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Feb 25, 2006Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Couloir from Tsugaike Ski Hill
17th June 2006
Yup. Even though I've said it the last few times. This past weekend was my LAST trip to Hakuba.I was planning on skiing Tsurugi however the weather forcast didn't look promising. Nick was raving about a snowfield above Tsugaike resort so I thought I'd take him up on his offer of a good ski with beer and bbq after.Turned out that the weather was good and we really lucked out.I woke up nice and early Saturday morning and looking out the window of the room I was sleeping in was really glad to find the sky was clear. I also immediately saw a line that looked really fun. There was quite an hourglass feature to it and it looked like it constricted tight for a little bit. I quickly got dressed and walked out onto the road for a better look and to get a picture to help guide us into it later once we were on top.Back inside I woke Ben up who had just arrived by train from Tokyo an hour earlier. We quickly got ready, picked Sarah up and were soon getting our gear on at the base of Tsugaike Ski Resort.The usual gondola and tram ride later and we were finally up high. It was raging hot though and I was instantly sweating like a pig. We were all walking and after the normal bathroom break started up Norikura at 9:00. The walking was easy and after a short 40 minutes I found myself at the top of Tengupaira. As I was drenched in sweat I took my shirt off and hung it on a tree so it would dry faster. May as well get some sun as it looked like I'd be waiting for a while. I was near the top of Tengupaira before Sarah had even started up from the bottom. Nick arrived a couple minutes after me and we both patiently and unpatiently waited. It was quickly becoming clear that the destination of the day was fading away. This could very well be my last ski trip in Japan so I wanted to ski something fun and also something that I hadn't skied before. A little difficult when hiking up Norikura. We came to the conclusion that we'd have to get going fast if we wanted to ski the line safely.Talking to Sarah when she made her way up to the flats we said we were going for the line. Ben being a real gentleman said he'd stay with Sarah and ski a line on Norikura.After waiting an hour on the flats my muscles were ready to go and I quickly booted up the steep slope to the top of Norikura. I've never climbed that hill so fast. It fealt great. The snow was perfect for walking up. Easy enough to edge in and we wern't sinking in very far for it to be exausting. Once Nick and I were on the top and after a quick water break we started out the now snowfree trail. Going over Norikura is really tedious as Norikura is just a pile of boulders. Going around the lake is by far the most annoying part as the boulders are large and you have to really concentrate on your steps. Even harder in clunky ski-mountaineering boots.But we were again at the snowcovered hut. Back in March it was completly covered in snow with only a chimney sticking out. By mid-June half of it was free of snow while the other half was still covered up to the roof. We kept on going now with the end in sight. We could see Korenge far along the ridge which we had to get pretty close to. Up the scree trail we gained a little elevation before finally getting onto the true ridge overlooking Hakuba. We had to have a break as we had been moving very quickly trying to make up lost time. A pack of M&Ms later and we shouldered our packs just as the clouds moved in. Up until now the weather had been amazing. We hiked the final 30 minutes in cloud trying to visualize where our line started. I had to check the camera numerous times to try and match up features on the ridge to the start of our line. The clouds cleared briefly and we were quickly able to find that we had gone just a little too far. The snowline we were standing at the top of didn't look like it went. We walked down the slope a couple meters to the top of our line and quickly got ready. As it was 1:00pm it had taken us 4 hours reach the top of our line. We must have really moved fast after the flats of Tegupaira.Another quick snack and the last of our water drank we clicked in. I dropped in first and found really good steep snow. A few fast carves and I moved into place just above the hourglass. I shouted up to Nick that it was much wider than we thought and that he should ski right through the constriction and I'd join him after getting some pictures. He did just that and I joined him before we leap frogged eachother down into the clouds below. The run was really fun. Up top it was about 40 degrees and then that dropped down to about 30 for the lower section. The lower section was really long as well and we were able to make some really fun big turns. Making sure not to hit the few rocks in the snow we soon found ourselves on flatter terrain and wondering where the snow would end and we'd have to get around the open river. We met some hikers just near the end that were out picking vegetables and they told us it was safe to get around the open river. We skied the remaining slope to where we found a gaping hole in the snow and strapped our skis onto our backpacks. While Nick was changing out of his ski boots I looked up and saw a few rocks rolling down the hill just above. They wern't moving fast so I only told him to watch out. But they quickly picked up speed and I yelled at him to get out of the way. Now in his running shoes he ran up the snow trying to get out of the way. Only problem was that he was running straight for the rocks. The biggest one just missed taking out his legs by half a meter. Even though the situation was quite serious I couldn't stop laughing at the site of Nick running right for the fast rocks.We quickly shouldered our packs and started walking down the grass slope next to the river. There was only one difficult problem we had to overcome. The slope had been cut into by the river and with the rain the day before the dirt and grass were very slippery. A slide wouldn't have been dangerous but you would easily get wet if you slipped down. I went first and went the wrong way as I ended up holding onto loose rocks, weeds and mud while only the tips of my boots were holding me. I made it down but it wasn't that fun. Something about if you slipped there was nothing you could have grabbed that would hold any weight. But I made it down fine. Nick in his running shoes went up and over but also had trouble in the slick grass and dirt. With that part finished we just had to walk down on the snow next to the river. We crossed to the left side on a snowbridge and then crossed back to the right just above a waterfall. To get around that we plunged into some thick vegetation. Slide alder, Sasa and Vines tried to hold us back but we forced our way through and after a couple minutes were past the waterfall and on the road just beyond.All that was left was a 30 minute road walk back to my car which we had placed the night before.All in all a great day out in the mountains and if that's my last skiing in Japan I can leave this country a happy man.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Yari
20th May 2006
Hakuba Yari is not the highest mountain above Hakuba. Nor is it nearly as steep as the real Yari further south in the North Alps. But the mountain is an impressive sight when viewed from the Hakuba valley. The best thing about the mountain though is the couloir that cuts right down the middle. It's a very cool thing to see. I've wanted to ski it for a long time now but the logistics of knocking it off were too great. Anyway you looked at it the approach for this mountain would be a grunt. But it had to be skied.Nick was the one that took the initiative and picked the location of our next adventure. I added to the trip by saying we should go very light and maybe hike through the night getting to our line as the snow is just warmed by the sun. Dan also jumped in for the trip saying he's willing to go anywhere that I want to go.Day 1Typhoon number rolled into Japan a bit late this year and picked the very Saturday that we were leaving to pass over the North Alps. The best weather in Japan is usually right after a large weather system passes by. This time was no exception. Dan and I got into Hakuba around lunch on Saturday. Just as we arrived the typhoon unleashed it's last bit of moisture. It rained really hard for a good hour. We had to make our decision by 4 when the last Gondola would leave the Tsugaike ski resort. We started shuttling cars at 3 and made it to the resort just as the weather was starting to clear up. As we gained elevation in the gondola the clouds parted and it was instantly bright blue sky. The only problem was the intense wind.We got to the top and started