• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Tohoku (Japan) 2019 Trip Report

Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Feb 8th – Starting 5 nights in our new zone

I had promised that I would only name resorts if they were already on the Western map and unfortunately, we are finding so many good places that I can’t name many of them. This resort was no exception. It was forecast to snow at a moderate rate overnight and the report said about 8cm’s of new snow. They were also forecasting 70kmph winds too, so my expectations weren’t too high for this first resort in the new zone.

We took the cable car up and then had to take a couple of double chairs up to the top. It was pretty cold so I was wearing all my layers. When we got up to the mountain though, it was knee deep. We traversed out away from the top of the lift and it was not long before we were standing at the top of an untouched stand of pretty open trees. The snow was epic and we got a few faceshots on our first run. We were able to return to the same upper double chair so we could quickly get back to our zone.

We skied several different stands of trees in that zone, skiing fresh lines each time. We saw some old lift lines (amazingly they keep all the infrastructure in place and things are left to rot, kind of sad really). The lift lines were overgrown and made for tighter skiing than the trees, so we quickly moved into the trees. After we skied several lines from the top of that chair, we headed over to the skier’s left side of the mountain.

Here we took the farthest groomer at the edge of the resort and dropped in off the side. For our first lap we stayed close to the groomer which was a bit double fall-line, so we would ski a few turns in the fall-line and then keep heading right back towards the run. That gave us a really good lay of the land. Then on the next run we headed back in except this time, we would ski about 35 turns in the fall-line and then do a brig traverse back to the right to the groomed run and since we popped out so high, we dropped back in for another 25 turns. They were sweet turns, with wide-open trees and soft, deep snow. That was probably the best snow of the trip so far.

We headed into town that night for a nice BBQ, grill your own meat-type meal. It was pretty good but ordering was a little challenging given it was all in Japanese. We did ok with pictures and Google translate and everyone ate well. Then it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

20190208_081245.jpg
My yogurt art....

20190208_094421.jpg
Waiting for the tram....

20190208_094456.jpg The team! Gary, Gav, Rich and Gordo.

20190208_094514.jpg Friendly kids waiting for the tram....

20190208_094923.jpg

20190208_103645_002_01.jpg

20190208_103645_017_01.jpg

20190208_103659_001_01.jpg There was some poppin' going on!

20190208_103711_003_01.jpg

20190208_125033.jpg Claiming it!

20190208_132928.jpg No allergies allowed....

20190208_141752.jpg
Skiing a gnarly little jungle/pillow line on the way back to the hotel. Richard is the black blob higher up to the right.....

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Feb 9th – Iwate Kogen Ski Area

See, there you go, I named one! So why I hear you ask? Well, let me divulge….. this was only a short drive from our hotel and when the sun came out, sits on the side of the impressive Mt. Iwate. That is a big mountain and there are several resorts on it’s flanks. I would love to climb up and ski the massive vertical from the top! We’ll see if that happens.

Iwate has 6 lifts (1 gondola which actually fits your fat skis outside and very helpful people who take your skis and put them into the racks and take them out for you at the top, plus 5 double chairs). Most of our time was spent on the gondola (the old bubble design that they used to have in Gulmarg). The problem with Iwate is they are quite aggressive at keeping people out of the trees, so you do have to be quite subtle if you duck into the woods.

There are very few ropes but a few signs. We did find some quite nice trees but here the gullies in those treed areas can be quite steep in places, so you need to know where you are going. There is a nice ridgeline from the top of the gondola that would make for a nice skin track up towards Mt. Iwate, but who knows if they would get upset with you for skinning up from there.

We did have a ski instructor ask us to stay out of the trees on the first run and then the guys did get a yelling at from a patroller at the end of the day for skiing a line in the trees. It seems like this isn’t the place to be looking for pow in the trees. We’ll have to try somewhere else tomorrow.

Unfortunately, just before lunch, I had a nasty crash. I was about to start skiing a steep line and during my first turn, hit a sapling and that sent me spinning. I fell through some small trees and banged myself up pretty good. I twisted my right knee up pretty good and that was it for the day for me. I had to hang out in the base lodge whilst the rest of the crew kept skiing. Hopefully I could ski the next day….

