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  1. #426
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    1,435
    Headed over Tuesday until the 24th. Hoping for good things. Cant be worse then at home. We have nothing and nothing forecasted.

  2. #427
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hokkaido
    Posts
    1,301
    I was skiing the trees at Kokusai two weeks ago. It was thin then but I felt like with a couple more good snowfalls the sasa and other bushes would be mostly covered and things would start opening up. A friend went there yesterday and said we still need snow. I've been seeing videos of people skiing Kiroro backcountry and Niseko backcountry and some of it looks pretty fucking good. The depth seems like it's not that great... 140 cm at Kokusai and 170 at Kiroro. More than a lot of Colorado has right now and they are supposedly doing very well while we are complaining about low snow.

    My frustration since moving back here last year is with the lack of decent forecasting. We know it's going to snow somewhere sometimes but where and how much seems beyond the pale. I use Windydotcom and while it references both the ECMWF and GFS models and their respective forecasts vary quite a bit, both are pretty poor at forecasting snowfall here. If there is a trend they dramatically underforecast what falls but also at times they say some snow and nothing falls. What I get from it is visibility into the expected wind direction, and as we know, the northwest wind is usually the main factor we can look to to know when it's going to snow. But it seems to me that we get very little northwest wind over the last two seasons and most of our snow comes on a west wind, which carries less moisture and is warmer. It's not like Colorado, where we can see a storm coming for several days. Here it's not storm systems as much as it is sustained winds from the northwest that pick up moisture over the Japan Sea and dump it when it reaches the land. And all the forecasts I have looked at plainly suck at predicting snowfall amounts.

    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

  3. #428
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Innsbruck, Austria
    Posts
    561
    I know it's not Hokkaido, but as this seems to be the general japow thread this season... Any have an idea how northern Honshu (Akita/Tohoku area) is looking these days?

  4. #429
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    SEA>DEN>Spokanistan
    Posts
    2,965
    Quote Originally Posted by ClarkleberryFinn View Post
    I know it's not Hokkaido, but as this seems to be the general japow thread this season... Any have an idea how northern Honshu (Akita/Tohoku area) is looking these days?
    Seems geto kogen got some decent snow over the last 3 days and is forecasted for more. Base appears to be shaping up well.

    Will be there end Jan/early feb with Japan Ski Tours.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  5. #430
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Innsbruck, Austria
    Posts
    561
    ^^ Thanks! Had an epic few days in Tazawako a few years back. Planning another Japan trip for mid Feb or so and trying to decide where...

  6. #431
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    5,351
    Despite little to no snow forecast, it snowed about 20cm in Niseko yesterday and more today. Unfortunately, high winds also came in and really hammered NW slopes. We skied some sheltered slopes in the trees on lee aspects which was pretty good although the wind was even starting to reach down there.

    The skiing has been good overall for the last four days and a bunch of snow has stacked up. However, with much brush and bamboo still uncovered and no significant snow forecast for the next week, it’s not the best outlook.

    Has anyone skied in the Furano/Daisetsuzan area in the last couple of days? How has it faired after this storm and how is the coverage?

  7. #432
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hokkaido
    Posts
    1,301
    I have been down with a bad neck and not been out for a week. But there was dust today on satellite imagery in a plume coming out of Daisetsu clouds heading SE toward the Pacific. I don't know if any fell on the mountains but it was blowing on the ground around Obihiro. Did you see any in Niseko area?

    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

  8. #433
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    5,351
    Dust as in dirt or ash? No we didn’t see any in Niseko. Is that likely some volcanic activity from the mountains there?

  9. #434
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Montucky
    Posts
    2,004
    Low tide conditions at Niseko United continue. Slightly disheartening to see big, shiny mogul fields on the runs here.

    Rusutsu was skiing great last week, but I haven’t been in 5 days, so can’t comment.

    In other news, the Niseko backcountry is skiing better, but temps have been hovering around freezing or just below, so the daily warmups and infrequent sunny periods have been creating lots of melt/freeze crusts.

    The wind has also been against us, creating huge scoured zones on the north aspects I’m interested in skiing in warm conditions like this.

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    Pics are from a few tours in the area, and are really gorgeous despite the low snow.

  10. #435
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hokkaido
    Posts
    1,301
    Quote Originally Posted by Dromond View Post
    Dust as in dirt or ash? No we didn’t see any in Niseko. Is that likely some volcanic activity from the mountains there?
    Gobi Desert sand dust. Common enoigh in spring but never seen it in January. I still don't know how much fell on the snowpack.

