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International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Japow Trip Report

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Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
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Friday 13th Jan

Group arrival day

We had to head from Otaru to Chitose to pick up the new guests. We had two groups coming in; one with Cynthia and then my group. Most of the guests were from Colorado (10 out of the 12) and then we had 2 guys from California. My group consisted of 3 return guests from the previous season and 3 first time visitors. Everyone in my group had met each other before so it was a nice easy introduction.

We also had another guide, Jeremy from Big Sky, MT coming along to shadow before he started with his group from Ireland for session 2. Jeremy is a splitboard guide and I had worked with him in Gulmarg, India before. I was excited to show him around Hokkaido. Francisco was also with us as he was coming to Furano for a couple of days. 3 of the guys were arriving late as they couldn’t meet the pickup in time, so they hired a private van to take them up to Furano. We would meet them there. It was about a 3 hour drive to Furano and it was dark by the time we got in.


Saturday 14th Jan

Furano ski around day

It was the first day with my new group. Everyone was from Colorado and we had done our avalanche training day in Loveland before we went to Japan, so we were straight into the skiing. It was a lovely sunny day, so we had great views from the top after we top the Furano cable car and then the double chair to the high point.

From there we went straight to the Premium Zone and hiked to the top. It’s a little quicker from the Furano side, definitely a lower angle hike at least compared to the Kitanomine side. The snow was pretty tracked up but we found some nice pockets here and there, but we skied it mostly to orientate the group. From there we skied all the way down to the Kitanomine side and then headed back up for a run out the gate near the top of the gondola. Here the snow was much better, hardly anyone had been in there and we found plenty of untouched snow. We skied a couple of laps in this zone.

Then we headed back up to the Premium Zone but this time, dropped down the backside of it. We were able to get several really good turns in before traversing right back to the bootpack. That was some of the best skiing of the day. We skied the Premium Zone again and then did a couple of groomer laps from the top to the bottom. It was a nice way to start the day, hopefully we would get some fresh snow soon but nothing was on the immediate horizon…….. at least if it's not snowing and it's sunny, you get the views! Not a bad trade-off.....


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The crew! From left to right; Jeremy, Jen, Steve, Dave, Amir, Chris and Gordon.


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Gordon up high, checking out the view down to Furano town and the Daisetsuzan national park with it's active volcanoes. We would ski there a couple of days later.


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Top of the Premium Zone, getting ready to drop in. Volcanoes in the background.


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Dave at the top of the hike! Easy for him coming from the higher altitude of Denver.


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Gordon sampling the goods outside the ski area near the top of the Kitanomine gondola.


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Chris, good times in Furano!

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Quick clip of the start of the run down the backside of the Premium Zone in Furano.......


This was a line I had been looking at for a while. There were no ropes once you had gone through the gate into the PZ, so we dropped the backside. Not wanting to go too far down the first time in, we were able to make it straight back to the start of the bootpack, so no hiking out, just a couple of sidesteps here and there. It was a nice run with quality dry, compact powder, considering there was no new snow.

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
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Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Sunday 15th Jan

Sahoro

There was no new snow in Furano was it was time to hit the road and show the group somewhere new. We made the 1.5 hour journey to the mountain and enjoyed the view along the way. The sun was out but it was cold and windy. There was no new snow (no new snow in the entire Furano area) so we’d need to hope that Sahoro was quiet (which normally isn’t a problem).

I’d wanted to check out the new lift that accesses the new north-facing zone. Unfortunately it wasn’t open the first time we went (it was wind scoured) and when we got there, it wasn’t currently open either. Thankfully it did open later in the day (more on that later). We took the gondola to the top and went straight to the trees to the skier’s right side. There was plenty of fresh wind-blown snow to be had with some nice turns to be had. On the next run we stayed underneath the gondola and went into the farmed trees (with the dead straight, open corridors) and skied fresh lines in there. Those trees are pretty cool; I’ve never been in farmed trees like that before.

I found a zipper line bump run at the side of a groomed run and enjoyed some fast mogul turns. It’s definitely a challenge skiing zipper line bumps with 132mm underfoot skis, touring boots and a pack on your back. I gave it a red hot go and managed to link a few together. You’ll find a lot of these rut lines carved into the sides of groomed runs. I’d seen another run like that lower down at Sahoro and I remember seeing a really long run like that the year before in Rusutsu. You sometimes wonder what the more advanced Japanese skiers like to do other than skiing groomers (we know not many are getting into the powder in the trees at least) and I think this must be it. I think one day I’ll take some race skis out and go and blast around on the groomers and ski some bumps. Not sure when that will be though, the lure of pow-pow is too strong me thinks! We explored several more lines in the trees near the top of the gondola, trying to harvest the wind-blown fresh as much as we could.

