MONDAY, MARCH 19th, 2007
KIRORO SNOW WORLD
JJ talked me into making the Monday bus trip and full day out to Kiroro. This season we've had nothing but great days out here, and with snow all day Sunday we knew it would be good. Weekdays on ski hills in Japan are great, especially in mid to late March, when many people consider it "spring time". This label doesnt work here in Hokkaido, as Spring doesnt really hit until May here, whereas its warming up now already in Osaka and Tokyo.
My penchant for cutting things as close as possible almost made this day not happen. I was on the subway by 753, changed trains, got to Sapp Station, ran with a board on my back to the JR ticket counter, argued that he was mistakenly overcharging me, then ran to the bus stop by 808, bus leaves at 810am! I only sweat for the first 10 minutes of the bus ride, then life was good. The deal is only 5300yen ($55), includes 90 minute bus ride there and back, full day lift ticket, and a hot spring after.
Kiroro didnt disappoint yet again. There were a few Irish folk with us as well as JJ's GF. The Irish guys were just happy to have a little snow on the groomers, and when we pulled Ed into the trees for the deep stuff he was overwhelmed. Once again we stayed at the Nakamine area of Kiroro exclusively. The tree runs along the runs A, B, and C (original titles I know) were all stellar, but we soon couldnt hold off any longer and had to go into "the stash". We thought of alot cruder names for it last time with Sherri, but they can't be typed here. We rode from 1015 right until 430pm, and probably couldve spent another 2 full hours finding more and more untracked lines, there was that much.
The last run was the one though, the one where you can lean onto your back leg and just surf through perfect powder. Its our 'ski-out' route dropping down onto the wave course, and the perfect ending to the day. Actually the best thing after a full on day like this, is the onsen after, having a nice long hot soak, then a beer on the bus ride home while nodding off... solid day.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Teine's Deep and Steeps
THURSDAY, MARCH 15th, 2007
TEINE HIGHLAND
The snow has come back to this part of the world, and FF convinced me to make use of it. Hokkaido's snow in March can range from dry/perfect snow, to wet-unstable-layered snow, to rain falling and just drenching you before you can even find out the snow quality.
Up at 6am to dig out the Civic, then get my gear all strapped on, then pick up FF at the subway. We actually made it to Teine in pretty good time, by 910. Unfortunately, the ropeway still wasnt running. No reason was given, it wasn't the wind (it was almost non existant), but may have been too much snow at the top. The ropeway is getting pretty old, and there are times when the car gets to the top station where it drags against the snowbanks.
FF is still getting his bearings on the sticks so he bolted off to hit the groomers which were pretty good today too. I met a guy named Jerry from the UK and we ended up riding together for a few hours, turns out we have a mutual friend who used to live here. Good guy, showed me a lot of stashes on the hill. There was so much snow today, couldnt really go wrong. When the ropeway did open at 11, we bombed through the bowls but with 10-15 Gaijin on the hill it only took 15 minutes for it to be pretty run over.
The 4 hours pass(at about $36 is both a great deal and a great idea) ran out by 115. Just perfect to tire yourself out for 4 hours, rather than like in Canada, where you can either pay $80 for a full day, or $60 for a half day starting at 1pm when all the soft snow is long gone... I dropped Double F at his nearby station and he dropped his garbage into my car, nice guy that kid. Drove up to Otaru to my classrooms and a two hour company parking spot treasure hunt, before 3 classes of parent observations. At least it was a good morning....
TEINE HIGHLAND
The snow has come back to this part of the world, and FF convinced me to make use of it. Hokkaido's snow in March can range from dry/perfect snow, to wet-unstable-layered snow, to rain falling and just drenching you before you can even find out the snow quality.
Up at 6am to dig out the Civic, then get my gear all strapped on, then pick up FF at the subway. We actually made it to Teine in pretty good time, by 910. Unfortunately, the ropeway still wasnt running. No reason was given, it wasn't the wind (it was almost non existant), but may have been too much snow at the top. The ropeway is getting pretty old, and there are times when the car gets to the top station where it drags against the snowbanks.
FF is still getting his bearings on the sticks so he bolted off to hit the groomers which were pretty good today too. I met a guy named Jerry from the UK and we ended up riding together for a few hours, turns out we have a mutual friend who used to live here. Good guy, showed me a lot of stashes on the hill. There was so much snow today, couldnt really go wrong. When the ropeway did open at 11, we bombed through the bowls but with 10-15 Gaijin on the hill it only took 15 minutes for it to be pretty run over.
The 4 hours pass(at about $36 is both a great deal and a great idea) ran out by 115. Just perfect to tire yourself out for 4 hours, rather than like in Canada, where you can either pay $80 for a full day, or $60 for a half day starting at 1pm when all the soft snow is long gone... I dropped Double F at his nearby station and he dropped his garbage into my car, nice guy that kid. Drove up to Otaru to my classrooms and a two hour company parking spot treasure hunt, before 3 classes of parent observations. At least it was a good morning....
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