    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

  11. #436
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Between a rock and a soft place. Aberdare and The Brecon Beacons, Wales
    Posts
    3,208
    Started my winter on 01 January

    01 January @ Kiroro - knee deep
    02 January @ Kiroro - over the head. as good as it gets snow-wise, but not a lot of terrain

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B66dxHzFBcT/

    03 January @ Kiroro - boot top powder, wind had compacted it
    04 January @ Niseko Moiwa - boot top powder under bluebird skies

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B69DiX3FkK3/

    05 January @ Rusutsu - boot top powder under bluebird skies
    06 January @ Rusutsu - boot top powder under bluebird skies
    07 January @ Rusutsu - knee deep powder under bluebird skies
    08 January @ Rusutsu - soft crud, cloudy, snowed about 5cm this afternooon. Snowing when we left

    Rusutsu has the most terrain and best conditions in Shiribeshi at the moment IMHO

    Snowing lightly in Niseko at 4.10 pm

    I use snow-forecast.com

    Normally spot on with freezing level, wind direction & wind speed

    Consistently under-forecasts snowfall amounts.

  12. #437
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Truckee & Nor Cal
    Posts
    15,621
    For me, the biggest surprise with skiing in Japan, as others have mentioned above, was just how unreliable / inaccurate the weather forecasts are. I'd heard the rumors but figured they were somewhat exaggerated. They were not. Our deepest day there was at Sapporo Teine and it was maybe 2 - 3 feet of snow overnight... which was just a bit more than the 1-3 inches in the forecast. Other days we thought we were going to get skunked and then it would just snow several inches seemingly out of nowhere. Pretty crazy.

  13. #438
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    212
    I'm heading to Hakuba on the 15th to the 23rd. I'm splitboarding with Good Guides on the 19th. The forecast says 18" in the next 10 days, while Tahoe now says 47" in the next 10 days. Hopefully some magic happens and it dumps.

  14. #439
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    SEA>DEN>Spokanistan
    Posts
    2,965

    Hokkaido Japan; Central Hokkaido or Niseko

    Quote Originally Posted by deciblast View Post
    I'm heading to Hakuba on the 15th to the 23rd. I'm splitboarding with Good Guides on the 19th. The forecast says 18" in the next 10 days, while Tahoe now says 47" in the next 10 days. Hopefully some magic happens and it dumps.
    Feel like Tahoe may be lacking in Japanese cuisine and a cultural experience but I could be wrong here.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  15. #440
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Norcal
    Posts
    2,190
    Quote Originally Posted by TahoeJ View Post
    For me, the biggest surprise with skiing in Japan, as others have mentioned above, was just how unreliable / inaccurate the weather forecasts are.
    At least there entertaining

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  16. #441
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    51
    Any estimates on an all in cost for skiing jpow for a week? Coming from East coast

    Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

  17. #442
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hokkaido
    Posts
    1,301
    Lift tickets are in the $40-50 range with cheaper options if you buy points tickets use them to access sidecountry.
    Lodging is a huge range but you can find hostels for less than $50 a night.
    You can eat at convenience stores pretty cheap if you want or you can spend as much as hundreds on good Japanese food.
    ground transportation by bus is easy because your gear goes underneath. Figure around $100 to get from Chitose to anyplace in Hokkaido.
    It's possible to dirtbag it pretty cheap but you end up totally missing the cultural experience, I'll leave the air tickets to your own devices.

    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

  18. #443
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    51
    Thanks. Sounds like the major expense is the flight. Got a few bucks to throw around once I'm there to enjoy my time. Going to investigate...

  19. #444
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Montucky
    Posts
    2,004
    Quote Originally Posted by skimonger View Post
    Thanks. Sounds like the major expense is the flight. Got a few bucks to throw around once I'm there to enjoy my time. Going to investigate...
    I’d investigate pretty well, as we are currently sitting with below average snow and hard pack conditions all around Hokkaido.

  20. #445
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    1,435
    Ya, I would stay away this year.

  21. #446
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    51
    Quote Originally Posted by beer30 View Post
    Ya, I would stay away this year.
    Good looks

  22. #447
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Hokkaido Japan, or Hotham Australia
    Posts
    165
    Quote Originally Posted by SUPERIOR View Post
    I’d investigate pretty well, as we are currently sitting with below average snow and hard pack conditions all around Hokkaido.
    it can change in a matter of days, but yeah i reckon this is the worst ive seen it here in 15 years.

  23. #448
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    260
    Heading to Kiroro area Thursday. Wanted to see if anyone knows where I can get a BCA Float 2 cylinder rental? BCA said Japan has Float 1 and 2 cylinders but just found out Kiroro only has the Float 1 for rent. I’ll have an extra day or so in Sapporo on the front end so something in that area could work as well. Thanks!

  24. #449
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bottom feeding
    Posts
    10,828
    Got friends in Furano now and their pics make it seem like it's deeeeep. Also, before I visit next season, is it against Japanese law to ski the fall line?
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    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  25. #450
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Hokkaido
    Posts
    1,301
    OG locals in Niseko are saying they've never seen this little snow in 50 years. But... the amount of snow there is on the ground would make people happy in a lot of other regions. If we only had this kind of snow every year I would still be skiing it. With no new snow in 6 days and mild temperatures, inbounds is rough. This was yesterday in Niseko backcountry. In the lower trees it was better where there wasn't too much bamboo to get around.
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    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

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