off. Nick and I were skinning however as we neared the first big hill I found that the snow looked pretty good for walking. So after a little slip I traded skinning for walking and shouldered my skis for the rest of the trip. Dan and I soon reached the summit of Norikura just as the sun was setting. Finding the trail through the deep shrubs took some time but we soon found it and continued to the little lake beyond. On the map there is a hut here however all I'd seen up until this trip was a large pole coming out of the snow. I had never been very close and thought it was a signpost. But now with the snow melted a bit we found that it was the chimney from a hut that was just starting to emerge from the snow. Amazing how deep it gets here.The sun set at the time it ws supposed to and we traded sunglasses for headlamps. The wind also picked up as we got higher on the ridge. It was very intense in places and would nearly knock us over. The snow had mostly melted off the ridgeline and we were lucky in most places to have an obvious trail to follow. In a few places I was glad to have my stiff ski mountaineering boots on the hard snow because they bite very well. Nick was walking in only running shoes and even then they didn't have very much tread. A fall along the ridge wouldn't have been pretty. Even worse because it was night.As we passed the summit of Korenge where we skied the Y-Couloir just before Golden Week the wind seemed to increase in velocity. I think it was because we were now really exposed to the Sea of Japan far below. I suggested finding a place to camp because we had a major mountain to get over coming up very soon and chances are it would be steep and very icy. It was shot down though with an unspoken thought that we might find a mountain hut to camp behind. Some of us hadn't had a good look at the map. We trucked along the mostly flat ridge for a short while before Shiroume loomed up ahead of us. We could tell it was white and very steep. But we were on a ridge and couln't see any place to camp out of the very strong wind. At a trail junction at 2700 metres though some rocks along the trail blocked the wind a bit and we were able to finally get some rest for the night. We had planned on making it to at least the many huts just beyond Shiroume however fighting the wind for 6 hours had exausted us.I was bivying so dug out a grave for myself in the snow. I used my iceaxe to cut branches from the coniferous shrubs. I lined the bottom of my grave with the shrubs and this kept me a little further from the snow. Nick and Dan were sleeping in Dan's tent.The night was already cold and the wind made it that much more. But because we were out of the wind the temperature although just below freezing was a little bit bearable for me. I had gone light though with just my summer sleeping bag, 3/4 length thermarest and an extra pair of dry longjohns. Right away my feet were cold so after a quick pee in the middle of the night I changed my setup a little bit. I managed to stuff my lower legs inside my backpack which helped keep my feet warm. With my down jacket inside my sleeping bag as an extra blanket I managed to stay a little bit warm most of the night. In other words I got a bit of sleep.Dan wasn't as lucky though but if he hadn't been lazy he could have had a better night. But he was exausted from fighting the wind and didn't want to bother trying to better his situation. Nick somehow with the lightest bag by far had his winter sleeping bag along. Maybe Dan should have shared a bit of his tent weight with Nick.Day 2I awoke to a clear morning just before the sun came up and quickly got my gear on. The problem with a bivi sack is that once you get out of it you are exposed to the elements. It was still very cold out. Unless I wanted to strip right down in the sub-zero temperatures I'd have to wear all my clothes till I reached the next hut where I could change out of the wind. I quickly packed my bag and because the snow was frozen put my crampons on. I didn't bother eating or drinking and this really affected my enjoyment level as I summited the highest peak in the Hakuba area. Shiroume is at 2932meters. I was exausted by the time I reached it and only snapped a quick picture of the summit marker before quickly making my way to the hut below. I found an open door to a still closed hut and went in. I drank my water and ate a bit of my sandwich. As I regained my strength I was also able to change out of my sleeping clothes and get ready for the warmth of the day. Nick and Dan showed up about an hour after I had arrived and we all relaxed in the empty hut for a bit. It was nice to be out of the wind. We still had quite a distance to go though so shouldered our bags got a group shot and went on our way. We had to drop quite a ways and then like all ridge traverses gain it all back a couple of times. It was really annoying but at least we were able to bypass the 3rd of 4 big mountains we had to get around. I do kind of wish I had made the trip to the summit though as looking from the valley I can't say I've stood on the summit of all the peaks above which is kind of sad. But can't cry over spilt milk. At 9:30 in the morning we were all on the summit of Hakuba Yari. We found that the snow was just getting good so quickly got ready for the ski. It's a shame we couldn't have stayed up higher for longer but then we had been up high traversing mountains since late in the afternoon the day before.I won janken and got to drop in first. The line was great up top and I made some really fun tracks in the perfect corn snow. I got to my safe area on the far side of the bowl just above the crux of the route. Dan and Nick then joined me and went further down the route. We would now enter the crux of the route. The line on Hakuba Yari is interesting. It starts out wide but constricts right down to just a few metres wide for about 50 metres vertical. As it was spring the skiable snow was quite a bit narrower and we had to make some fun jump turns through this section. I had a tough time keeping the smile on my face from getting too big. It was really fun. After the constriction the line opens up again however we couldn't go very fast because there was lots of rocks in the snow. We were also all very tired and just safety skied the rest of the face. The line didn't dissapoint. We had so far skied 1000meters vertical of very good falline skiing. But we still had quite a ways to go. We regrouped on the lower apron and discussed our exit. The line empties into a tight area below treeline and on the map there is a waterfall. We could see many a ski tour party coming into the bowl from a ridge to the north however we didn't park our car where they came from. Nick made a quick phone call to get some information which he didn't listen to. His information told us to exit out the way people were entering our bowl. For some reason we decided to hike up a ridge to the south. I looked on the map just before we started bootpacking up and found that if we gained the ridge above we could ski down the next valley. The map didn't show any obsticles that we'd have to get around. We made our way up to the ridge in the summer like temperatures and had a good rest. I again looked at the map and we decided on that information to drop into this bowl. There wern't any ski tracks so this should have been an instant warning to us. We skied very fun snow for 600 more vertical and then saw that we were almost at the bottom. But we wouldn't be able to exit that easy. The valley got very steep and dropped out of sight. We could here the noise of a waterfall and there wasn't a way around it as the valley walls were now cliffs. We thought we might be lucky though because just as we reached the decision that we couldn't exit this route there was a great looking route to the north east up a mellow snow slope. Maybe this would take us back to the original valley. We were all very exausted and the thought of hiking all the way back up what we had just come down was out of the question. At least we didn't try getting around the unmarked waterfall.We very slowly made our way up the slope and were very lucky to find that after a little roll in the slope it went for quite a ways up. It looked like at the top that we'd be standing high above the floor of our original valley. The only problem now would be finding a skiable line down to the bottom. But in that we were also very lucky and without even having to look very hard found a very skiable route to the very bottom of the valley. We wouldn't even have to get around the original waterfall as we had now bipassed it. It had only taken us quite a bit more effort to do so.Another quick rest and a triple check of the map to make sure we knew where we were and I set in first. A few cracks to get around but other than that it was easy.I was