26th Jan - Finally, Skiing Again!
The storm hitting Hokkaido has been pretty savage! High winds, There's been plenty of snow, but the high winds and poor visibility have shut down most of the resorts in the Otaru zone. Anything that was open during the storm, was low angle terrain and just a couple of runs. It wasn't really worth going out.
Finally on the 26th we were able to ski some runs, albeit on limited terrain at a small ski area about 25 minutes from Otaru. I wouldn't normally go there, but it was skiing and it's only a short drive from the hotel, so it was worth giving it a shot. Only half the team wanted to come out, so I had a small crew with just the 3 of us. We were there by 9am and purchased a 4-hour lift ticket.
There was only 2 lower lifts running, but that gave us access to some short but steep trees and some hidden side-stashes. We enjoyed plenty of fresh tracks in the trees and on the ungroomed runs. I spoke with a a couple of ski patrollers about being allowed to go up skinning to the next lift that was closed. They said yes so we started transitioning. Right as we did that, a guided group of 10+ Westerners pulled up alongside us and started transitioning too. Grrrr! They had tried snake us on another tree run and now they were going to be heading up to the same area as us on the skins. I just wanted to do a nice mellow tour but now we would be pushed.
So we made sure we did a quick transition and set off at a strong pace and sure enough, we were able to pull away from them. It was only about 20 minutes to get to the top and it felt nice to stretch the legs and get the lungs working again. We found some good snow underneath the closed lift and then skied down to the base to have lunch. After lunch we did the skin again, but this time pushed further skier's right to the big lodge that they use for their golf course.
There are a coupe of nice pitches below that and we had fresh tracks on both. We had to sidestep up to a wide open run which would make it easier to get back to our van. It had some tracks on it, but was still pretty fresh. We enjoyed some nice turns but as we neared the bottom, we heard a snowmobile coming towards us with a siren on. Uh oh! That could only be for us..... Sure enough it was a patroller and he was not too happy. Thankfully as we got near to him, we realized it was a patroller that spoke good English (his name was Nobu) and we apologized and he was all cool in the end. It was our last run so no big deal if he had pulled our passes, but he didn't and we had anice chat in the end. That all just added to the adventure of the day.
After we got back to Otaru, we had a fun evening meeting new people and eating tasty foods, the highlight being the grilled Genghis Kahn lamb we cooked in a small, 6-person restaurant down a tiny sidestreet....
One of many tree runs that we skied. This one was a little hidden away and involved a short sidestep and really opened up as you got further in.
Skinning up to the closed area
Steve enjoying some nice turns in the closed area. Patrol were happy to do it if we had avi gear and were responsible for self-rescue (which was all good with us).
Lap #2, Scott getting some nice pow
Steve
Skiing a line with some dam walls in it. There first time I skied here, about 5 or 6 years ago, by myself, I fell off one of the dam walls, not knowing it was there. This time I was prepared!
Enjoying a little appetizer in a small, side-street bar owned by a lovely mother and son.
The owners of the bar, a super friendly family. I just love the friendly interactions we have, despite the language barrier.
Eating in a little 6-person sidestreet restaurant in Otaru. We met some really nice Kiwi guys who were enjoying their first time in Japan.
Grilling lamb on your own personal grill. Lovely stuff!
- Matt