International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Hakuba 2020

[karlo]

I arrived at Nagano Station and am now on the approximately 1hr 15 min bus ride to Happo Village in Hakuba. That’s the village at the base of Happo-one. After my last business meeting, I hopped a 10 minute train ride to catch the Shinkansen that departed Tokyo Station at 16:24 and arrived Nagano Station at 17:45, about 1hr 20 min. By car, station to station, it’s 150 miles, driving through Tokyo traffic, taking I don’t know how long. How much time does it take to drive the 190 miles from downtown San Francisco to South Lake Tahoe, departing at 4:30 on a Wednesday?

Upon arrival at Nagano Station, I purchased to bus ticket 15 minutes in advance of departure. Nice connection. The bus is about two thirds occupied. I count only four Westerners. I heard a lot of Chinese spoken; Saturday is Chinese New Year. It’ll be a busy time at Hakuba. I’d better start thinking about restaurant reservations at those that take them.

As @Eleeski wrote in his TR, we’re hoping to hook up and ski together, and hopefully dinner too. He picked up a cold, but we’ll figure something out. Evergreen reports they have guides out above Happo-one, assessing conditions and safety. I’m thinking they’re collecting a lot of info since they’re supporting the Freeride World Tour competition being held up there. In fact, I’m thinking that face would be ideal, having been skied on, and only light snow and 10 mph forecasted at top of resort. Things are shaping up for a nice time at Hakuba. Looking forward to it.

 

[karlo]

Ok. I’m checked in and having dinner. 8:30, I went to four Japanese restaurants and they had either closed already or were not taking any more guests. I am at an Japanese operated Italian restaurant, having pasta, salad, and hot wine. I want to ski the alpine above Happo-one; never been there; seems like a low snowpack year would be the time to do it from a stability point of view. So, let’s check it out, from the video published here

Watch the Full Freeride World Tour Comp in Hakuba

Another year, another Freeride World Tour in Hakuba, Japan, and we’re excited to watch TGR Athlete and Sierra Nevada Ambassador Tim Durtschi drop fourth...

www.tetongravity.com

I fast forwarded to the skiers. 0:43 is not a bad place to start. Looks incredibly stable to me. How’s it look to you? Then, how’s the forecast for up high?

The 24th, and I’ve got the guide, is looking good to me. No huge dump, wind moderate, the competition is over. Gee, no wonder the guides are going up there tomorrow to “check” the conditions and safety. If it weren’t my first day, I’d join them.

 

[markojp]

Karlo, there's some very serious terrain a d many terrain traps up there. I'm glad you have a guide. It concerns me that you're evaluating snowpack from afar. If I were in exactly in your shoes and showing up today, even though I've been up above Happo, etc... and an familiar with the territory, I'd still check in with local guide friends and speak in detail with them (with a top map out on the table while sharing a beer), about their season observations... and then I'd join them their next time out. Hubris and lack of evaluative skills got three Kiwis killed and deeply (20 meters worth) buried while I lived there. They melted out in July. Low snow can be very dangerous as well. Please be careful and respectful of what can, and has happened in the alpine above the ski areas. If someone in your group is a Japanese speaker, pop into 'Rapie' and ask the owner Matsumoto-San how things are up above. He's been guiding and gathering snow data for 2-3 decades up there. (Also be aware that your weather data is for 6000'. The peaks above Happo top out at 10k'.)

 

[James]

Hubris and lack of evaluative skills got three Kiwis killed and deeply (20 meters worth) buried while I lived there.

20meters??

 

[markojp]

20meters??

20 meters. Things pile up deeply in terrain constrictions.

 

[Eleeski]

All the snow in Hakuba this year wouldn't pile up to 20 meters, sigh. We did see an avalanche at the top of Happo - a couple centimeters of snow from the roof of the building on top of Happo slid.

Terrain traps have a different meaning when the snow is low.