nearly to the bottom though when I heard very scared yelling. Nick was screaming for Dan to get out of the way. A very large ice block was flying down the slope heading right for Dan. He just jumped out of the way of the block. I was nearly at the bottom of the slope and found that after nearly taking out Dan the iceblock was now coming straight for me. I quickly traversed to the other side of the slope and watched as the block bounced to the very bottom and into the avy debris. Very scary. The block was about 1 meter around and was moving very fast. If it had hit Dan like it almost did he would have been very lucky to escape with just a few broken bones.With that little scare out of the way we skied the rest of the way to the end of our valley. We were now faced with just 1 more little adventure. A river crossing.Normally when we exit this valley the river is covered in snow. But with the late season that we were skiing the river was now very open and was much larger with the snow melt. Dan and Nick barefooted it in there ski boots while I just walked across not bothering to change. I was going to get wet anyways while they had dry shoes to change into. The river was about knee deep, flowing fast and for Dan and Nick with bare skin exposed very cold. It was really fun.With the river crossed that was the last of the adventure that Hakuba Yari could throw our way. We just had to hike the final portion of road which took an hour and we'd be back at the car.What an amazing trip. We experienced almost everything we could on this trip. Sub-zero temps, strong wind, narrow couloir skiing, exaustion, corn snow, route finding problems and river crossing just to name a few things that were interesting. I'm happy to have knocked that line off.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Happo-One
30th April 2006
Having skied the Y-Couloir the day before under a clear sky we set our eyes on another steep line past Karamatsu. I wanted to get into the long saught after double couloir far above Happo. We had a bit smaller group this time though with just Jer, Dan, Nick and myself. The morning dawned with high clouds. We geared up and dropped my car at the exit. While driving to the Happo-One lifts a few rain drops started coming down and we thought this would be it. But Nick said let's just go up and see what happens. As luck would have it the weather kind of cleared by the time we had skinned to the top of the first big bump. Not a clear sky but bits of blue here and there. Most importantly of all, no rain.We were moving pretty slowly though because of our big day before so when we reached the top of the south bowl I thought that maybe we would miss our chance on the double couloir I have so very much wanted. But we would at least get to ski a big open line and maybe gain some confidence back from the sorry state of snow we skied the day before.It worked and we found reasonable snow. Not perfect corn but not sludge. We all skied down to the waterfall for the always entertaining and horrifying ski-out through the canyon. Definitly not somewhere to sit down and have a picnic. As they have also plowed this road we had a bit of a walk back to the car but at least this time we were ready for it and the others were able to pack running shoes into their bags. I walked out in my AT boots. Another good day in the mountains.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Y-Couloir from Tsugaike Ski Hill
29th April 2006
Around the start of this year's ski season Nick and I were resort skiing at Happo-One and while riding a chair he pointed to the north showing me a cool looking massive couloir. He said let's ski it and I said ok. The months passed by, my foot healed and we knocked off a load of really cool lines around Hakuba. But what we had dubbed the Y-Couloir because of it's shape remained unskied. I think it remained unskied because we both thought that the safest way to ski the line would be to camp overnight and hit the couloir early in the morning. We would do this because it is south facing and gets sun most of the day. Camping would involve a lot more planning so it always stayed on the backburner waiting for some free time.Maybe we forgot about the camping or maybe we got too lazy in our safety but we decided to knock off the Y-Couloir on Saturday April 29.At first the trip would just be Dan, Nick and I but when Nick was renting crampons from Evergreen Dave, James and John signed on for the trip. They are all strong and experienced backcountry skiers with Dave being a level 2 Avy technician. I certainly didn't have a problem with them coming along as it would let me see how they go about their backcountry skiing.We got as early a start as possible getting the second gondola to the very top of the mountain. We started skinning at 9:00am. The sky was blue and the air was really hot. James and I were out front and on the final climb to the summit of Norikura we raced my best time of 70minutes back in Spring Break. We beat it with 62 and 63 (me) minute times to the summit. Very nice. We sat down and waited for the rest of the group. They soon followed up with Dan in the back trying to find his rhythm on my skinny skins. He wasn't able to climb at the angle that the rest of us were ascending at. But he held on just a bit behind at the top of each bump along the ridge. We finally reached our highpoint which turned out to be 2769 metre Korengedake at 12:00. We had been skinning for a very good 3 hours and had gained about 1000 metres. So far my biggest elevation gain of the season and also the highest I had been this year. Very nice. From the summit all we had to do to see into the Y-Couloir was look over the edge. From there the run fell 900metres to the valley bottom below at a good angle. At it's steepest maybe 45 degrees.We relaxed on the summit for a bit before finally getting on our way. I have always wanted to ski the skiers right arm of the Y while others wanted the skiers left arm. No problems there. We would just meet halfway down. Dave dropped in first and for 1 or 2 turns it looked good however the snow was really soft and with the angle it started sliding a bit. He nearly got taken out with his sluff as it passed him by and picked up even more speed. Looks like we were a bit too late. But it wasn't very dangerous if you paid attention to what was happening around you. I couldn't really see Dan's, Nick's and John's run though unless I stood right on the slope edge which made me a bit uneasy as it felt like a cornice. After they were out of site on their way down James and I skied along the ridge trying to find the entrance to our arm of the couloir. Good thing I had taken a very zoomed in picture that morning or we may have dropped into 1 of many couloirs that cliffed out. We found the correct line and even better found good snow. James dropped in first and ripped it like he was skiing groomers. Big train tracks right down the guts to the corner where he pulled over to let me catch up. I didn't carve my way down the run but instead did sliding turns and had a good time. We knew that at the corner the couloir got quite a bit steeper. James again went first so that I could take pictures and again he skied it like a pro. At the bottom though his sluff nearly took him out as it gained a ton of speed on the steeper slope. Nick was at the intersection trying to take pictures of us and had to quickly get out of the way as the sluff roared out of our line. When it hit the other slide path it excellerated even faster on the slick ice layer. My turns down the rest of our section was fun but again I skied it defensivly in the sometimes difficult snow. When our arm of the line joined the rest of the Y I found that all the nice snow we had seen from above was gone and replaced with difficult avy debris. It was soft but very difficult to ski. We all struggled down to the bottom of the couloir where finally we got back on good snow and skied over to a safe area. I was exausted.We still had a load of skiing out to do though so after a good long break got underway on the lower angled valley bottom. We did it Chinease downhill style until James wanted to jump off of something big. He had spotted a large cornice. He easily got a good 7 or 8 metre drop out of it and landed it clean. Pretty impressive. We skied the rest of the valley out hitting the plowed road with still a lot of valley to go. They just plowed this road but don't let cars drive up it. Dave called his wife though and she somehow got around the old man blocking the road at the bottom and after a km or so of walking we got picked up which was really nice.So the run. As I said above we never skied it earlier because we correctly assumed that you'd have to get there really early to get good snow. We didn't get there early and had crap snow. But we skied it and had a great time.