After lunch we headed up again and saw that the rope was down for the backside of the mountain and the new quad chair was spinning. It had only just opened (first time for the season apparently). Time for us to go and check it out! Most of the group took the obvious line into the trees closest to the main run; I asked Chris if he wanted to go on an adventure and checkout further to the skier’s left, out towards the chairlift. We kept pushing and eventually we came to the lift. There were no ropes or signage telling us we couldn’t ski it, so down we went as it was all untouched. We enjoyed some nice turns at the start and then it became increasingly wind affected. I came over a blind roll and made a turn to the right and it all turned to rock. It was pretty nasty and thankfully I wasn’t skiing fast (I tend to keep the speed down in new areas for the sake of self-preservation) but the downhill ski’s inside edge did take a nasty impact. I had managed to find the only rock in Hokkaido. I’m good for things like that……

That was enough warning for us and we headed back to the right to find a more sheltered line. Sure enough we did find some more trees in a natural gully and enjoyed some really nice snow. That’s where the rest of the group had come down (they had made the best line choice in hindsight) and they were waiting for us at the bottom. We got to see our tracks (and that lovely, now exposed rock I hit) on the way up. It looked pretty nasty and it could have been a lot worse for me. I was thankful to be in one piece. We did another run through the trees underneath the lower part of the gondola and that was pretty much it for the day. Then we had the 1.5 hour drive back to Furano. There was still no new snow on the horizon, so we weren’t sure on exactly what we would do.

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When there aren't wide enough racks on the outside of the gondola, then you have to bring the skis inside. There is a bit of an art-form to this (think of the old game, "Kerplunk"!), or in this case, just pile all the skis on Dave! That'll do it......


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The team getting ready at the top of the gondola for run 1.


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Chris ringing the bell for good luck.


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There were plenty of little pockets left at the side of the trees. Gordon finds a nice line right next to a groomed run.


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Video's to come.......

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
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Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Ok, here's a few quick clips from our day in Sahoro!





Fun times! I added a few extra video's as I didn't have too many (ie. one only!) from the next day back in Furano.

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
Industry Insider
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Posts
1,097
Location
Granby, CO
Monday 16th Jan

Furano – ski out gate at top of Furano, ski backside of Premium Zone

There was talk of a storm coming through, but apart from increased wind and a couple of snow flurries, the dry spell would continue. I don’t remember too much about this day and the only footage I got was of us skiing a new line down the backside of the Premium Zone. It was untouched and looked pretty good, but the wind had gotten in there and the snow was pretty dense. At least it made for a relatively easy (well, when I say easy, at least we could just bootpack straight back up so it didn’t take long at all to get out). That was about the highlight for the day, so I will keep this post brief because the next day, well it was pretty inspiring!

With fresh snow on it, this would be a great line, nice to ski something different but we'll need to return when conditions are more favorable.....

- Matt
 
Thread Starter
TS
Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
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Joined
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Location
Granby, CO
Tuesday 17th Jan

Tokachidake – left zone

Given the lack of new snow, it was time to get creative. From Furano, you can see the Tokachidake Mountains and the Daisetsuzan national park where there are several active volcanoes. Steven, one of the members of our group had suggested we head out there for some backcountry skiing. I had never been out there before, but had heard good things about the area from locals in Furano so we did some research on where to start. As long as they were ok with going somewhere completely new, then I was up for it. Gordon decided to stay in Furano but the rest of us jumped in the van and took the hour drive out to the start of the national park.

The drive was nice and easy on some very quiet roads. We went past an army base with soldiers out practicing their cross country skiing. We honked as we went passed and one of them fell over, he was not amused! Thankfully I was able to drive on and they did not return fire….. The view of the volcano was pretty amazing as we got closer, with plumes of white smoke (or maybe steam) rising from a vent near the top. It was a sunny day but who knew how long it would last for given the weather in these parts can change very quickly. Up and up we went until finally we came to an obvious car park just past a little hotel/onsen. There were several cars in the car park and people getting their gear ready. This would be our spot. We jumped out and could see 3 obvious zones. We didn’t want to go too crazy given it was a new area for us, so we started looking at an option to the lookers left that involved skinning up next to a ridgeline where we would be able to see the carpark for quite a while. The middle zone was the most obvious, but had the most people in it. To the right, it got a lot steeper and the starting point looked lower down. We were too high for that one. We chose the left line. We would plan our route as we kept going but wouldn’t deviate too far from the ridge and the obvious landmark.

