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10-27-2018, 01:31 PM #1
Cat skiing in Central Japan, or what I've been up to the last 2 winters
(Have a look at www.alpinehike.com if you are interested)
Mid summer 2016 I get a message from a long time friend in Japan - Hey wanna guide some Japanese Powder next winter? I was coming off 3 winters of drought here in Cham (and unknown to me heading into 4th) . So of course " Yeah why not".
Many months of paperwork later, I arrive in Japan. I thought I was going to guide in an existing operation, There was a cat an abandoned ski area up an access road from the main ski area, Naeba which is one of Japans largest (it's connected to Kagura by the longest gondola in Japan) ya de ya.
I arrive and after a few days of messing about I am the head guide, mechanic, planner etc. I get given the keys to this
One of my first jobs is to go pickup the snowmobile that someone has bought, here's how we picked it up.
And here is how I got it to the hill
Fun sled, but bloody useless as a patrol sled.
When we finally had permission from the various authorities I drove the cat (figuring out how to drive the thing was an adventure) up the access road to the ski area.
Thing was as I was driving up my boss (Who runs a couple of ski schools among other things) told me this was the first time anyone had ever driven a cat up this road! When the area was in operation, the cats were trucked up and assembled in situ. We should fit!
The area turned out to be not bad, not bad at all
Seen from neighboring Tairapyoyama
There is 450m (1500ft) of vert and the longest run is about 3km (2 miles).
I took me 3 days to put a road in to the top, figuring out road building in snow and not knowing what was under the snow all the way.
I built a basic passenger cabin out of coated ply and 2x2. Only major issue is everything in a Japanese hardware store is different to anywhere else I've been. I Europe, the USA, NZ things might have different names but you get the same stuff (more or less). In Japan no 8' x 4' ply, everything is 3' x 6' for historical reasons, really messes with your head when you are trying to build something.
Anyway we did some exploring and ran a Cat op, but more on that tomorrow.Last edited by Idris; 12-06-2018 at 03:48 AM.
Knowledge is Powder
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10-27-2018, 01:37 PM #2
oh yea ... I'm subscribed. Moar pleeze
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10-27-2018, 02:11 PM #3
go on...
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10-27-2018, 02:52 PM #4Registered User
- Join Date
- Apr 2012
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- 348
Already a favorite, thanks for (continued) sharing!
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10-27-2018, 03:03 PM #5
Oh man looking forward to more of these.
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10-27-2018, 03:10 PM #6
Cool! The 240 was a workhorse, just make sure your Japanese mechanic can read German and you should be good on repairs...
Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.
Patterson Hood of the DBT's
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10-27-2018, 03:36 PM #7
Subscribed!
Sent from my iPhone using TGR ForumsI rip the groomed on tele gear
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10-27-2018, 03:48 PM #8
Idris always brings the goods. Every forum, every time, solid stoke, and only stoke!
Go that way really REALLY fast. If something gets in your way, TURN!
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10-27-2018, 06:09 PM #9Registered User
- Join Date
- Jan 2013
- Posts
- 393
I lived in Japan from 2001-04. Love the sled in the van - classic! Can't wait to see the rest.
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10-27-2018, 06:15 PM #10???
- Join Date
- Oct 2018
- Posts
- 94
Love it...getting to Japan is a dream of mine
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10-27-2018, 06:16 PM #11
Following
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10-27-2018, 07:56 PM #12
You have my interest, sir.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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10-27-2018, 08:03 PM #13
Definitely subscribing. Rad AF.
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10-27-2018, 08:08 PM #14serial lurker
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Posts
- 309
nice start. more please.
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10-28-2018, 01:30 AM #15
IDRIS IN THE HOUSE!!!!
Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield: Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?
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10-28-2018, 08:08 AM #16
OK a fair bit more interest than I was expecting (ok it is pre season and everyone is itching to ski but still), So I'm going to fill in a few more gaps
Building a passenger cabin for the cat (the box). Tools, a 4 1/2 circular saw, a jigsaw, a very used 12v drill, Japanese hand saw a tiny hammer 2 Fclamps and a tape measure.
Workspace the lobby of an ex hotel now Ski instructor staff housing.
The box was assembled in situ on the one sunny day, it's still well below freezing and if you drop anything smaller than a foot square (30cm x 30cm) you ain't ever going to find it.
I was roadside but not anything you could call easy access
One of my very first guiding jobs, was baby sitting the DPS film crew who were staying with us, they had been skunked by the snow in Hokkido and had come to us looking for pow. Keeping up with them was easy enough, I sort of knew they lye of the land (I had done one day up the lifts) in Kagura before they arrived. Keeping them alive was just work. Keeping them from being arrested was a pain. A lot of Japanese ski resorts still get very upset if you ski off the designated ski run, angry as in team of guys with sticks to keep you in place while they call the police (even though there is no actual law against it) - solved my making everyone follow my skin track round the issues. No the hard work was digging the bloody van out each morning.
If you left your car parked for a week you had issues
The cat was in a similar state when I left it for a day or 2
To give a little more idea of where I was based, this is taken from on top of the Naeba ski area looking due East. The small obvious ski slopes behind the village were abandoned 5-10 years ago by the moronic management that is Prince Hotels. The big white lump of a mountain is Tairapyoyama with Tanigawadake behind. Kagura ski area is directly North and Mikuni the area which the cat skiing is in, just south, directly up the small valley at the base of the slope. Anything over the ridgeline in the right of the picture is Gunmar Prefecture (know for Drift culture rather than skiing) and south of the continental divide so much less snow.
Tokyo is about 1.5 hours on the Shinkansen (Bullet train) to Yuzawa then 30 min drive.
More laterKnowledge is Powder
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10-28-2018, 08:12 AM #17Registered User
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- Jan 2014
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- Gaperville, CO
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- 5,849
This is fantastic. Thanks for posting.
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10-28-2018, 08:25 AM #18
I got to get to japow
I need to go to Utah.
Utah?
Yeah, Utah. It's wedged in between Wyoming and Nevada. You've seen pictures of it, right?
So after 15 years we finally made it to Utah.....
Thanks BCSAR and POWMOW Ski Patrol for rescues
8, 17, 13, 18, 16, 18, 20, 19, 16, 24, 32, 35
2021/2022 (13/15)
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10-28-2018, 08:33 AM #19
^^^^^
Yes you must
Cheaper than a week in colorado
Sent from my iPhone using TGR ForumsI rip the groomed on tele gear
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10-28-2018, 09:31 AM #20
You had me at "Japan".
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10-28-2018, 10:14 AM #21
Yay Idris!
Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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10-28-2018, 12:41 PM #22
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10-28-2018, 12:43 PM #23
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10-28-2018, 01:07 PM #24Registered User
- Join Date
- Jan 2004
- Location
- North Vancouver
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- 6,459
Amazing. Keep it coming.
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10-28-2018, 09:50 PM #25
Sick photos, Idris.
Seems like the cat is truly "out of the bag" in Japan. Tons of operations popping up here and there.
Shameless thread hijack for a video that just dropped yesterday from the Shimamaki Cat op in Hokkaido.
Like you, I worked on this baby during the winters of 2014 and 2015. The place is finally making some headway.
Last edited by SUPERIOR; 10-28-2018 at 10:39 PM.
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