Backcountry Skiing – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One
15th April 2006
After the failure of last weekend not getting to the summit of Yakedake I had to summit something big to redeem myself. So it was back to Hakuba for a line off of Karamatsu.Nick was going to ski with me and Sarah, Will and Andy were going to accompany us for a bit before dropping off the north side of the ridge to ski Happo-zawa.We soon got underway a bit behind scedule but were lucky in that they didn't open the gondola at Happo-One until 8:00am. We were planning on riding up to the top at 7:30 so even though we were 40 minutes late it didn't matter because we boarded the gondola at 8:10 just 10 minutes after they opened it up. But in the future certain people and they know who they are are just going to have to start getting ready in the evening.The weather in Hakuba that morning kind of looked promising. While it was cloudy right above the town we could see pockets of really nice sunshine hitting the peaks above. Once we got to the top of the resort however my moral dropped as we were socked right in with some very poor visability. So instead of heading right away for our run Nick and I stuck around and helped the other 3 into their line. It just so happened that by the time we were at the top of the Happo-zawa route we also popped out of the clouds to brilliant sunshine. This re-motivated me and after telling Will that his line started right there in the trees hurried up my pace to get to the summit and run before the snow either got too sloppy to ski or the bad weather that was forcast for the afternoon moved in.After skinning up the remaining ridgline Nick and I found ourselves near the top and traded skinning for botting. The snow was soft enough to not need crampons this time and we booted up to the summit with only a few dozen plunges up to our thighs in the snow. While I was hiking to the summit I was listening to a bit of rock-fall and snow sliding off the big face past Karamatsu. I had been talking to a Japanese skier that was just ahead that was going to ski the face but each time we heard snow and rock falling we looked at eachother and shook our heads. It was funny as well because I had talked to this fellow back in March when I was in a blizzard up above Tsugaike ski hill. On the summit of Karamatsu we talked a bit about our lines and then he left to ski his line and I went back down the ridge to where Nick was waiting to ski our line. I was very happy to ski off the highest point on the ridge which is something that I really like to do. The ski down the ridge wasn't anything special and was really just sidslipping because the south side had been quite wind swept of snow but hell at least I skied off the summit.Back at the top of the line we would ski Nick got ready and I moved into position as I was going to drop in first. The line is a bit narrow and from the top you couldn't see the bottom as it made a couple turns down into the thick fog far below.When Nick was finally ready to spot me and grab a couple pictures I dropped in from the side and found rock hard ice for the first couple metres. This was quite a surprise and I nearly slipped right out but the snow quickly turned soft and spring-like and I made a couple fun turns into a safe area to watch Nick come down. He skied the line directly from the top of the couloir and after passing me went to a safe area as well. We pretty much skied the entire couloir like this leap frogging eachother and getting into safe zones. The snow was pretty good the length of the couloir. Near the bottom of the couloir propper we were back into the thick fog and had to stay close or we would have been lost. It was really thick. The snow here got quite a bit more difficult as pretty much everything had slid earlier in the week. At least the debris was soft enough to traverse across and we found a few spots that were skiable.The fog didn't last forever though and we popped out on the lower slopes for the fun wide open 30 degree slopes. We cruised down these to the bottom and a quick snack. While finally eating (I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at 6:30 and had only drank 500ml of water) at around 1:30pm we were able to watch a large guided group of about 10 descend one of the worst possible routes of the day. The entire thing had slid earlier in the week and the bottom was all avy debris. Sure it was quite steep and under better conditions would be quite fun but there were certainly better routes than theirs.With the hardest part of the ski complete we could finally relax and enjoy the ski out which is also quite fun. It got very warm on the lower section and I had to strip right down to just my longjohns. A lot cooler this way. I finally got Nick convinced about not taking off the skis until the last scrap of snow has been skied and we had a great time walking across dirt and rocky avy debris with the skis still on. I love spring skiing.A great day out in the mountains and I knocked another line off that I have wanted for a while.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba - Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
29th March 2006
March 29 - Backcoutry skiing above TsugaikeThe snow started to fall the night before and the weather was overcast with strong wind. Still we didn't want to sit around so got out for a little tour above the resort. Sean and Nick were out there with me and our original plan was to cut into some low angle north face runs to see what was happening out there with all the new snow and wind. Plans change though when you have 2 type A people on a trip with conflicting ideas about where to enter the north face runs and where our north face runs were. Turns out Nick and I were talking about different north face runs but that doesn't matter because we made a good decision and ended up skiing an amazing south face line. The run wasn't very steep but the powder was deep and the trees were open. It also helped that Nick had his new camera out and it has multiple frame ability which is good for action shots. We all took our turn in front of the camera and had a great time.When we got to the bottom we decided that going back up into the blizzard didn't sound like much fun so instead we did a couple laps on the south faces before heading over to the north faces.Again we had great snow although the coverage down low wasn't as good and we occasionally hit the crust below. Nothing that wouldn't be covered up in the days of storm still to come. A fun short day in the mountains.March 30 - Happo-One Resort skiingNick had an interview in Nagano city so he was only going to ski a half day. I had a free ticket from SJ and so with early loading at Happo we went there to see how much snow they had gotten up high.We got one of the first gondola's at 8 and got to the top for first tracks down the quad. It was really fun and I only touched bottom a couple times. The hounds were out though and we had to move fast. With just 1 run under our belts we moved over to skyline and were able to get 1st tracks down there where we had to wait a couple minutes for them to open the lift. A few more laps there and then the resort was pretty much tracked out. Normally we'd hit the trees for the rest of the day for untracked turns however at Happo this year it seems like Japanese people are all into tree skiing. We actually had competition for turns. This isn't very fun as the mountain gets tracked out quickly. We were always having to run to get to each chair and as Happo is very poorly laid out this usually means having to side step up steep hills to the next chair. All the while doing this very quickly because some J-snowboarder thinks he is king shit and the powder in the trees is free for the taking.The clock wore down and it was just me left as Sean had left with Nick do to sore legs. I wasn't much better off with this being my first hard resort ski in 3 months due to my foot being broken. So I went in for a break and to eat my lunch. I too succumbed to my complaining legs with the thought in my mind like the day before that with more snow, tomorrow will be epic. I may as well save myself for then.
