Beautiful day. Foggy to start, then the sun came out for a bluebird day. Solid base with an icy surface covered in a light dusting of overnight dry snow. First tracks on the runs around Ruined Castle as I had the place to myself for about 45 minutes before anyone else drifted over. Crowds not too bad, but the runs got tracked out by about 10am. Had a run through the maze for the first time in a few years, but it was pretty chopped up. A good day all round.
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Not Vic - snowboarder died at Perisher
Hit a light pole on Front Valley doing jumps (in the park section). Very sad.
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Doing Hukuba and Myoko next season any tips. 2 planks not 1
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Went to Buller on the weekend just gone.
Theyāre going to want some snow in a hurry - this warm snap has not been kind to it, and theyāll be praying thereās no rain during this week.
Just about the whole Northside is already out of action.
Pick of the southern runs was Standard which remained in reasonable condition till mid-afternoon (bar the snotty cat-track to the bottom of the lift) and was curiously light on for trafficā¦ only rarely had to wait in a queue (which for a weekend was odd).
Wombat & Little Buller Spur are hanging in there, but were well and truly chopped-up by afternoon. The Summit runs were either hard ice (Summit Right etc.), out of action from halfway (Summit Slide) or a snotty mess (Summit).
A quick blast down Burnt Hut before clocking-off was a complete waste of timeā¦ absolutely hacked to bits and a barely passable muddy mess.
Itās OK still, but only just. If they donāt get a decent dump this weekend, it wonāt be long before itās Family Run loops and Bourke St and not much else.
Edit: What the hell have they done to the Arlberg? All dolled-up in the main eating area, but with the same slippery tiles out to the amenities! Talk about an exercise in trying to polish a turdā¦ Itās like one of those hotels with a grand foyer, but tired rooms where nothing works properly.
Edit2: Why has Buller in its infinite wisdom decided to remove the ski racks out the front of the Arlberg and Koflers? Youāve now got to work your way through hundreds of pairs of skis/stocks lying flat on the snow. One of the most ridiculous things Iāve seen.
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I havenāt been to Buller in about 15 years, but it was always the first hill to get sloppy once the sun came out. Iāve always said itās the most convenient mountain for a trip to the snow, but also the worst mountain for snow itself.
Iām heading back up to Falls this weekend (leaving Friday midday) with the whole family, including the French exchange student that arrived last Saturday to stay with us for a few months. The forecast is for snow showers this week and then more on the weekend, so it should be good enough. I doubt Iāll get back up there this year after this weekend, but at least it was a massive improvement on the last two years here.
Furious Jnr turns 18 next year so the plan is to kit him out with his own board and boots for his birthday in May now that he has pretty much stopped growing (heās 196cm, so surely heās pretty much done). Little Miss Furious is planning on doing a student exchange in Spain for 4 months at the end of 2026, so considering Furious Jnr will be 18 and have just finished year 12, Iām starting to make plans for him and I (maybe a mate or two with their boys around the same age) to go to Whistler and maybe somewhere like Kicking Horse or Banff in Jan 2027. Itās been 20 years since I did Canada, so I reckon itās about time to go back.
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I hope you get conditions like we did. Twas epic.
I didnāt take my own gear as I didnāt want to haul it around for the whole trip (10 days at the snow in a three week trip with lots of train travel), as well as people telling me āyouāll want a proper powder board and they will have heaps of optionsā. Turns out the biggest boards they had were smaller than my own board (I ended up on a 158cm after going back every day to hope they had a bigger board that had been returned. My own ride is a 160cm Never Summer Ripsaw all-mountain board that would have been perfect). The train carriage thing is a non-issue as they have luggage forward services that will freight you gear direct to/from your hotel for bugger-all cost (less than $40 to ship a suitcase full of our snow clothing and helmets from our Myoko hotel to the airport where it was waiting for us a fortnight later). Super convenient. Next time I will take my own board, arrive in Tokyo, drop it straight off at the counter at the airport (Yamato Transport - known as āBlack Catā - link: YAMATO TRANSPORT ), spend a couple of days in Tokyo doing stuff, then straight to the snow and your gear is at the hotel waiting for you. Farking magic.