Actually it was snowing up top. Heavy wet snow that didn't build up much. Visibility was nil - especially after my goggles fogged up. We had a great time skiing with @karlo until we just got too wet. The onsen japres was perfect.

Eric

 

[karlo]

many terrain traps

20meters??

20 meters

For sure.
Here are FATMAP slope-based avy terrain maps. Does not take into account snowpack.

Skiing to skier’s right from Happo-one

Top right is the uppermost Happo-one left. Very enticing terrain to ski. Today, looking from the chair, plenty of folks skied it. But, look at that terrain trap along the exit. Death Valley.

Here’s skier’s left from the topmost chair.

Manageable exit. But, climb higher from that chair and start from further up

That’s not Death Valley. That’s the Gates of Hell. So, yes, @markojp is 110% correct in the need to exercise an abundance of caution.

Had a great day skiing with @Eleeski, his wife and their son. Below, it was raining. We stayed high and conditions were pretty good. Saw some “avalanches”, twice, off roofs of buildings. “Wintry mix” resulted in a wet and heavy snowpack; it just slid under its own weight. I’m thinking tomorrow may not be a good day after all, to ski the Happo alpine. Well, when I returned to the bottom and dropped in at Evergreen, I was informed that they’re thinking tomorrow might not be the best day to do it maybe we should alter the schedule, do the instructor training instead. ‘Aww, oh, all right, if you insist.’

Conditions today was cut up powder and packed powder at the top. Some moguls. Really fun. The new Brahma’s are great. In fact, I’ll get skins for them. With the Shifts, they’re not that heavy, comparable to touring ski rentals that Evergreen has. Line’s, K2’s, with frame bindings; they have folks that show up with alpine boots, like me years ago. I had used them and they were passable. Brahma’s in sidecountry in less deep powder will be great.

I had a couple of issues with them though. First, I felt I was skiing its tails a bit. Even felt it when skating. Had the exact same feeling on exactly the same model-year ski last April, on demo’s at Big Sky. So bad on a 167, just skating to the lift for the first ride, that I swapped them for 180, the same length I have at home, of the previous longer radius generation. (I had been wanting to try shorter than my 180). Not as severe, but felt I was still on its tails. I checked the Shift’s mount on these new skis and the boot center is over the factory line. If anything, a hair forward. Something about this ski. But, it’s fine. I’ll adjust. It carves great. It’s easy in the moguls. It was nice in the few powder turns to be had.

The second thing is, they put 100 mm brakes on an 88 ski. Clam shelled together, to carry, the brakes don’t hold. So much gap between the brake and ski, the brakes get pinched and slip through the gap. I’m asking Rhythm to replace the brakes. We’ll see.

Returning down the mountain, I was going to ski it. But, I got suspicious about where I had been directed to by the information desk. Sure enough, they had directed me to the wrong base. Rather than trying to figure it out, I downloaded on a chair. Glad I did. It would have been brushy on thin cover at the bottom. Super happy we skied at the top today and that we were at Happo-one, the highest elevation in Hakuba.

 

[karlo]

What’s a bad snow year?

International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) - Japan 2020 - Hokkaido Trip Report

Friend of mine’s been guiding in Hokkaido and wrote yesterday that there’s too little snow to ride the BC. But, today, he posted this,

www.pugski.com

In my experience, coming to Hakuba each of the last 5?, 6? years (Toshi, the owner of Shirouma-so, the ryokan where I stay at, says 7 or 8), it has always been a good snow year and I’ve been lucky to be here when it started. The trend does seem to be that the spigot gets turned on later. Last year, Chinese New Year was Feb 5. They had little snow until perhaps a week, maybe 2?, before I arrived. This year, CNY is Jan 25 and it’s hardly snowing, worse than last year. But, it appears that the spigot, at least in Hakuba, is about to turn on. 10” Monday, 8” of them overnight, followed by

Alas, not in time for me. My last day skiing will be Jan 27

But, it will be fine. From yesterday’s experience, the conditions will be fine so long as I stay high.