Backcountry Ski Hill – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura North Faces – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
27th March 2006
March 27 - Hakuba Norikura North FaceEverytime that I have skinned into norikura people asked me if I am going to ski the north faces. I always say no I'm going to ski blah blah blah over there. But curiosity got to me and with Nick around I had a partner to check out a new area.We took the upper gondola up and when we got out of the station a lone telemarker took off skinning fast. Nick said to me joking that that's the kind of person I'd be racing if I chose to enter the SkiMountaineering race in mid April. I laughed at him and we started on our way. The telemarker was off ahead breaking trail straight up the mountain. I scoffed at him and started to put my own track in cutting switchbacks into the hill. Much easier than going straight up. I soon started gaining ground on the telemarker as he was stopping more often to catch his breath from going straight up the first hill. At the top there is a stretch of flat ground that goes for quite a ways before you get to the final hill. I had caught up to the telemarker here and we both started a non-verbal race to the summit. I wanted to show him that switchbacks are faster and he just wanted to show me how big his unit is. Again as we hit the final hill he started straight up and I made some big switchbacks. While I was covering a much further distance than he was I was able to stay at the same elevation if not just a little bit ahead. We soon came over the last bit of hill and were on the huge flat summit. I'll say it was a tie because in the end he went off somewhere else in what I hope was shame for not winning to a smelly gaijin.Once on top I noticed that while there was a clear blue sky the wind was moving fast enough to drop the temperature considerably. I got most of my clothing on and huddled down to wait for Nick who up until now I had forgotten was even out with me. He turned up a few minutes later and we chilled out behind our large rock trying not to be blown over or lose an gear in the strong gusts.After we had lost the sweaty chill we continued on our way across the large summit of Norikura. I finally got to see the lake that I have seen on the maps but always wondered where it was. In winter though it is just a large white flat area. When we got to the wind scoured north summit we immediatly saw a really cool looking ridge coming out from the massive cornices.It would have been dangerous to both go over and look for the entrance to the ridge so I remained on the summit and directed Nick into the line using my poles as directional markers. It was amazing to see how large the cornices are as he looked tiny up against the huge overhangs. I got him into the line and then went over to join him being sure to stay well back from the edge. The line looked really fun starting on a mellow ridge and then dropping steeply into the chute below. But from there we couldn't see so much and it looked like it choked into a narrow section that we couldn't really see. We abandoned that idea but looking back to where I was standing previously saw another cool looking line. Back to the north summit we went and got everything ready for our descent.We edged over to the top of the slope and found an amazing looking open and steep powder field all for us. There was nobody around and not a track in site. I guess I can't be too surprised as it was Monday. I got to go first and dropping in found very dry and again fast snow. I made both big and small turns before getting into some trees where I stopped and got the camera out so I could capture Nick coming down. He ripped it up as well and the smile was big on his face. Giving him my camera I skied the remaining section while he took pictures of me for once. The snow was so good. We regrouped in the trees far below and had our lunches. It was nice being away from the helicopters and crowds.As we had dropped into a different drainage we would have to skin back out again. Nick started breaking trail as I had broken trail all the way to the summit before. He soon brought us out onto a ridge where he saw another fun looking run. We skinned for another few minutes and were soon at the top of it. Nick skied first this time and found even deeper and drier snow than the last run. Absolutly amazing.At the bottom we again had to put our skins on but this would be the last time.Our original plan was to again ski out to Norikura ski hill and we stuck to it. When we got to the high point of the traverse out we deskinned and got ready for the rest of the descent which was still a long ways out. The ridgine as before only offered a few turns here and there however when we got to the final bump there was a nice long south face again waiting for us. It was now late in the day though and we feared that we may have missed the best of the corn. But the snow was still pretty good if just a little mushy. We skied out to the road walked across the bridge and put our skis back on to traverse back to the Tsugaike ski hill.An amazing day out in the mountains with great turns. In total we were out skiing for 7 hours and we must have gained about 1000 metres vertical throughout the day. Great Great Great.March 28 - Rain so went to Matsumoto
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One
25th March 2006
March 25 - Couloir on Karamatsu1 month before I had tried to get into this area with a large group of people. We were turned back because of a sketchy looking ridge near the end of the valley.I really wanted to ski off of Karamatsu and so pestered Nick enough to take Saturday off of work as that would be the best day of the weekend. Nick and Sean were also going to be in Hakuba for the week on their Spring Vacations.So with the plan of skiing a big line in our minds we got an early start the next day.Getting to the top of Happo-One ski resort there were just a couple people ahead of us on the ridgline. The race was on. I didn't think that almost all the backcountry skiers and riders would be going to the same place but that was the case. There was maybe 20 people that wanted a big line. Nobody was going to settle for low angle powder. We were able to stay out front for most of the ridge climb however soon dropped a bit when we switched from skis to crampons. This was partly my fault because I was having a bit of trouble with my crampons not staying on. But I finally got them dialed in and we made it to our high point. The view from this high was amazing. We could see Tsurugi, Tateyama and Yakushi which are on the other side of Kurobe Dam. It was really nice. Had there not been people a couple other parties wanting to get first tracks I would have liked to sit a for bit a look at the mountains but...We walked down the short slope to the start of our line a couple minutes before a group of 5. As we had gotten there first they let us go first. You'd think that would be assumed but in Japan there arn't any common courtesy rules like that. We geared up quick and after a quick janken Nick dropped over the lip into the couloir. It was pretty steep up top. Well over 45 degrees. I could tell he was having a good time as he was going as fast as he could in the dry and very fast snow. He disapeared around the corner at the bottom and the party watching us said he was at the bottom so it was now my turn.I dropped in where Nick did and found very fast and dry snow. It was really amazing. I ripped it the best that I could and had a great time. This was easily one of the best lines that I have ever skied in my life.When I reached Nick at the bottom of the couloir we both had huge smiles on our faces.We still had a load of vertical to get through so after a quick break to look at our turns we skied the rest of the valley before it gets flat. The snow was pretty good here and we were able to arc some big high speed turns. At the bottom of the valley we ditched a load of clothes as the sun was making things hot. Looking up at our lines we also saw a load of other great tracks down many of the couloirs. People were putting in some really nice turns. This is definitly an area that I want to put more tracks in.The ski out was the same as last time however we avoided the death trap of the waterfall this time. The other main hazard on this route was getting safely over all of the avy debris that stacks up in the narrow ravine. Not a place to get the bbq out for hotdogs. All in all one of my best days in the backcountry. Skiing a steep line like that in pristine conditions was enough to make happy for life.March 26 - Did 1 run as the conditions were not very good.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike Ski Hill
22nd March 2006
