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“On the busiest day of our visit (Saturday) there were maybe 45 skiers and riders on and around the trails” |
I’ve been snowboarding for about ten years now. I’m by no means an expert. I’m not even very good, but I have been to many of the well known places in the US. Ever since my first winter here in Japan, I’ve known that the mountains around here offer much better snow than anything in New England and powder that’s comparable to Utah and Colorado. The resorts are, however, much more crowded and don’t provide a great amount of variety or challenging terrain. The best time I’ve had up until now was at a mountain a few hours outside of Tokyo during this past New Years Eve. Orimo, Mark and I spent hours among the trees in powder that came up to our shins. We had a great time, but it doesn’t hold a candle Asahidake in Hokkaido.
Asahidake reaches an elevation of 2,290 meters and is famous for the rare plants and animals that populate it during the summer. In fact, it is much more popular as a hiking mountain than a ski retreat. As a ski mountain it is on par with nothing else that I’ve ever seen or heard of before. It is a true local’s mountain with all of four runs (A,B,C and D) and a single gondola from the base station to just below the summit. On the busiest day of our visit (Saturday) there were maybe 45 skiers and riders on and around the trails. The locals often asked us where we were from; not because there was a gaijin in our group, but because they, the locals, outnumber everyone else by such a wide margin that they simply have to look at your jacket to know if you’re an outsider. The entire time I was on the mountain I felt like I was in a friend’s backyard.
To say that Asahidake is a local mountain doesn’t mean that it lacks variety or challenging terrain. On the first day we kept mostly to and around the four courses. During the first run on the second day though, Mayumi, shot straight off the side of B course and headed for what looked like a cliff. Orimo and I followed her to find ourselves in the middle of a powder glade. We spent the rest of the trip away from the courses often waist deep in powder and steaming down the sides of what seemed like seventy-degree cliffs daring avalanches to bury us alive. Avalanche beacons are a must and cheap to rent at the visitor center. Basically Asahidake is backcountry boarding with gondola access rather than helicopters.
And oh yes, the amount of snow on the mountain is astounding. Just take a look at these two pictures: 1 and 2. That’s the same building from the side, which means that when I took the second one there must have been around ten feet of snow on the ground. I mean the entire first floor of the lodge is just gone…
Anyway, I’m not really capable of expressing how insanely incredible our three days of riding in Hokkaido were. All I know is that I wish I were there now. So since you can’t be, take a look at:
my photos - http://www.flickr.com /photos/simulacre/sets /72057594075342681/
Orimo’s photos - http://www.flickr.com /photos/simulacre/sets /72057594075891531/
Orimo’s videos - http://www.dailymotion .com/simulacre/Asahidake +Orimo
教訓 Lessons I learned in Hokkaido:
1. Bring a shovel and snowshoes
2. Don’t stop
?3. Mayumi is damn good
4. Use the correct metering or your pictures don’t turn out well
5. Go back, Go Back, GO BACK
previous travel blog entry
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