Much thanks to @Eleeski for dinner last night at Issei. It’s a relatively new restaurant, opened last year by a young couple. I wrote of it in last year’s TR. Duck Shabu Shabu, tonkatsu, both of their specialties were in order, as was a special ordered vegetarian Shabu Shabu. All of it was delicious. Sorry, no pics. I highly recommend Issei.

 

[karlo]

Ever have the chance to ski with a former member of the Austrian ski team? I had the fortune of doing so yesterday and the day before. Again, having cancelled touring in Myoko, I decided use my extra days in Hakuba for instructor training. It turned out to be with Stefan Gassner, also a full cert Austrian trainer/examiner.
For our purposes, conditions were perfect at Tsugaike, very firm groomers. With the earlier snow, coverage was, despite the warm air temperature and rain the day before, was top to bottom. Thin at the very bottom, with a very small patches of grass exposed. But, we didn’t ski over a single rock. Stefan explained that, each year, villagers remove rocks from the pistes. Being that I am on new skis, I am relieved.

The first day, we worked on short turns all morning, very rapid ones, exploring stance, fore/aft pressure, and posture on the effect on quickness; exploring rising up to initiate a turn and, at higher speeds, using rebound instead. Yup, I got clinic’d on how to teach bump skiing. In the afternoon, we slowly and meticulously worked on wedge turns (he calls them snow plow turns), wedge christies (he calls them stem christies), open track parallel (drifted parallel turns), and finally progressing to more dynamic parallel turns, yet not carving. Previously, I had been clinic’d on one type of turn or another, but never in such detail, never in a comparative progression. By the end of the day, I was totally beat. With the short turns in the morning, even in the run outs to the lift, I had far, far exceeded the number of turns I make in a day, then add all the rest in the afternoon. Dinner was early at my favorite unagi (eel) restaurant, then I crashed on my futon by 7:30. I think the day was as tiring as the biggest touring day I’ve ever done.

The second day, Stefan helped me overcome a persistent problem in my personal skiing. At the end of the first day, I felt I had a problem with my left footers when doing the more dynamic turns. The morning of the second day, we did some of those as a warm up, then went to carving. What better way to expose a flaw. I had an undisciplined pelvis at the end of my right footed turns, resulting in inability to tip properly and early into my left footers. He gave me drills that gave me cues on what my pelvis was doing. What I discovered was that all the dry land work I’d been doing to rehabilitate an injured left hip could not duplicate what we do when skiing. These drills forced me into the rotation and abduction sequences needed to properly finish and start a turn. These drills are now going to be part of my rehab routine and my warm-up. By the end of the morning, we were having a blast carving. The afternoon was a light one, standing on the side of pistes, assessing skiers. It wasn’t what I expected; it wasn’t just movement analysis straight to prescription. It was also exploration of reasons why a skier might be doing what they’re doing. Awesome. Really made me think. We ended the day by watching classes and discussing class management.

The conversations on the rides up were also enlightening. Stefan had been on the Austrian team. They had tools like pressure sensing foot soles. They could project the results with a computer and see fore-aft pressure through a turn, for both feet, for both turns. They would train with cuffs removed and lower parts of the boot trimmed off, to remove ankle support. He roots for his racing classmate, Vincent Kriechmayr, who tied for second at Kitzbuehel yesterday. It was a great two days, every bit as worthwhile as the cancelled touring, had conditions allowed, in Myoko. I’m happy, and Stefan is no doubt ecstatic,

“ No Austrian had won the prestigious race, which is usually attended by tens of thousands of spectators, since Hannes Reichelt in 2014.” Mayer came in first; Stefan’s classmate tied for second,

Matthias Mayer ends Kitzbuehel downhill drought for Austria

Matthias Mayer won the classic World Cup downhill on the Streif course, becoming the first Austrian winner of the event in six years.

olympics.nbcsports.com

 

[James]

Sounds great, how did you get hooked up with Stefan?
What’s the new warmup routine?