March 22 - SunshineI was again going to ski with Minako for her last day however after 1 run I couldn't bare to spend another day in the resort especially with the clear weather.In the parking lot I had met Tatsuo and introduced him to Minako. He was going off to ski the North Faces of Norikura that he called his secret area. I was quickly jealous. In the gondola I told Minako that he is the dude in the Landmade DVD and she got really excited about that yelling at me for not telling her earlier that that's who he was.But after 1 run I ditched Minako and went back to the car to gear up for backcountry. As I was getting a little bit of a late start I shelled out the 750yen to ride the upper gondola. From the top station I saw that there were just a few ski tourers ahead. I had a chance to make my own skin track up the entire mountain. Very exciting and good exercise. I was able to skin the entire mountain from the top gondola putting in nice switchbacks in 70 minutes without stopping. I had gained over 600 metres in just a bit over an hour. That put all my mid week tours in Takayama to shame for sure. As I had made such good time to the summit I had been able beat all of the heli-skiers that had been dropped off a bit before. That meant a large, relativly safe and untracked powder face for me to ski. I jumped at that chance right away and just 10 minutes after reaching the summit was clicked in and ready to ski.The turns were amazing and I was so happy to have my Volkl Explosives. They might be a lot heavier than the K2 Shuksans but the descent is so much more fun. As I still had lots of time left in the day I chose to traverse out to Norikura ski hill along a nice ridge. This was lots of fun and I was able to get many more fun turns on the way down. The final slope is open and south facing which made for great corn turns. Now at the resort I walked across the bridge dividing Norikura and Tsugaike ski resorts before getting back to my car. March 23 - It snowed heavily all night and by morning there was about 20-30cms of very wet snow. On the gondola ride up all of the south faces had slid to the bottom in many places going right across the roads that beginners use. I got to the top of the gondola clicked in a skied back to the car. Not even a day.March 24 - Mark from Toyama had called me up the night before wanting to get out into the backcountry. It would be nice to have some company. We were going to ski something on Norikura. You'd think I'd be getting a bit bored of this area but there are so many runs to do.As I had taken the gondola last time the thought of having to skin up to the top station was only a thought and we paid for the ride. Just as we walked into the gondola station a Japanese guy recognized me from some backcountry trip last year. He was a BlueCliff guide that I have seen a few times in the Tateyama and Karasawa areas. Small world. Or maybe I stand out.We started up the hill and soon made it to the flats where the heli drop is. I had a wait a couple minutes for Mark but he soon arrived and we started up to the top. I made good time and had my sandwhich at the top while Mark snowshoed up the hill. From there we walked over to the south face runs. We debated the merrits of digging a pit as Mark had just finished his Recreational Avalanche course. In the end we just talked about the conditions and looked around to see what was happening naturally. Somehow I was the guiny pig to test the slope and found some very fun snow. We skied the run all the way to the bottom of the face. It was a great ski. And at the bottom Mark asked when lunch would be. I had been caught up in Matt land and had forgotten that he had had nothing to eat. So he chowed down while I took in the beauty that is the North Japanese Alps. Another really good day out in the backcountry.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
18th March 2006
March 18 - Hakuba Norikura South Face with NickStarted my spring vacation by doing a great backcountry trip with Nick.The weather report was for sun turning to rain later in the afternoon so we got out early. Our plan was to skin up Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike ski hill.We made pretty good time to start with however by the time we reached the top gondola that we didn't ride there was some maniac making the most horrible skin track in the world ahead.While skinning this straight up the slope track I was able to skin right beside our friend Tatsuyo the Hakuba big mountain skier who was snowshoeing. We had a good conversation about the many lines we wanted to ski in the upcoming spring season. At the top of the first slope I waited a coule minutes for Nick to catch up before again continuing on.Tsugaike ski hill offers heli-skiing above the resort and they advertise it as skiing in this uncharted wilderness when in reality it's skiing a flat run with hundreds of people. We were lucky enough to be skinning right next to all this chaos and were constantly being buzzed by helicopters. Once dropped off the clients can either ski right back to the resort or make the treck to the very top of Hakuba Norikura. Most ski back however a few adventerous souls make a boot pack up the final slope. With the line of people booting up it looks a lot like historical Klondike Goldrush pictures from back in the day. So it was with the tourists that we made our way to the top. Nick didn't want to skin up the near vertical skin track so booted up while I made my way up the steep track.At the top we again rested for a couple before leaving the masses and heading over to the south side of the large summit area. We were finally alone and standing on top of a large open south face. A few photos and then we traversed into our line for the descent. The snow wasn't powder and wasn't isothermic crap. The skiing was very much just controlled sliding. No edge hold so you couldn't carve. It was lots of fun though and started out my holiday great. March 19 - High winds - Rest dayMarch 20 - High winds and snowing above the resortI needed to get out again so skinned up above Tsugaike resort. I wanted to meet up with our friend Katsu the kayaker and his large group however as soon as I reached the top gondola that I again didn't take the wind hit. I retreated behind a hut to put more clothing on before attempting to make it a bit higher. I had to get my 300 metre vertical to make it a day. I didn't have to go much further though to get that. I ended up stopping in the last group of trees I could see. The wind was really strong. A guy on snowshoes with spatulas on his back passed me there saying he was going to the summit. Crazy nut. I skied fun low angle powder back to the resort.March 21 - Cloudy - Skied groomers for 5 hours with Minako. I only have 2 pairs of skis mounted right now. Both are big fat skis with one setup being backcountry and the other setup being resort. I took the resort fat skis and tested them out as best I could on the groomers. It was fun if just a little sketchy at times.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One
5th March 2006
The forcasted cloud turned into sun and not wanting to let it go to waste Dave, Jer and I went for a little tour above Happo-one. The plan was to lap up a short south facing bowl when the temperatures rose and softened the spring snow. That's what the plan was at least.The weather however didn't cooperate at all. Once we got to the top of the resort we realized that it was really cold and very windy up top and probably wasn't going to warm up. Just off of the top chair there is a really nice north facing bowl that drops all the way to the valley bottom over a 1000metres below. The bowl was extremly wind loaded and a snowboarder had tried to ride it with a very dangerous result. Right at the roll on the top a fracture released. We didn't see the slide happen but I can guess that it was frightening to watch and horribly scary to be in. I didn't hear anything on the news so I assume the rider made it out safe with a lesson learned.This was Jer's first BC tour and was using Nick's bindings and skins. We set off up the first hill and right away Jer was loving the feeling of earning your turns. We quickly made it to the top of the bowl we wanted to ski. The wind was blowing really hard and it was very cold. In some gusts the best thing to do was just lean into it and try not to get blown over. It was that strong. We didn't linger long on the ridge and jankened for 1st tracks. Dave won and I got 3rd.His run brought us to the reality that there was a crust under the snow. He had a bit of trouble with keeping his speed down. Jer had the same problem. I took it easy and had a fun time getting some good turns in on the interesting snow. At the bottom we traversed over to the side of the bowl for some lunch before skinning back up a ridge to the resort.All in all it was a fun run however the wind took a lot out of us.I really want to get into this bowl when the snow is softer so that I can just cruise down without a care in the world on soft soft spring snow.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One
25th February 2006
On my backcountry ski tour the weekend before I had seen a beautiful face above the Happo-One ski resort. It was 2600 metres tall and had some really cool looking couloirs. I told Nick about it and he seemed really interested so we made plans to get into that area at some point.That some point came up quickly. While sitting around at the lodge Friday night other people also became interested and by early Saturday morning we had 6 people. Nick, Bruno, Hugh, Matt, Chris and myself.We were up kind of early at 6 and were riding up the Happo chairs by 8:30. The sun was out and it was very clear. When we finally reached the top of the resort we knew from the weather that the day would be a really fun.The ridge we would traverse climbs slowly from the top of Happo resort and snakes it's way to the back of the east/west valley. This makes a great ski touring area as on the left are nice warm south faces and on the right cold north faces.The skinning began from the top of the resort at 9:00am at around 1900 metres. We got under way and pretty much stuck together. I was out front and tried to set a good pace as I didn't want to be out all day getting grouchy with having to stop and talk for hours on end. We made or way up the slope until we got to a pretty icy hill that was too steep to skin. So skis off we kicked steps with our ski boots. The 2 snowboarders Matt and Chris were wearing snowshoes. Matt easily made it up the slope however Chris slipped near the top and slid to the bottom ripping his hand open. He finally made it to the top of the slop and we all regrouped in some trees below another icy slope. I decided to boot right up the ridge with Matt and Chris while the other skiers found it easier to boot up a different route. I had my ice-axe with me so it was very easy but had I not had the tool I would have gone with the others. But we all regrouped again on the summit and got on our way again. We were nearing the end of the valley when at the top of a 2500 metre bump we saw the remaining section of ridge. It was not very narrow but it was