The views from the carpark were absolutely stunning as we planned our line. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have been too and there seemed to be all kinds of terrain, from mellow ramps to AK style steeps, pillow lines and trees down lower. We’d hike to the top of the ramp to the left. I logged the carpark in my GPS just in case and then we put our skins on and up we went. It was very easy at the start and then we had to climb up a steep face. There was a skin track in place and it had a couple of pretty tough switch backs in it, the kick turns were challenging for some and we went up one at a time across the open face. We all made it after a bit of effort and then began the long slog up the side of the ridge, next to the ramp we wanted to ski. The wind had definitely affected the area, with firm snow on exposed areas and fresh wind-blown snow in the gullies. There were a few other groups already on their way down, but we could see untouched lines up higher so we kept going. We had been skinning for a couple of hours already when Chris and Jen decided they had reached their high point, so they stopped but Dave, Amir, Steven and I kept going. Chris and Jen would ski the gully we came up and Dave and Amir skied a line higher up that ended back in the same gully.

We reached a high spot and were able to look over the other side of the mountain and it looked epic! There was some proper alpine terrain with some amazing lines on that side, I wish had been able to get some shots of it but the clouds were coming in and I couldn’t get a decent photo. I would have loved to have skied it but we didn’t know where it went and obviously played it safe given we needed to keep the group together in the same zone. Steven and I headed up higher to the start of another gully that ran parallel to the gully the others skied and where we had hiked up to, it was untouched. The clouds were starting to come in and by the time we had our gear on, it was pea soup. We waited for an opening, but it didn’t change much. We skied our line slowly but couldn’t see anything; the clouds were pretty set in. We traversed back to the left and found the tracks of the others. We followed them down and then came into an awesome steep, open area (it totally reminded me of Gulmarg). We had decent visibility and could let the skis run now. It wasn’t a huge amount of turns in this area but the snow was great (obviously more sheltered from the wind) and we enjoyed GS type turns to the bottom. The rest of the group was already skinning out, so we got our gear on and raced to rejoin them. We caught them up and all made our way back together. It was after 3pm and the clouds were pretty thick, we decided to call it a day and head back. We could always come back the next day.

Although we had lost visibility during the start of our descent, just being in a new zone and exploring a new area, was rewarding enough. I had enjoyed doing a longer skin too; it was great to really stretch the legs again. The views we had gotten that day just blew me away. I definitely see the potential of this area and we decided we needed to come back the next day to scope out more lines. We’d worked hard for it and not had amazing turns (due to the change in weather), but it was an awesome day overall and I’m glad we rolled the dice and went for it. Hopefully we’d find more good turns the next day.


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Always an exciting prospect to go skiing next to a live volcano!

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Sublime views in the Daisetsuzan National Park.

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Plenty of snow up high.....

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One of the most stunning places I have ever been to. To see it on a bluebird day, just breathtaking.

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Dave and Steven, just above the onsen, scoping lines from the carpark.

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Yum!

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Amir likes what he sees.

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Obligatory selfie in one of the most beautiful places I had ever been to....

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Steven and Jen in their happy place, at the start of the hike. Our line was behind and to the left of the main ridgeline in the center of the photograph.

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The ridgeline that we followed on the way up. Dave is going the wrong way (actually this is a photo that got mixed up and is Dave on the way back to the van).

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Chris crossing the steep open face early in the climb. This was a tough little section with some pretty steep kick turns in it.

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Looking down valley back towards Furano. The clouds are starting to roll in.

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Getting higher! Jen leading the charge.

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Only about 8cm's of fresh.

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A nice mellow and safe ramp lay below us. The steeper terrain rolled over below this line. If you stayed in the gullies, the skiing was good. Unfortunately for Steven and I, we went too high and missed the weather window. Skiing down in zero visibility was not the most fun, but didn't detract from an awesome day overall.

- Matt
 

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