 

[karlo]

how did you get hooked up with Stefan?
What’s the new warmup routine?

I knew Evergreen, the backcountry guide service has a ski school and I had asked if they could set me up with an Examiner. They did. Turns out they have an Academy trains their own snow sports instructors, and runs freeride courses, gap years, and instructor courses.

Evergreen Alpine Academy: Professional Mountain Educators in Hakuba

Located in Hakuba, Nagano, Japan, Evergreen offer Gap Year Programs, Ski Instructor Courses, Snowboard Instructor Courses, Backcountry Training and more.

www.evergreen-alpineacademy.com

Stefan is one of the managers at the Academy and that’s who they hooked me up with. A short CV is on the meet the trainers page.

Meet the Trainers | Evergreen Alpine Academy

Our team of ski and snowboard instructors and guides work in the Hakuba mountains every day and love passing on their knowledge and skills.

www.evergreen-alpineacademy.com

Considering that this was a last minute change in my plans and itinerary, I really lucked out.

The drills added to my warmup all serve the same purpose, keeping the pelvis facing more forward. He had me do hand on opposite hip and extending the other arm forward and down the hill. Poles strapped together, one either side of me at hip level. Poles on shoulders, extending one and the other forward. There was one in which he took one of my poles; I forget what that one was. The very basic holding both poles horizontally and keeping them directed downhill. Doing them, when carving, I could feel muscle fibers (and ligaments?) in my left hip stretching. I’m guessing I’ve been avoiding stretching them. I could feel rotation and abduction muscular activation sequences that I had not been doing. But, after the drills, the pistons were firing in sequence and all was good. I like the poles on shoulders and the hand on opposite hip; those are the ones that I’ll add to my current off-snow warmup.

 

[Eleeski]

@karlo How's the snow? Any new powder? Did we leave too early? You get those Brahamas working? I should have let you coach me as practice for your level 3 - lesson on dealing with incorrigibles.

Skiing and hanging out with you was really fun! Thanks.

Eric

 

[karlo]

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. We hiked up Happo-one, the name of the ridge, from the highest lift of its namesake resort, then dropped into a sun-drenched southern face of Happo-ike, which means Happo Pond.

“We visited Japan for one month and hiked all over the country. While we found many incredible hikes, none matched the views around Hakuba. We hiked past Happo Pond to Mt Karamatsu.”

Happo Pond (Hakuba-mura) - 2020 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor

www.tripadvisor.com

Here’s a topo. The top of the lift is on the left, circled. Mt. Karamatsu is further up, off the map, up the ridge. The chair lifts further away are those of Goryu.

We skied the zone marked by “1”. The top was pretty firm, but gave way to a nice little wind deposited powder stash, leeward of a drift, courtesy of my guide, Raphy. That gave way to a firm surface. All told, it was about 300m to a flatter spot where we had lunch, sitting on a bench, again, courtesy of Raphy. Here’s the view.
In the first few seconds of the video, a snowboarder is seen making some nice turns at the top. Here’s a still.

There’s a photographer standing to the side. Those above and below are hooting and hollering as each comes down. A blast to watch.

If we were at a resort in North America, this, and other faces, both North and South, would be lift served, avy controlled back bowls. I asked Toshi about that, the owner of the ryokan I stay at. A new lift is too expensive. The resort is a community establishment, not a corporate one. That being the case, pretty impressive; and, explains why villagers come together to even pick rocks of the pistes.

