Secret Japan

[BackCountryDude]

Ooops sorry, this was intended for the Gifu section.

Anyhow, headed up to Mt Norikura last weekend for the first time to check out the rumours I'd heard about very late season skiing. To get to Norikura you have to take the bus from the Honokidaira bus stop, as privately driven vehicles are not allowed.

We got to the top bus station, and the weather and view were just incredible. I hooked up with two skiers, and off we went on the hike to get into the main drop in point, which is at an elevation of around 2,700 metres. Suddenly, the weather became very bad, with no visibilty, but the two skiers kept on hiking. I went back for a coffee, about an hour later the weather cleared up, so I went back for my second attempt. Anyway, here are the photos.









Some advice. Because the bus takes you up to about 2,700 meters, and the entry point is about 2,700 meters, and the idea basically being that you ski or snow board down, this poses the problem of getting back. Be prepared for a very long hard slog back. Make sure you have one of those packs that you can carry all of your gear on your back, so you can utilise both arms back for the haul back. There is a road at the bottom, but it is currently impassable.

Be prepared for sudden changes in weather. Visibilty can be reduced to zero in a matter of minutes.

Altogether, highly recomended for winter sports, hiking, nature viewing etc. If you go up, have fun and stay safe.

BCD

[sanji]

Hi BCD,

Thanks for those photos.

Indeed, skiing in Japan in late season can be really interesting! I was in Naeba, Niigata-ken last year during Golden Week, early May, and the ski was really good. We stay on the ski fields around Naeba, there was enough snow, not a single stone and the outside temperature was around 15 degrees Celsius!

And the best of all: it seems that Japanese people do not ski after March, so the ski resort was empty, even if everybody was having holidays...

But this is the first time I hear about skiing in late May! As you said, weather can change really fast, so be prepared for that.

sanji


[MOD: moved to Travel in Japan section (all discussions on travel were merged in one forum for the moment, division might be made later if there are too much posts.]