extremly icy and a fall either way would have been very hazardous. In softer snow we would have easily skied or booted up the ridge. But we made the easy descision to ski a different route and return another time with proper gear for our intended line. The view from our high point was amazing. While we couldn't see very far West because there were very large mountains in the way we could see mountains right on the Japan Sea to the North, many mountains in the East and and all the way to Fuji-san in the South right on the Pacific. A quick lunch and we geared up for our decsent. We would ski a short portion of our accent route before dropping into a drainage on the North. The south faces were getting soft and we had great turns before arriving at the top of our run. Nick dropped in first and found blown in powder. It was quite a surprise over the shear ice that we thought we would be skiing. After everybody else was down a ways I dropped in and found the top to be kind of easy to ski however my foot was definitly holding me back. The snow for me got much more difficult the lower we went as it kept grabbing my tips which made me really have to fight to stay up. Fighting the snow wasn't very good as it put a lot of strain on my foot. But I muscled my way down always being the last in group with everybody watching me ski. It was very embarrassing as I knew they were all judging me. I havn't been the worst skier in a group for a long time and I really dislike slowing people down which is why I always push myself so hard on the accent to be one of the fastest. Once the slope leveled off I found that if I made slow and tiny old-school powder turns I found that I could actually ski with some control but soon the slope ended at the bottom of the valley where we had a quick break. The view from the bottom was amazing. Looking up the valley the peaks are so rugged. It was really amazing.With yet a long ways to go we pushed off down the valley until it quickly got very steep and we found an open waterfall. That wasn't good. Nick slowly sidestepped around it and found that if we were absolutly sure of ourselves we could get around the waterfall without too much trouble. A slide however would have resulted in an almost certain death. I don't often get myself into too many situations like this where if I fall I will probably die. On spring snow the traverse over the hole would have been easy however there was about 15cms of powder overtop of sheer ice. So it was very easy to loose an edge. But the 4 skiers made it across without any problems. Chris and Matt on snowboards decided to hike up a bit and traverse around the waterfall on the actual route we should have taken. It only took them about 15 minutes to traverse around so maybe we should have all traversed around. But it was interesting having to get around the big hole.With that finished we easily skied out the remaining parts of the valley getting back to Nick's car.The entire route went from 2500m to 800m for a total descent of 1700metres. Pretty impressive. I have only decsended 2 times in the backcountry that far. The other trip ws during Golden Week 2005 when I skied from Hotaka hut at 3000 metres down the super couloir to near ShinHotaka at 1300 metres. Both trips go into my books as really fun backcountry adventures.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Tsugaike Ski Hill
18th February 2006
Getting back into the saddle has been enjoyable so far. I've done quite a few early morning tours and even snuck out of school for a couple hours one warm afternoon. But all of them are tiny with less than an an hour laps. I decided to up that a bit with my weekend out in Hakuba.I just bought a new topo map for the Hakuba valley and saw a really nice ridge that started near the bottom of Tsugaike and climbed a long ways up. It would suit my needs perfectly as I didn't want a big descent that would be difficult with my sore foot. This route would involve a good elevation gain and then I could have a short descent before arriving back at the top of Tsugaike resort where I could sideslip back down to the bottom of the resort on groomed runs.I got a good mid-morning start and after riding 1 chair up the mountain started skinning up the ridge. I made some good time and sweated it up in the sun. It was a good route and in places the ridge was wide enough to make big traverses however in a few places it was narrow and steep and I had to traverse out onto the south faces in kind of sketchy snow. A little worrisome because I was on my own but nothing ever moved. As I gained elevation I was able to see further and further into the North Alps which hold so many good lines. I had to stop numerous times to take pictures but that was ok as it let me catch my breath. As I was traversing along the top of a large south face I was able to see all our north facing lines that we ski when it snows big. Many of the lines looked really good from this angle and it was really fun recaling all the lines and cliffs we have done.I was soon coming up to the last big hill and looking across was level with the top of the resort. Before I knew it I was on top of my 1900 metre bump in the ridge looking at all the amazing lines. One that really struck me was the north facing couloirs coming off of a peak just west of Happo-One. They were really nice and I'm going to ski them in a few weeks.As it had taken me about 2 hours to get to the top of my route I sat for a while taking it all in and eating my lunch. Once my sweat cooled me down enough I got everything back into my bag and got ready to finish up the route. I was going to traverse along the ridge and tick off another bump however traversing with skins on sketched me out on the icy ridge and so decided to just descend the south face to the cat-track that would take me back to the resort. It was kind of icy but I bet that if I had waited about an hour it would have softened up enough to make some nice spring turns. I'll just have to save that for another day.When I got back to the resort I immediatly saw my friends and so did a run with them through the park. The "run" for me was pretty much just a side-slip as I didn't want to hurt my foot. Everybody threw some good tricks though and I was impressed. But that was it for me and I sideslipped quickly to the bottom of the resort where I caught a bus back to Nick's lodge.A great day out in the hills. I gained somewhere over 700 metres in 2 hours and saw some really good terrain that I want to hit next week or the week after. Very fun.
17th June 2006
Yup. Even though I've said it the last few times. This past weekend was my LAST trip to Hakuba.I was planning on skiing Tsurugi however the weather forcast didn't look promising. Nick was raving about a snowfield above Tsugaike resort so I thought I'd take him up on his offer of a good ski with beer and bbq after.Turned out that the weather was good and we really lucked out.I woke up nice and early Saturday morning and looking out the window of the room I was sleeping in was really glad to find the sky was clear. I also immediately saw a line that looked really fun. There was quite an hourglass feature to it and it looked like it constricted tight for a little bit. I quickly got dressed and walked out onto the road for a better look and to get a picture to help guide us into it later once we were on top.Back inside I woke Ben up who had just arrived by train from Tokyo an hour earlier. We quickly got ready, picked Sarah up and were soon getting our gear on at the base of Tsugaike Ski Resort.The usual gondola and tram ride later and we were finally up high. It was raging hot though and I was instantly sweating like a pig. We were all walking and after the normal bathroom break started up Norikura at 9:00. The walking was easy and after a short 40 minutes I found myself at the top of Tengupaira. As I was drenched in sweat I took my shirt off and hung it on a tree so it would dry faster. May as well get some sun as it looked like I'd be waiting for a while. I was near the top of Tengupaira before Sarah had even started up from the bottom. Nick arrived a couple minutes after me and we both patiently and unpatiently waited. It was quickly becoming clear that the destination of the day was fading away. This could very well be my last ski trip in Japan so I wanted to ski something fun and also something that I hadn't skied before. A little difficult when hiking up Norikura. We came to the conclusion that we'd have to get going fast if we wanted to ski the line safely.Talking to Sarah when she made her way up to the flats we said we were going for the line. Ben being a real gentleman said he'd stay with Sarah and ski a line on Norikura.After waiting an hour on the flats my muscles were ready to go and I quickly booted up the steep slope to the top of Norikura. I've never climbed that hill so fast. It fealt great. The snow was perfect for walking up. Easy enough to edge in and we wern't sinking in very far for it to be exausting. Once Nick and I were on the top and after a quick water break we started out the now snowfree trail. Going over Norikura is really tedious as Norikura is just a pile of boulders. Going around the lake is by far the most annoying part as the boulders are large and you have to really concentrate on your steps. Even harder in clunky ski-mountaineering boots.But we were again at the snowcovered hut. Back in March it was completly covered in snow with only a chimney sticking out. By mid-June half of it was free of snow while the other half was still covered up to the roof. We kept on going now with the end in sight. We could see Korenge far along the ridge which we had to get pretty close to. Up the scree trail we gained a little elevation before finally getting onto the true ridge overlooking Hakuba. We had to have a break as we had been moving very quickly trying to make up lost time. A pack of M&Ms later and we shouldered our packs just as the clouds moved in. Up until