After a leisurely lunch, we hiked up for another lap. Same zone, just from a little higher up the ridge. Hard snow again at the top, but became nice corn lower down; beautiful Spring skiing conditions. After that, we did an easy hike up towards the resort, traversing to a lower point on the ridge. After mounting a gentle spine, it was smooth sailing to the top of the resort. Here we are, traversing just below the ridge, with the view of Hakuba Valley unfolding.
The skiing through the resort was super fun, being that I’m an Eastern skier. Hardpack, both groomed and ungroomed with good sized moguls. Lower down, the piste widens. Super glad I cleaned up my carving technique with Stefan. He was on 190 GS skis, 27 meter radius. Now was my chance to do much the same, on 186, 26.5’s. Ok, mine are a 109 waist. But, who needs quick edge to edge to carve long turns? I opened it up and had a blast. Then, I thought, let’s cut a turn off the groomer, in the bumped ungroomed alongside. After all, I’m on a stretch Cadillac right? I learned the hardpack-way why 109’s with touring bindings are not the best choice for higher speed carving in bumps. Very first bump, the outside ski is gone. Ok, we can finish this turn and get back on piste, right? Nope. Next bump, or I think the lip between ungroomed and groomed, the inside ski is gone and I unsuccessfully attempt to skate on the edges of my boots. It’s a yard sale, right in front of Raphy. Hysterical. I’m then looking at my bindings and neither heel have released. I look closer. Ah, being touring bindings, the torque release is at the heel, not the toe; perhaps they did release. I don’t think that detail, nor the wider skis, helped the cause. The rest of the ride down was a blast. We were able to ski all the way down to the gondola. The final stretch was patches of ice, the translucent kind, on grassy piste, not patches of grass on icy piste. Really had to pick our way down and make some well timed turns. Felt just like home.

Besides the skiing, there were other great experiences. What really caught my eye at the ridge was whatabove the Tsukaige resort.
A bit confusing, so, marked by red,

Tsukaige resort


Kami-jo


Norikura, connected to Kami-jo by Denkuhara (remember that)


Koren-gay (spelling?)


and Y Couloir


If you’ve read last year’s Hakuba TR, you’ll know that I was at Denkuhara. The weather was uncooperative. For Monday, I want return and continue to Norikura.

More photos from Happo-one, the ridge.




Y Couloir full frontal


Looking up the ridge,

Can you find the line featured in this trailer?
How did they get up there?

“There may only be a couple days a season where conditions are right to ski Kaerazu, and an attempt at it should be undertaken with extreme caution.”

Kaerazu No Ken | The Mountain of no Return | Hakuba, Japan

Every good ski resort has one zone or line that is plain view, and everyone dreams about riding. For Happo-One, Kaerazu is that line. Kaerazu no ken translates to "the mountain of no return," and the skiable zone on it is often referred to as the Kat Face. It is the obvious steep, scary looking...

unofficialnetworks.com

“It is about 3 to 4 hours hiking from the top of the lifts.” But, the gondola opens at 8, then there are two more chair lifts to the top. Raphy informs me that the restaurant at the top of the resort is also an inn. One can overnight there. That settles it. I’m not going to ski Kaerazu. But, next year, conditions permitting, I want to overnight up there, don my headlamp and head out before sunrise. I want to capture what these three, last year, were after,

Photo(s) of the day...

Today, Espace Diamant, France. Nice powder day. Not a lot of vertical here, but a WHOLE lot of fun!

www.pugski.com

Had I only known. This day would have been a perfect day to do it.

Not much cover on the ridge, but if you have to go, there are facilities,


Raphy skied down a bit, skins on, to recover my pole after it was blown off its perch while I was taking photos.

That was the second time!! The first time, I knocked it down the North face while reaching for my camera.
Yes, it was a great day and I’m hoping to do Norikura, above Tsukaige, the next day.

 

[karlo]

@karlo How's the snow? Any new powder? Did we leave too early? You get those Brahamas working? I should have let you coach me as practice for your level 3 - lesson on dealing with incorrigibles.

Skiing and hanging out with you was really fun! Thanks.

Powder is over-rated.

Wham, double eject when I was blindsided by the side of a deep mogul! Faceplant with snow packed goggles. The visibility issue went from horrible to serious snow blindness.

I didn’t have such complications from my double eject.

