Skin to Win/Ross and Scotty

We skinned to all this stuff and there was not another soul in sight. Actually, the exceptions were two French dudes, who were the coolest Frenchies I think I have ever met. (Say it Frenchie: Pow-dere.)

Scotty "The Easter Bunny" McGee:

One of the best things about Japan is the Junk Food. They have all kinds of killer candy that is available everywhere through vending machines. Scotty always had candy of some sort on him. Hence the moniker "Easter Bunny".

Ross:

Thanks to Ross for always breaking trail.

Pow Shots

Okay, well I wanted to continue with my dorky time line narrative of the Japan trip, but everyone is clamouring for the powder shots. So, here they are.

Brad the Philly boy showing the mountain crew how it is done:



This last one is just so sick.

Parting Shots from Moiwa

Here are a few more shots from our last in-bounds day. These are courtesy of our friend Craig at Tammarack, Idaho. These are the trees easily accessible from the main lifts. But, remarkably untracked. Jean showing the form:

And again in some deeper stuff (just wait till the next post though):

Good Guide and Great Guy Ross Matlock making a couple of "demo turns":

Yamurasan skiing better at 70 than I do at 40:

We have a pile of the super fluff shots for next post. Hang in their kids; they are coming.

More Photos and Insights

Hey Kids:

Head over to ZJean for more on the Japan trip. Click the Pictures to get the full view.

Best, OSE.

Daisetsuzan - Day One

Our next destination was the Daisetsuzan National Park (another link)and the Ryounkaku Onsen. (Some info on Onsen generally). Ryounkaku is located at the end of a road up into the mountains that are the center of the Park. We were told it is the highest point in Japan that is accessible by car. At 2267.64 square kilometers, Daisetsuzan is the largest national park in Japan. The name means Great Snowy Mountain(s), and is a very apt description. There are 15 peaks over 2000 meters that, in summer, offer some of the most rugged hiking in Japan. The Ainu name for Daisetsuzan, kamui-mintara, translates to "playground of the gods".

After a five hour van ride there, we awoke the next day to more snow and wind. Basically you are in a simple but comfortable lodge at the end of the road and can hike or skin up to whatever you want to ski. No lifts, no patrol, no ropes, no boundaries. The snow pack is quite consistent as the temperature stays low and real sunny days are few and far between. What they do get is continuous light snow and a lot of it. The storms roll off of Siberia and cross the sea of Japan, picking up more moisture. It is almost like a giant lake effect. The main driver for any avalanche activity is wind and wind loading.

On our first morning there, it had been quite windy the night before and there was a pretty good wind slab and some deposition of snow in lee areas. We skied directly from the lodge that day. It is definitely cool to walk out the front door and put your gear on. We hit the main skin track and did one big lap to the top of the more northerly area. We had to stay below the tree line as visibility that day was an issue. The snow up high was deep, but definitely wind affected. Good skiing, but definitely back country conditions. After one big lap, several of our party peeled off at the start finish zone. Only Ross, MJ, Toshi and I went back up for another go. The intent was really just to get some more exercise, but we managed to find some better snow. Some good powder turns, but definitely harsh conditions (i.e. strong wind, snow and wind affected surface).

Based on this, I don't have too many pictures from this day, but here they are:

First morning we woke up to these views out of our two windows. The first is looking straight west or down:

This second one is looking north. We skied mostly to the northwest of Ryounkaku.

On our first lap we had some decent snow, but it was relatively aggressive snow and weather, so I didn't get many shots. Here are some of our tracks though and hopefully you can see the snow depth. Remember to click the pictures for much larger views. This also gives a good idea of the terrain. Pretty gradual pitch through nicely spaced trees and deep snow. Just super fun skiing.After our group split up, only Toshi, Ross, MJ and I took the second lap. At the end of the day you emerge at a trail head across the road from "The Baden" Onsen. This looks like it would be another nice place to stay and has almost better proximity to the main skiinning/sking area. My three companions at day's end:


Smiles all around. Toshi is a Hokkaido native, and Certified Canadian Mountain Guide, and a really great dude generally. He is also one of the strongest, smoothest tele skiers I have ever had the privilege to ski with. He is also very heavily involved with the TAJ. All that and his English is perfect, which is super handy for us tourists

You then get ski lift Ryounkaku style. You call up to Ryounkakau and they send down the dump truck. You all load in the back and ride back to the top for onsen and dinner.Finally, after dinner, a couple of Classics and a hot soak, it is bedtime. Our room at Ryounkaku:
Dont' know what it means, but I think I agree.