20190209_084136.jpg



20190209_094233.jpg

20190209_094239.jpg Plenty of snow at the top of the gondola

20190209_132916.jpg
I had a nice view as I iced my knee...

20190209_152232.jpg
Amazing view of Mt. Iwate

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Feb 10th – Back to Mt. Iwate

Frustratingly my knee was not playing ball, so I had to sit this one out. I drove the crew to the resort and they went for a shred. They liked the mountain, but unfortunately it was pretty tracked out in the trees as there had been a few guided groups hitting the trees the day before.

There is a large backcountry bowl at the top of the upper chairlift with Sulphur-producing fumaroles at the bottom. The guys were looking at it but there were massive 10ft cornices with wind-loaded slopes around the top, so they stuck to the trees. That would be a great one to do more exploring in. Will definitely need to check it out next season.

We went to an all you can eat soba noodle house in Morioka that night. It was pretty crazy. They had a person serving you one shot noodle bowls and it was constant. Gary was eating champion at 136 bowls and I managed 104. It was pretty intense, something different but it wouldn't be too keen to do it again. Our table had more than 700 bowls collectively. I'm glad we didn't have to do the washing up.....

Feb 11th – Heading further South

We had planned to go to a different resort across in Akita Prefecture, but we had heard from another guide that it had been pretty tracked out, so we looked for a plan b. I had seen on my Facebook feed that a resort to the south of us was getting a little bit of snow so we decided to go there instead. It would be about a 1.5-hour drive. My knee was feeling a little better so I would try skiing again.

There was a lot of snow on the drive up. The resort was reporting a 3.7m base and they had received 10cm’s of new snow overnight. 10cm’s can be quite a lot more in Japan we have found, so we were excited to see what it would be like. We bought full day tickets and headed to 1 of 2 gondolas. It was the weekend but there were no queues. I had to test my knee first so I stayed on the groomers (which had powder on them). The rest of the group went into the open trees next to the run.

My knee was sore but it was manageable. I let my skis run a little and it held up. I met the group at the gondola. They had found good snow but it was pretty tracked. We went across to a chairlift and found another tree run. This time we found deep, untouched snow on a ridgeline. It was too good to not try it. My knee held up but I was hesitant and a bit in the back seat. I needed to toughen up! We went back to the same ridge for another run and this time I skied more confidently. Dr. Untouched Pow was working!

We found several tree runs and decent snow before stopping for lunch. After lunch the cloud was coming back in. We pushed to the far skier’s right side to another gladed area and without realizing it, left the ski area. Here it was nice and deep. We skied a nice line before finding some powerlines and following them back into the resort. I was tracking our run so we could follow our line and ski it again. We went a little too far to the right and had a bit of sidestep to get back to the powerlines, but we had some nice, deep, untouched lines. It was well-worth the effort.

So, all in all, a great day. I was stoked (but a little sore) to be skiing again and finding the backcountry area, really changed the nature of the resort. This is definitely a resort I would visit again and there’s plenty to still explore. We found an awesome sushi train in Morioka on the way back to our hotel. This one was a little different to the ones we'd been to in Hokkaido. Here the food was all made to order and delivered on a fast conveyor belt direct to the table. They had non-sushi items too and a menu in English, so it made for a good time. Dishes were all very inexpensive at 150 JPY or less.

IMG_2436.JPG
Bog terrain and cornices to match....
IMG_2440.JPG

IMG_2442.JPG Very tasty looking but very wind-loaded....

20190210_182943.jpg
The calm before the storm.... I don't think we realized what we were in for.

20190210_185715.jpg
Continuous bowls of noodles!

20190210_190532.jpg If you chew the noodles, then it takes up more room. Don't drink the broth either....

20190210_191610.jpg
104 bowls later..... needless to say, that was it for noodles for me for the rest of the trip!

20190211_114405_023_01.jpg Heading south, our next resort....

20190211_114439_045_01.jpg We found some great inbounds snow....

20190211_120254.jpg The big wig-wam for a base lodge.

20190211_125628.jpg
Peach Fanta! Yum!

20190211_143001_006_01.jpg Gary finding a nice pillow. We all got the shot....