I learned the hardpack-way why 109’s with touring bindings are not the best choice for higher speed carving in bumps.

Did we leave too early? WE did.

My last ski day was Monday. The Brahma’s are great onpiste. Worked out really well. And, you don’t need any coaching, at least from me But, if you’re back at Hakuba, for sure hook up with Stefan (see TR). Hope to ski with you again!

 

[karlo]

What’s the new warmup routine?

From another thread, I came across this video
basically we did drills that accomplished much the same as the one at 0:40. At the end of the right footers, my left hip really got , and in the transition to the other edge, my left hip muscles had to do things they weren’t doing. Funny thing is, when I first saw this video a couple years ago, I pooh-pooh’d it. No one that, not even to carve. But, now I see the benefit.

 

[markojp]

FWIW, there are no lifts above 1650m because by law, it's designated quazi-national park land.

 

[karlo]

As hoped for, my next and last day would be a hike to Norikura, accessed from the top of Tsugaike resort. The day is overcast, so there’s no prospect of corn. It’ll be a search for powder stashes on slopes covered with ice or breakable crust. I’m hopeful it’s the former, as my skills in the latter is a work in progress.

It’s a reasonably early start and I’m at Evergreen’s office by 7:30. We’re at the resort early enough that there’s neither a line for the one-lift ticket, nor for the gondola. Ticket-in-pocket, up we go. At the top, the offpiste/backcountry avy assessment is posted.

The red X turns green when you approach with a working beacon in transmit-mode. Aspect isn’t a parameter in the avy hazard assessment. Nevertheless, it’s consistent with the team’s assessment. The options are, Plan A ascend Norikura and ski down the north aspect; Plan B, if weather that’s headed our way arrives early, round Kami-jo and ski its north aspect; and if all fails, we retreat back down Denkuhara. Here’s Plan A,

Tsugaike, past Kami-jo, onto Denkuhara, where I was last year.


Then, from Denkuhara to Norikura.


We are not planning on continuing to Koren-gay, nor further to Y-Couloir.

I learned that it’s most helpful, getting to Y Couloir, to depart before sunrise. That, or overnight in a cave above the resort. Have shovel, will travel.

Those blue skies and sunny slopes in the photos are yesterday’s. Today, this is what Norikura looks like when we top Denkuhara,


The wind has kicked up, our shells are on. It’s also been an icy climb. The day before, at Happo-ike, when I mentioned how crampons might have been nice, Raphy felt that would be overkill. Not today. There were a few times that Raphy had trouble skinning up. I had a tougher time. Slipped so much, I couldn’t get a kick turn in. Didn’t help that I forgot to set my boots walk mode. Raphy was willing to continue, but thought that Plan B would be a good idea. I was way ahead of him, so I grudgingly agreed.

We head across Denkuhara towards Kami-jo. Along the way, I get my view of the Sea of Japan,

Sea? What Sea?

As we approach Kami-jo, I turn and look wistfully at Norikura,


Our objective had been to ski down the north face, to the right of photo. Looking upon this makes me want all the more to go up to Norikura, and beyond, on a clear day, to take in the views. Zoom in and you can see four more-intrepid skiers hiking up the eastern face. I wonder whether or not they had crampons.

We round Kami-jo and descend the north side. Higher up, in the sub-alpine, the conditions are a mix of windblown powder and wind affected snow, nice skiing. Lower down, in the alpine, it’s the dreaded breakable crust and a lot of brush, brush that is normally covered with snow; it’s hard going, a lot of side slipping, both down and side to side. Once in the resort, we can open it up; what a blast. Here’s some vibe at Tsugaike,

My time at Hakuba was not as expected. Japow was not in the cards. But, in the search for alternatives and in the absence of such “distraction”, I discovered much more and look forward to returning to Hakuba, with both ski and boot crampons, and camera. The trip back, from Nagano to Tokyo, on the Shinkansen, hints at more to come.