Balls deep !!!

We stayed around Tomamu waiting for some new snow. Since Amelie twisted a little bit her knee last week it slowed us a bit at the beginning of this week. I skied the resort that mostly had groomed runs and packed offpiste.

We drove around and looking at some potential backcountry spot. Nissho pass prove to be the only potential spot we found. As the snow never really came in Tomamu we left towards some more powdery land.

As we were not skiing that much, we figured we should visit some sake brewery… We stopped in Asahikawa, the second largest city of Hokkaido for some free sampling. It is actually quite surprising how many sake breweries there are in Japan. Most towns have their own little brewery. We did sample quite all right until all the sake we were trying all tasted the same!!!!

When we started to have a bit less fun, we drove towards Kamui ski links a resort that is 20 minutes west of Asahikawa. We met Maeda-San which is probably one of the friendliest managers I’ve ever met.

Kamui is a medium size resort that is blessed with tons of snow and by tons, I really mean it! It also has the friendliest approach to backcountry user of all the resorts I’ve skied up to now in Japan.

We got there as it was snowing and hopefully for Amelie, her knee was getting much better. We skied around the first day but spend most of our time in the backside of the resort where some slackcountry was providing continuous faceshots.

We had such a good time that we decided to stay one more day.

And that was a great choice!!! Overnight it fell about a foot of snow. With the wind transportation towards the backside, there was probably around an average of 3 feet of fresh.

From Amelie’s point of view, it was her deepest ski day ever. It was so deep that even with my skis with 130mm underfoot, I was totally sinking!

We skied all day until the snow kicked our ass!!

Definitively, a great day of skiing that deserves a great ending! So why not some more sake?!

We left Kamui with great memories of friendly people and very DEEP snow!!!

We'll stay around central Hokkaido for about one more week!!!

Now, the weekly question: How many hours do you think you are going to waste at your job reading this blog??

evans

Wakarimashita Hokkaido's backcountry

We left Niseko to go towards Jozankei to try some backcountry I spotted last year. On our way, we stopped at Neil Hartmann’s coffee to try to get some information from him. Almost everyone that I’ve talk to about my winter plan direct me towards him. Unfortunately for us, his coffee was closed when we dropped by. With his crew, they've travel all around Hokkaido living in their car and filming movies call Car Danchi.

The backcountry near Sapporo Kokusai was nice and soft with about 20-30cm of fresh. It was so good that we decided to stay for one more day.

On our way from Jozankei to Kokusai, we saw a guy walking with his skis on his shoulder, we turned around and hit the skin track, he just hopped on.

The hike-in was fairly long and we finally arrived on the top of…. not much. Staring at the view, we just couldn’t figure why people were skinning that long to get to a terrain that wasn’t that interesting.

We took the skins off , but the snow wasn’t that great neither consistent. That was definitively a place that I will not go back.

We figured it would be a good time to have our first day of rest and visit a little bit of Sapporo. With its population of about 1.8 million, it is a fairly big city. We walked around the downtown, but I was quite disappointed about the city. It was grey, not looking too good… until nightime!

If you ever consider visiting Sapporo, make sure you’ll be able to spend some time after dusk since it is only then that the city shows itself!

After almost a full day spent visiting the city, I was done. Good for me, it started snowing pretty hard again!

I figured hitting Sapporo Teine might be a good idea since it is only about 10km from Sapporo. We drove back to the parking of Teine Highland (Sapporo Teine’s expert terrain) and camp there.

Unfortunately, only about 10-15cm fell overnight. I was still all fired up to hit what I was told to be one of the best terrain in Hokkaido. Teine deserves its reputation! It is definitively the best inbound terrain I’ve experience so far in Japan. After almost 3 hours skiing some nice opens bowl where some nice wind drifts has lay more than 20cm of nice powder, I felt that my bindings were a bit loose on my skis. I called the day off and headed straight back to Sapporo to have it fixed.

There is a really great shop close at the corner of North 13 and West 3 called Shugakuso where the guys helped me fix my skis. Most of the outdoor gear is pretty expensive in Japan, but if you ever need anything, you can for sure find it there.

We are now in Tomamu where we spend the last 2 days skiing the backcountry around this resort. Yesterday, we went skiing out Karikachi Pass where we were able to get some nice turns in.

Today, we went skiing out close to the kilometre 69, on the road 136, where we saw a road that was going towards the mountains. We parked the car and after a hike of about 2 hours, we were at the top from where we were able to enjoy a nice run through the trees.

