getting your investment's return.

It's gonna warm up again this week, then it might rain where you're at. Then it'll change to snow. And it might nuke where you're at. It's forecasted to drop a good knee-deep layer here.

And then the flocking begins. People race for what they perceive as their last chance at pow. They chase new snow on an ice layer.

Just sayin'. I see it every year.

The last thing you should be doing with the upcoming snow is skin anywhere. All of next week's snow is gonna move. With that temperature drop, nothing will be bonding anywhere. And all of it is going to be so beautifully calling our names.

[SUPERIOR]

^^ well said. I too am seeing this very closely, and every day.


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[BFD]

this is what brought the rapid ruin to Tokachidake
https://www.powder.com/stories/hadaka-no-tsukiai

[Mike Pow]

this is what brought the rapid ruin to Tokachidake
https://www.powder.com/stories/hadaka-no-tsukiai

That was a great trip

[Dromond]

this is what brought the rapid ruin to Tokachidake
https://www.powder.com/stories/hadaka-no-tsukiai

I think I learned about it from trip reports on here. Maybe including yours? Either way, I would never blame anyone for wanting to go. It’s a unique and beautiful place that I liked enough to return to.

[Mike Pow]

I think I learned about it from trip reports on here. Maybe including yours? Either way, I would never blame anyone for wanting to go. It’s a unique and beautiful place that I liked enough to return to.

And depending when you go can still have to yourselves

[boltonoutlaw]

Rain to snow 0900 JST Kutchan


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[Mike Pow]

Got very warm Saturday, Sunday and Monday, +10C at the base.

Absolutely pissed down Monday night into Tuesday morning.

Then turned to light snow which has turned into 1cm/hr dry, fluffy powder this morning (Wednesday 21st Feb).

The rest of the month looks cold and snowy

[gaijin]

Nuking in Tohoku right now through tonight. It came in as rain before it changed to snow but I'd still be weary of secure bonding. I just had lunch in my car and watched the 3cm slide down the windshield and fold itself neatly over itself... like a wet towel on the bathroom floor. I'll be sitting this storm out. Should make for nice gelende skiing with the kids, though, on Friday.

[gramboh]

Just finished reading through the thread start to finish. I'm planning a trip to Japan for January 9-20, 2025 (dates are fixed due to work/family commitments) with a couple buddies, likely a group of 3 possibly 4. One of them has been to Hokkaido once a few years ago, based out of Kiroro with some touring mixed in. We will be doing a mix of resort/sidecountry and touring (guided) and have been debating Hakuba vs. Hokkaido. I realize this season is an outlier but it seems like Hakuba has been hurting for snow outside of a solid system or two with Hokkaido fairing better. I was initially leaning toward Hokkaido because the primary objective is the highest chance of skiing deep pow. We live in Vancouver and ski Whistler/Sea to Sky as our home turf so we are not going to Japan to try to get onto bigger terrain as we have that here.

The reason Hakuba came up is a guide that we have skied with before and really gelled with runs programs out of there. In addition, WhiteCap runs trips out of Hakuba and we have all toured with them out of their McGillivary pass lodge here in BC. From talking to the guide as well as others that have gone with Hakuba, they strongly rate the terrain there. Not just bigger alpine lines, but say that generally it is steeper/longer and less benched than Hokkaido. They also say that in a normal year they get enough snow for it not to really matter.

I think we will have fun no matter what we do, but given primary objective is pow vs. terrain, and we are mid-January, it seems like Hokkaido is the call?