Snowy snowland of Hokkaido!

The snow just kept on falling in Niseko!

More than 2m (6 feet) of snow as hitted the resort over the past week.

But even if it was puking, we made the hard (and a bit weird) decision to leave Niseko to explore new venues on Hokkaido. 

One range of mountain located in the southeast of the island with peak nearly as high as the one in the Daisetsuzan National park (park that features most of the highest mountain on Hokkaido) as gotten my attention. From the topographical map and by the view I was able to get on Google Earth, it was looking promising. 

So we took off to get a look at it! After about a day of driving, we were able to get our first view of the mountains.

Unfortunately, the closest we were from the mountain, the less skiable they looked. The high peaks seemed to present some decent lines, but the access would required a lot of hiking and bushwhacking. To top it off, there wasn't much snow on the ground next to the road… And by not much snow, I mean less than a foot. I guess I have to call it a big FAIL!

Nevertheless, this drive brought us back to Nissho Pass, where we scouted some really skiable terrain last year on a day off. We decided to give it a go! We drove up to the pass into some stormy weather. We dressed up and made our way up! 

It was really cold!!!

One of the coldest I have been in a long time hiking up! It was really windy but we found some nice sheltered snow to make our way down! Happy birthday to me!!!

The storm just get worst at the end of the day and being in such an exposed spot, we figured it would not be so skier-friendly the following day. 

After an evening spend eating Okonomiaki and Takoyaki and sipping warm sake, We went back to a sure spot: Tokachi-dake!

The snowbanks from the parking lot gave us the assurance that there was enough snow to get a good day. The weather even cleared out a bit leaving us the impression that we even get some sunshine!

We were sooooooo wrong! Soon after we started skinning up, the clouds move back and the wind picked up! Amelie did get very cold and even with two down jackets on and a stop half way down to warm her feet up, there was nothing else to do than to rush down back to the car!

So the forecast for the followings days are mostly snow, snow and snow. This is one of the best snow-strike I have seen on Hokkaido of my 3 travels here!

We might head back near Niseko to explore some new backcountry spots if it ever stop to snow!

evans

Snow was waiting for us!

We finally got our car. And what a car it is! I always dreamt about driving a Delica, but I have honestly never thought about driving such a pimp one! Some work was done to build a bed in and we are now all set to hit the road!!!

Before leaving our cozy little cabin, we invited JS L'Heureux, an expat from Quebec working this winter as a lead guide for Black Diamond Tours for some homemade Okonomiaki, our favorite typical dish.

With not much new snow and not being much a groomer fan, we headed out to Mt. Shiribetsu close to Niseko for a backcountry run. Even if the snow on the ground was not able to cover all the 'Sassa' (the green leaves sticking out of the ground), we were still able to get some really nice turns in! The bottom was rather soft and we had about a foot of fresh on top!

Some new snow brought us back to the resort hoping to get some decent turns! The 20cm that fell overnight certainly soften up the conditions, but I was really hoping for more!

We went to the backside of Annuupuri (Mountain on which Niseko resorts are located) for a run I have never done. After putting our skins on in the backcountry in some kinds of stormy weather, we started skinning up. The weather just get worst and worst. Since a fatality happen 2 days ago around the area we were skiing and a little slab was forming as we were getting higher, we stopped our ascension short from the summit. Nevertheless, we still got some really nice deep and soft turns.

On our first night sleeping in the van, as usually, we had slightly opened the windows. The following morning brought us a storm inside the van!!!

After 20 minutes of cleaning inside, we stepped out of the van and realized there was about 1.5 feet of fresh on the ground! We, as you can certainly imagine, rushed ourselves to Niseko to hit this massive storm that was still in full effect!

We rode inbounds and were able to get steady faceshots runs after runs! We skied until 16h30 in a storm that was continuously filling up our tracks!

We were quite glad to have been able to ski this storm that was easing up!

After spending the night in a closed window van, we woked up with a foot of new overnight snow on the ground. The no brainer was to go back to the hill as it was snowing at about 10cm an hour in some points! We tried Niseko Hirafu as a stomping ground for this storm. The first few runs were nice with not many people on the slopes. It soon began to be crowded. The base of Niseko Hirafu is the closest to much of the bars and the accommodation avalaible, it for sure attracts the tourist! The peak gates remained closed all day and we ski the glades that didn't get too much tracked. In fact, we were able to get some really nice deep and soft turns again all day.

At the time of writing, it is still snowing out there and it looks again promising for tomorrow!

From Niseko, your powder reporter!
evans

World ski tour 2011

I'm back again for another winter full of adventures and powder turns!!!

Winter has taken some time to settle in Quebec. While Western Canada and USA were getting hammered by one of the best start ever, we were getting hitted by major rainfall. My training for the season has started quite soon as I was quite motivated by the upcoming season. It included the typical bedroom training and hiking my local mountain, Mont-Sainte-Anne.

I also did my yearly pilmgrinage to the Santa Claus day at Le Massif where, one day a year about a thousand of people gather dress as Santa to fund Dr Clown foundation.

I have also been fairly buzy writing article this fall and getting some of my story published.




I am also quite glad to have been able to hook up sponsor by Outdoor Research, Scarpa, Gregory, Leki, Darn Tough and IO-Bio.

This winter is going not to feature a winter long roadtrip but a winter long journey around the world.

First stop: Japan!

Even if la Nina brough a crazy good start to North America, canned coffee, ramen soup, heated toilet seat and cheap sushi has brought me back on the island. I will stay in Japan until the 21st. I will then fly back home to Montreal to catch up with my Dad for a 4 weeks trip to India where we will go skiing in Gulmarg. On my way back, I will stop in Eastern Europe, where I will be joined by my friends for 2 weeks and by Amelie for another 2 weeks.

We landed on the 30th after having to change flights because New York airport was disfunctionnal because of a snowstorm. 15 hours after we left Montreal, we finally arrived in Tokyo, where Amelie and I were to spend New Year.

After wandering around the city and enjoying what really looked like an asleep giant, we move towards Zojoji Temple where a celebration was held to celebrate the end of 2010. It was not the biggest thrill ever to witness 3000 balloons fliying off, but still quite nice to live. We didn't party much since we were quite tired and jetlagged from our trip.

On the New Year, we travelled to Hokkaido and then to Niseko.

I was quite happy to meet with Clayton again at the Black Diamond Lodge. He is the only one able to get me a van in Japan at a decent price! Since the car we were to use was not ready, he let us stay in a nice cozy cabin next to his main lodge.

Unfortunately for us, the snowbanks looked hard and much smaller than what we expected. From last year experience, there is about a meter less snow on the ground.

The conditions were not that hard, but we can definitively use more snow!

There is some snow in the forecast in a few days so hopefully, it will be dump up to Hokkaido's reputation!   

Beginning the 6th winter of Snowchasing!
evans