In Hakuba, you will probably need to book in to restaurants for dinner as they fill up. Ask your hotel reception to book for you. Donāt just stick to Happo One as the closest mountain, get on the bus (preferably your hotel has itās own shuttle, but the local service is good, but gets crowded - even better if you have your own car to get their early to beat the bus crowds) and get out to the other resorts in the valley. Goryu, 47 and Cortina were great. We had a massive powder day at Cortina that was insane. The photo above of me sitting in the sunchair was from Tsugaike. We picked one mountain the night before and then spent the whole day at each. If you purchase your ticket online it saves you about $5 (for tickets that are $60-80 per day). Or you can buy a lift ticket and meal that gives you a lunch voucher for about $10. We basically loaded up on our buffet breakfast in the morning (part of our hotel deal), then filled our pockets with mini croissants and pastries, then spent all day on the hill and got a drink and snack from vending machines (super cheap, and you can get hot coffee/chocolate as well!). Plenty of options to keep the cost down. If you havenāt been to Japan before, donāt be afraid to use the onsen (most hotels have one). Nude up, and soak away the dayās muscle soreness. The onsen at our hotel was great, particularly the outside pool when it was snowing.
Myoko is a bit different to Hakuba. We were only there for two days, so tried to jam in much as we could. They have a bus that drives you around to each of the resorts. We stayed a bit further away from the main areas so were reliant on a shuttle bus to the main area (Akakura Onsen) where we hired gear from and then branched out on the local bus from there. You can get a ticket that covers both Akakura Onsen and Kanko resorts and can ski between the two if one specific lift is working, otherwise, itās a 5 minute bus shuttle. Madarao and Tangram are a little further away and we didnāt get to those, but Iāve heard great things, so keep them in mind.
Overall, depending on whether you have already been to Japan, food is cheap, accommodation and other stuff (clothes, ski gear) is about the same as Aus (good luck if you want shoes but have big feet like me - not many options over size 12). Ramen places are everywhere. 7-11 is amazing value - cheap food and drinks but good quality. They always have fresh hot food (not 11-hours old chips, etc).
Donāt eat whilst you are walking, itās considered very rude. Hakuba is crawling with Aussies - try not to be the loud, obnoxious tourist that we all hate. Smile lots (no reason not to over there), be polite, and have a great time.
If youāre spending time in Tokyo I can give you some more info about things to do, places to shop, etc.
I canāt wait to get back there.
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Wow Big, thank you for the huge update. Iāve been to Japan plenty but only skied Niseko Sapporo for a week a couple of years back. Sounds like my trip will be following exactly yours as far as timing per area. If you could stay anywhere at all in Myoko where do you recommend? Will be taking my own skis this time.
22 year old Canadian kid. Clipped a snow gun in the Terrain Park and flew into the Tbar area. Tragic accident. Slopestyle is like motocross on ice. Its very dangerous especially if you dont know what your doing (not suggesting he did or didnt)
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Love the misprint on Essendon showing how ā ā ā ā ā we are.
Grand Prix and Skiing can fill the massive void we all have from our club.
We stayed at Myoko Kofukan near the Myoko Kogan train station which was a fair way from the resorts but we were only there for two days. If I went back I would stay in the town at the base of Akakura Onsen where there are more shops and food options. There were hardly any people on the hills the day we were there, so plenty of open runs and no lift queues. We did have a great meal at a restaurant called Yamagishi (https://maps.app.goo.gl/9bfAaR6a5Wa7kAkT8) that was a self-cook Okonomiyaki food. We got our hotel to book us in the day before as it is tiny and wonāt take walk-ins. Highly recommend it, but itās a long way from Akakura.
A great dining option in Hakuba is a ramen bar called Marutama in Wadano (https://maps.app.goo.gl/V3Dqk9Pr6SfViSYq7). I donāt think you can book, but you turn up and put your name on the list and they call you in when they have space. They have a waiting area outside where you get drinks while you wait. Rug up. If youāre in a large group youāll have no luck, but if you go in pairs you should get in pretty quickly. Huge bowls of ramen for about $15 and then massive ice creams for dessert. In Hakuba we stayed at Hotel Goryukan (pronounce in your best Street Fighter voice for added effect!), which was a little bit out of town, but was in easy walking distance to everywhere. Didnāt have itās own shuttle, but was right next to a bus stop.
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Melbourne - chinless bed-wetters.
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See you there FG!
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Just found this, itās about an hour and was from 1987
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