We’ll be moving up north soon as some snow is on the forecast! So if anyone is interested in joining us around Tokachi-dake, Asahidake or Kurodake, feel free to drop me a line!

I'll keep on skiing everyday purely for your entertainment (and a bit for mine)!!!!

evans

JaPOW!!!

Japan is definitively great for skiing, we spent the last 5 days in Niseko skiing mostly Niseko Village resort. After the massive storm that left about 50cm on New Years day, then another 50cm the day after, things eased up a bit...


After another 30cm of a bit heavier snow on January 3rd, the weather cleared up and we even have been able to see some blue sky (for about 1hour, after which snow started again...........until now).

Since the snow slowed down a bit (only 10-15cm per day), we decided to go check out the most underground of Niseko's resorts Niseko Moiwa.
This resort only has two lifts but for what it lacks in lifts, it is fully compensated by access to some incredible backcountry. We only had 6 runs in Moiwa, but the snow was really great compare to what you were able to find in Niseko United (Niseko Annupuri, Niseko Village, Niseko Hirafu). Since it is a little bit further out from Hirafu, there's way less Australians and Kiwis that take the bus to go ski that little resort. That is really the hidden gem of Niseko.


Last year, we looked at the closed area of Mizuno no Sawa in Niseko village. We thought this whole area was the best terrain of all Niseko but unfortunately was closed to the public due to avalanche fatalities in the past. Well, today, we were able to get the first ever public run down this area. To get access to this terrain, you must follow an hour long lecture about avanlanche safety and the history behind Mizuno no Sawa.


Well, it is really the BEST terrain in Niseko. The 2000 Yens to get a winter long access to this area is totally worth it. The trees are just what you'd wish, the snow is really great since the access is controlled and the angle is just sooooooo easy going. We feel so lucky to have been able to ski this area since they shut it down just right after we were done because of high winds.


We'll be taking off from Niseko heading towards central Hokkaido to check out around Tokachi-dake and Asahi-dake.

Niseko prouds itself at being the world's snowiest resort.... well I do think it's quite true!!!

I hope you all have an happy return to work !!!!

evans

No North American roadtrip for this winter....

There wont be any skitrip/roadtrip across North America this winter. In this Olympic year, it would have been really nice to ski in BC and go watch some event in Vancouver. I tried really hard to be voted as the Ultimate SkiBum, by the Kootenay’s Powder Highway, but I failed.

By lining up everything, I figured it might be a good thing not to go skiing out West this winter……. But instead, spend a full winter in JAPAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m going to be with Amelie for 3 weeks, then my dad will again join me for 3 weeks followed by Etienne who is going to tag along for 2 weeks and Babiche with a knee totally heeled from his Alaskan misadventure for 5 weeks!!!

At first, I tought about buying a car and sell it back after my 3 months ski/roadtrip. But I soon realize it might be a little too complicated.

To register a car in Japan, you have to prove you have a parking spot off the road to park it and a permanent address. When a car is getting a bit old, it has to pass what is called a shaken. This is an inspection that can cost more than 100 000Yens (1100 $CAN) per year.

When I asked couple of car dealers how I could get a car, one pointed me out Smile rent-a-car ( try using Google toolbar to get a quite decent translation), a company that rent on the long term for fairly cheap rates comparing to others company. Scott Bower who puts me on this track even offered me to have his wife make a 2 hours trip to help me figured out the rental!!! Since I was landing during the Holidays, I would have to wait for him to come back from his vacations to help me. Even if his offer was quite tempting and that I didn’t want to wait, I started looking to rent a car directly in Hokkaido and start my trip where it ended last winter.

When we landed in Sapporo, we missed the free shuttle to the airport and had to rely on the regular city bus. After a short walk to the hotel, I totally collapse after this long day.

We then took the shuttle bus to Niseko where I was to get the car for the winter.

I have finally been able to get a car for three months from Black Diamond Lodge. Clayton, the owner, has really been helpful by giving me tons of informations, roadmaps and the Japan’s ski area bible. He even let me use his tools to build the bed for the van and even gave me a cooler!!! (no more frozen bananas).

We finally woked up after a typical Niseko blizzard.

We headed to the slopes of Niseko Village where we both got our first Japanese face shot of the season. The blizzard means: no one on the slopes, tons of untracked snow and no good light to take picture because it is snowing too hard!

Tomorrow promise to be another really good day, since the storm hasn't slowed down.

Happy New Year!!!

evans