Travel Day & Turns

So, kids, I have to get some sleep if I am ever going to get my clock right, so here are a few pictures from the travel day. Because the lifts were closed the day before, we decided to catch half a day at a smaller local hill called Moiwa.

After an unusually large storm, this was the lift line at opening:

The lodge:
Ever seen Breck on a powder day? Nuf said on that. The skies cleared off and we started to get some views of valley:


Across the valley lies a huge dormant volcano. I'll look the name up and post it in the rewrite of this for you. I hope you are clicking all these pics and those below. They are much larger than on the main page.Cool cloud below. Big enough to make its own weather. There are apparently a ton of skiable lines on it, but everyone waits for the snow to set up in spring.

The wind the night before was strong enough to tear out the door on one of the lift sheds. This is one of those steel "riot gate" overhead doors. Just torn from its tracks. Check out the sign too. Careful.
Riding the lift. I am pretty sure you're not supposed to do what that signs says. Ross on the chair with Yamurasan:
Yamurasan in the trees. The beauty of Moiwa is not the in bounds territory but the marginally in bounds tree skiing it services. The gentleman below is Yamurasan. I am pretty sure you could write a book about the guy, and I hope someone does. He is the local telemark guru and one of the founders of the Telemark Ski Association of Japan or TAJ. He has been living it since the beginning in Japan, and has traveled the world skiing. At 70 he is still making drop knee turns. The most gracious and welcoming host, he showed us around Moiwa. Many thanks to him, and I can only hope to grow up to be like him someday.

The wind had pushed the snow around quite a bit, but there was still some to be had. Scotty "The Easter Bunny" getting some:Yours truly in action:

And getting some more.

These were taken with my little snapshot camera. Pando and MJ have some much better shots from here and the later days especially that will blow your mind. I have a few I need to edit too.

Pando and Yamurasan in the lift line. A great day thanks to both! Next stop, Ryounkaku

Good night for now.

Coffee and Soba

Hi all. Sorry for the long delay in posting, but we spent the last few days in Japan at Ryounkaku (see links to right) a place with (gasp) no internet connection. No cell, no email . . . off line. Heaven. Anyway, there has also been a call to get to the skiing shots. Patience, patience. To keep this chronological (and logical for that matter) here are a few shots from the day off. There was a "unusual" that started on the day of skiing below and kept up that entire night. There was a bunch of snow, but more unusual was the wind. It was absolutely dumping but unfortunately, mostly horizontally. There were gusts of 60+ mph and huge drifts everywhere. More on that later. When we awoke the next day (Feb 23 I think) both the roads to the ski area and the lifts were closed. Apparently, in Niseko when they decide to close the lifts in the morning, they stay closed all day, and as Murphy would predict, after that decision was made, the winds died down and the snow stopped. The sun even started peeking out. So, what to do?

Well, while the weather cleared, you could find MJ and I sitting in the little restaurant in the lobby of our hotel, the Kanronomori drinking coffee.



A note on this place. It was so great I cannot hope to express it here. The staff was super helpful and friendly, the onsen was super nice and food was over the top. The first night we arrived we had an amazing traditional seven course meal (kiseki I think). It was so good that I figured it was basically a welcome dinner. But, each night after we had a similar seven courses, with all different dishes and better every night. Unbelievable. Check out the links on their page for "spa" (which is the onsen) and the restaurant. This is all about a 5 minute free bus ride from the lifts. As further evidence of how cool Konronomori is, this is in the lobby next to the front desk.

Due in part to the amount and quality of snow they get, Hokkaido is the cradle of snowboarding in Japan and the size and shape of the boards is telling. The boards on display were all made by a local shaper who is one of the grandfathers of the sport in Japan. When I first arrived noticed the majority of the guys riding big guns. Lots of swallow tails and all with stances set way back. I soon as shown above and below, I soon learned why. Poke around Gentemstick for further info.

So, once the weather cleared out, we all headed out of the hotel. There were no buses running and no one on the road, but there were a few places to walk to.
Kanronomori is not right in town, but we walked by a few place on the way. The final destination was a soba noodle house that was open for lunch. This was a cool little cabin that was set a little off the road by a small pond. MJ has some great pics on her blog at ZJean Here are Pando and MJ at the entrance.
Never too early for a little sake:

When you order, the proprietor takes a head count and cuts a lump of dough out of the bowl you see to the left. The picture is him rolling that lump out flat.
He then folds the flattened dough slices it into noodles. The noodle making in process below.
Those are then boiled and served in awesome broth with some veggies and tempura and a little more sake. Pretty fresh. The couple who were running the place were awesome to us, and my thanks to them. If I could have read and translated the name I would post it, but you are ever in Niseko you have got to stop in.