20190211_143347_028_01.jpg The snow in the backcountry next to the resort was awesome. No skinning required to get to this line.

20190211_143423_018_01.jpg

20190211_143455_067_01.jpg

20190211_143522_039_01.jpg

20190211_195305.jpg
Our robo greeter at the sushi train. He had a button for English!

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Feb 12th – Last day of skiing in Tohoku

It came around so quickly! It was our last day of skiing. We had had moderate snowfalls overnight, about 6cm’s was in the forecast so that should mean a lot more in reality. It should be a good day therefore. We decided to stay at our base and get in half a days skiing. Ron and Jen had decided to hire out the local cat skiing operation for a run and had invited the rest of the group to come ski with them. That was super generous! The group was definitely up for that.

We had to be over at the base area on the other side of the mountain by about 8am, so we had a quick breakfast and then drove over in the van. We signed our waivers and all piled into the cat. We had a Japanese guide with us as a tail gunner. It was about 25 minutes to drive to the top of the abandoned side of the resort. The cat follows the old main trail and then you ski alongside the track in the ungroomed snow. There was about 20cm’s of fresh at the top as we gathered our equipment.

With Ron and Jen leading the charge, we took off, skiing several long pitches before stopping for a rest. It was leg burning stuff! It was a mellow ski down, but fun having the whole group together for a team run together. When we got to the bottom, we had to head back to the hotel to load up the vans and checkout. Then we could go for our final ski in the resort.

We purchased 4-hour tickets and off we went. The snow was deep at the top and still untouched in the trees. It was really quiet after Chinese New Year was over and we got to experience just how empty the slopes could be. Now I could understand that a lot of the resorts in Tohoku are doing it pretty tough (and why there was so much abandoned infrastructure).

We took our favorite lines through the trees at the top of the double chair and skied several untouched laps. Then we headed over to the skier’s left side of the resort and went into the trees out of the resort. Here the snow was amazing. I skied 35 turns on the first pitch and then we traversed back to the ski area and skied another 25 turns. It was awesome. We popped back into the resort and came out to the 2nd double chair. Then it was just that chair and another one, back to the top for another lap.

This time we traversed in a little lower and we found an even more open line. We skied a lot of turns until we made it down to our first traverse line. We hit that and then skied another section of open trees, further right of our previous line. They were some of the best turns of the trip and a great way to shut it down. That was it for the day, it was almost 1pm and we had a 3-hour drive to get to Aomori.

We had a little diversion along the way as a bridge we tried to cross was partially collapsing, so we had to change route and go a different way. We had a quick convenience store stop for lunch on the go and then hit the Tohoku Expressway toll road north to Aomori. The drive was long but pretty uneventful. We arrived in Aomori by about 4pm and then by the time we were all checked in and the van parked, it was closer to 5pm. I had upgraded my room from the single room to a twin room, so I had more room to finish my packing.

The other group arrived and we headed into town for dinner around 7pm. We went to the BBQ place down the street where we had had dinner our last night in Aomori previously. The food was great and we enjoyed a few beers. Then it was time for one last bash at karaoke and we had almost the whole group attend. That was a lot of fun! I got to bed a little late but it had been a good night.

20190212_080840.jpg
Cat skiing

20190212_084248.jpg Hitting the old abandoned side of the ski area for a run in the cat

20190212_084251.jpg Easy skiing and fun times!

20190212_085042.jpg The crew plus our Japanese tail gunner (green jacket on the right)

20190212_104026_037_01.jpg Heading back to the resort for a half day of skiing

20190212_104026_060_01.jpg Gav enjoying untracked turns at 10:30am

20190212_104105_026_01.jpg Gary popping some pillows

20190212_130603.jpg We weren't sure if the road was closed or not. Now we knew it was....

20190212_201340.jpg
Gary eating seared raw chicken..... I think the raw horse-meat the week before was a little better!

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Highlights of our last day of skiing from Tohoku. It was a nice way to finish things off with plenty of untouched fresh in the trees....


- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Highlights of our last day of skiing from Tohoku. It was a nice way to finish things off with plenty of untouched fresh in the trees....


- Matt
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top