22/23 Japan scene?

[beer30]

Rad, enjoy and keep us informed. I read that article of Boltons and got a little worried. Then I realized it’s pretty much always like that since I’ve been going… stoke is high

[boltonoutlaw]

Just arrived in Hirafu Village

Dumping

Rusutsu tomorrow

Iwanai announced they are running lifts again

[Mike Pow]

Iwanai announced they are running lifts again

To the top?

[DSG_Mantra]

Arrived Sunday in Hakuba and skied Happo one yesterday.

Blown away by the number of foreigners here. Last time I skied here was 26 years ago… Changed so much!

Lots and lots of snow. All day Sunday and Monday, supposed to snow all week. Heading to Cortina today. I’m flying solo as the family needs a rest day. Lightweights! If any maggots want to meet up for a few runs and a beer or two… well, I’ll be there.

on another note, I can seriously get behind a place that has beer vending machines!

[Lee Murian]

Day four in the Nitto zone. It’s been snowing almost the whole time we’ve been here. We’re touring and hardly seeing anyone. Headed back to Yotei today.

[Mike Pow]

Day four in the Nitto zone. It’s been snowing almost the whole time we’ve been here. We’re touring and hardly seeing anyone. Headed back to Yotei today.

You're not seeing many people because the lifts are offering up the same conditions

[beer30]

Woop Woop!

[Blaster]

Anyone have suggestions for guidebooks or other resources for backcountry options in the greater Myoko and nozawa areas? Will be there starting Feb 3 and all my googling just pulls up guiding companies. Our group is happy to ride lifts but generally prefers to tour when given the option

Thanks in advance

[boltonoutlaw]

Nice

[Lee Murian]

Shiribitsu today





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[jtran10]

Departing from SLC 1 week from today (but train to Tohoku not until the 1 7th). Looks like a great start in northern Honshu too from what I can tell.

[CascadeCrudSkier]

Anyone have suggestions for guidebooks or other resources for backcountry options in the greater Myoko and nozawa areas? Will be there starting Feb 3 and all my googling just pulls up guiding companies. Our group is happy to ride lifts but generally prefers to tour when given the option

Thanks in advance

I haven't seen any backcountry guidebooks in Japan, even if they existed they'd most likely be in Japanese. All of the Japanese skiers I've toured with rely heavily on GPS routes, mostly shared from other friends.

Are you asking about lift accessed backcountry from the resorts or getting completely away and doing long tours? If the former then you don't need much info. Most of the resorts like Madarao, Tangram, Nozawa have pretty obvious backcountry options off the top lifts. Myoko is several ski areas surrounding the base of Mt. Myoko. There's a ton of obvious lines above Suginohara and if the weather is clear and the avalanche danger is low then you can tour to the top of Myoko and drop over towards Akakura Onsen. I haven't done this yet but it looks like a fun option on the right day. The sidecountry around Myoko is far better than the inbounds terrain, particularly at Suginohara.

For the long tour option outside of the resorts I'd spend the money on a guide and get a better return for your time. We're about to get a warm spell this week and the snowpack is going to become more challenging than it did last year. Plus navigating river crossings can get very interesting and you're better off relying on someone else's experience in figuring out where the best place to cross is.

Enjoy!

[CascadeCrudSkier]

Arrived Sunday in Hakuba and skied Happo one yesterday.

Blown away by the number of foreigners here. Last time I skied here was 26 years ago… Changed so much!

Hakuba (and I'm assuming Niseko) are the northernmost towns of Australia in the month of January during their summer holiday. It wasn't like that the past 2 years during COVID but it sure was this week. Just as they start to depart at the end of the month it'll be the lunar new year and the next wave of visitors will arrive from across Asia.

I missed the good snowfall over the New Year due to a family holiday in Vietnam but managed to catch a few scraps at the end of the week while rallying around Cortina and Norikura w/ my 8 year old. She's not ready for the fun stuff off piste yet but viewed from the chair the best lines look like they could use a bit more snow to fill in the brush. Hopefully the warm spell approaching this week ends quickly and the pow train picks up again.

[jtran10]

The warm spell looks unbelievably unseasonable. How frequent are warmups like this (and rain to 5k?) in the heart of January?

[climberevan]

I was in Hokkaido for 6 weeks a few years ago and there were 2 separate rain events in Jan & Feb. The previous year when I was there it didn't rain at all.

My method for finding backcountry spots is to just look at maps, the same as I do at home. Between topos (the government maps are pretty good and downloadable) and Google Earth, you can find some decent places. Stream crossings and other minutae are harder to identify, though, so if you really do have limited time and want to avoide any fuckery, a guide might be worthwhile.

Eat some unidentifiable filling Onigiri from 7-11 for me.

[boltonoutlaw]

The warm spell looks unbelievably unseasonable. How frequent are warmups like this (and rain to 5k?) in the heart of January?

Where is this happening?

[jtran10]

Where is this happening?

https://www.snow-forecast.com/resort...asawa/6day/mid for one

[CascadeCrudSkier]

The warm spell looks unbelievably unseasonable. How frequent are warmups like this (and rain to 5k?) in the heart of January?

It's not the warmup that's unseasonable, it's the lack of snowfall following it that seems a bit unusual. Any time the jet stream weakens Japan is in danger of getting warm moist air out of the south that brings the freezing levels up and we get rain instead of snow in the winter. Usually this is quick and then we return to heavy snowfall from the systems moving across the Sea of Japan. However, there's no sign of that happening right now so it looks like rain on Honshu, even up to southern Hokkaido, with very little snowfall arriving afterwards to restore the normal conditions we hope for.

[jtran10]

It's not the warmup that's unseasonable, it's the lack of snowfall following it that seems a bit unusual. Any time the jet stream weakens Japan is in danger of getting warm moist air out of the south that brings the freezing levels up and we get rain instead of snow in the winter. Usually this is quick and then we return to heavy snowfall from the systems moving across the Sea of Japan. However, there's no sign of that happening right now so it looks like rain on Honshu, even up to southern Hokkaido, with very little snowfall arriving afterwards to restore the normal conditions we hope for.

first ski day for us is the 18th, hoping for some normalization by then

[GravityDT]

Our crews 1st day is the 17th… fingers crossed.


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[CascadeCrudSkier]

first ski day for us is the 18th, hoping for some normalization by then

It depends on how long you have. It looks like "normal" will return late next week, starting on the 20th.

Where are you basing yourself out of? If you can get up in elevation that will help and touring well above treeline may be decent next week before winter resumes.

[jtran10]

It depends on how long you have. It looks like "normal" will return late next week, starting on the 20th.

Where are you basing yourself out of? If you can get up in elevation that will help and touring well above treeline may be decent next week before winter resumes.

We'll be on the snow for 7 days splitting time between Morioka and Kuroishi (ish). Guided, with touring gear, sidecountry style.

[boltonoutlaw]

https://www.snow-forecast.com/resort...asawa/6day/mid for one

Hope conditions settle into normal ASAP

[Dromond]

One weather peculiarity I found in Hokkaido is the frequency with which a very small amount of snow would be forecast, yet a large amount would fall. So, sometimes the rained-on snow can get covered up quick....or not. I wen to Hokkaido two times and had it get warm briefly the first time and for a whole day or more the second time. I've only skied Honshu once and it wasn't warm when I was there, but it seems like they get warmups and rain more often even though the skiing is at higher elevations.

[gaijin]

Rain in Tohoku in January is quite common. I call everything before that small warm spell to be “practice winter”. Because after that it typically nukes for the next six weeks.


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