now the weather had been amazing. We hiked the final 30 minutes in cloud trying to visualize where our line started. I had to check the camera numerous times to try and match up features on the ridge to the start of our line. The clouds cleared briefly and we were quickly able to find that we had gone just a little too far. The snowline we were standing at the top of didn't look like it went. We walked down the slope a couple meters to the top of our line and quickly got ready. As it was 1:00pm it had taken us 4 hours reach the top of our line. We must have really moved fast after the flats of Tegupaira.Another quick snack and the last of our water drank we clicked in. I dropped in first and found really good steep snow. A few fast carves and I moved into place just above the hourglass. I shouted up to Nick that it was much wider than we thought and that he should ski right through the constriction and I'd join him after getting some pictures. He did just that and I joined him before we leap frogged eachother down into the clouds below. The run was really fun. Up top it was about 40 degrees and then that dropped down to about 30 for the lower section. The lower section was really long as well and we were able to make some really fun big turns. Making sure not to hit the few rocks in the snow we soon found ourselves on flatter terrain and wondering where the snow would end and we'd have to get around the open river. We met some hikers just near the end that were out picking vegetables and they told us it was safe to get around the open river. We skied the remaining slope to where we found a gaping hole in the snow and strapped our skis onto our backpacks. While Nick was changing out of his ski boots I looked up and saw a few rocks rolling down the hill just above. They wern't moving fast so I only told him to watch out. But they quickly picked up speed and I yelled at him to get out of the way. Now in his running shoes he ran up the snow trying to get out of the way. Only problem was that he was running straight for the rocks. The biggest one just missed taking out his legs by half a meter. Even though the situation was quite serious I couldn't stop laughing at the site of Nick running right for the fast rocks.We quickly shouldered our packs and started walking down the grass slope next to the river. There was only one difficult problem we had to overcome. The slope had been cut into by the river and with the rain the day before the dirt and grass were very slippery. A slide wouldn't have been dangerous but you would easily get wet if you slipped down. I went first and went the wrong way as I ended up holding onto loose rocks, weeds and mud while only the tips of my boots were holding me. I made it down but it wasn't that fun. Something about if you slipped there was nothing you could have grabbed that would hold any weight. But I made it down fine. Nick in his running shoes went up and over but also had trouble in the slick grass and dirt. With that part finished we just had to walk down on the snow next to the river. We crossed to the left side on a snowbridge and then crossed back to the right just above a waterfall. To get around that we plunged into some thick vegetation. Slide alder, Sasa and Vines tried to hold us back but we forced our way through and after a couple minutes were past the waterfall and on the road just beyond.All that was left was a 30 minute road walk back to my car which we had placed the night before.All in all a great day out in the mountains and if that's my last skiing in Japan I can leave this country a happy man.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Yari
20th May 2006
Hakuba Yari is not the highest mountain above Hakuba. Nor is it nearly as steep as the real Yari further south in the North Alps. But the mountain is an impressive sight when viewed from the Hakuba valley. The best thing about the mountain though is the couloir that cuts right down the middle. It's a very cool thing to see. I've wanted to ski it for a long time now but the logistics of knocking it off were too great. Anyway you looked at it the approach for this mountain would be a grunt. But it had to be skied.Nick was the one that took the initiative and picked the location of our next adventure. I added to the trip by saying we should go very light and maybe hike through the night getting to our line as the snow is just warmed by the sun. Dan also jumped in for the trip saying he's willing to go anywhere that I want to go.Day 1Typhoon number rolled into Japan a bit late this year and picked the very Saturday that we were leaving to pass over the North Alps. The best weather in Japan is usually right after a large weather system passes by. This time was no exception. Dan and I got into Hakuba around lunch on Saturday. Just as we arrived the typhoon unleashed it's last bit of moisture. It rained really hard for a good hour. We had to make our decision by 4 when the last Gondola would leave the Tsugaike ski resort. We started shuttling cars at 3 and made it to the resort just as the weather was starting to clear up. As we gained elevation in the gondola the clouds parted and it was instantly bright blue sky. The only problem was the intense wind.We got to the top and started off. Nick and I were skinning however as we neared the first big hill I found that the snow looked pretty good for walking. So after a little slip I traded skinning for walking and shouldered my skis for the rest of the trip. Dan and I soon reached the summit of Norikura just as the sun was setting. Finding the trail through the deep shrubs took some time but we soon found it and continued to the little lake beyond. On the map there is a hut here however all I'd seen up until this trip was a large pole coming out of the snow. I had never been very close and thought it was a signpost. But now with the snow melted a bit we found that it was the chimney from a hut that was just starting to emerge from the snow. Amazing how deep it gets here.The sun set at the time it ws supposed to and we traded sunglasses for headlamps. The wind also picked up as we got higher on the ridge. It was very intense in places and would nearly knock us over. The snow had mostly melted off the ridgeline and we were lucky in most places to have an obvious trail to follow. In a few places I was glad to have my stiff ski mountaineering boots on the hard snow because they bite very well. Nick was walking in only running shoes and even then they didn't have very much tread. A fall along the ridge wouldn't have been pretty. Even worse because it was night.As we passed the summit of Korenge where we skied the Y-Couloir just before Golden Week the wind seemed to increase in velocity. I think it was because we were now really exposed to the Sea of Japan far below. I suggested finding a place to camp because we had a major mountain to get over coming up very soon and chances are it would be steep and very icy. It was shot down though with an unspoken thought that we might find a mountain hut to camp behind. Some of us hadn't had a good look at the map. We trucked along the mostly flat ridge for a short while before Shiroume loomed up ahead of us. We could tell it was white and very steep. But we were on a ridge and couln't see any place to camp out of the very strong wind. At a trail junction at 2700 metres though some rocks along the trail blocked the wind a bit and we were able to finally get some rest for the night. We had planned on making it to at least the many huts just beyond Shiroume however fighting the wind for 6 hours had exausted us.I was bivying so dug out a grave for myself in the snow. I used my iceaxe to cut branches from the coniferous shrubs. I lined the bottom of my grave with the shrubs and this kept me a little further from the snow. Nick and Dan were sleeping in Dan's tent.The night was already cold and the wind made it that much more. But because we were out of the wind the temperature although just below freezing was a little bit bearable for me. I had gone light though with just my summer sleeping bag, 3/4 length thermarest and an extra pair of dry longjohns. Right away my feet were cold so after a quick pee in the middle of the night I changed my setup a little bit. I managed to stuff my lower legs inside my backpack which helped keep my feet warm. With my down jacket inside my sleeping bag as an extra blanket I managed to stay a little bit warm most of the night. In other words I got a bit of sleep.Dan wasn't as lucky though but if he hadn't been lazy he could have had a better night. But he was exausted from fighting the wind and didn't want to bother trying to better his situation. Nick somehow with the lightest bag by far had his winter sleeping bag along. Maybe Dan should have shared a bit of his tent weight with Nick.Day 2I awoke to a clear morning just before the sun came up and quickly got my gear on. The problem with a bivi sack is that once you get out of it you are exposed to the elements. It was still very cold out. Unless I wanted to strip right down in the sub-zero temperatures I'd have to wear all my clothes till I reached the next hut where I could change out of the wind. I quickly packed my bag and because the snow was frozen put my crampons on. I didn't bother eating or drinking and this really affected my enjoyment level as I summited the highest peak in the Hakuba area. Shiroume is at 2932meters. I was exausted by the time I reached it and only snapped a quick picture of the summit marker before quickly making my way to the hut below. I found an open door to a still closed hut and went in. I drank my water and ate a bit of my sandwich. As I regained my strength I was also able to change out of my sleeping clothes and get ready for the warmth of the day. Nick and Dan showed up about an hour after I had arrived and we all relaxed in the empty hut for a bit. It was nice to be out of the wind. We still had quite a distance to go though so shouldered our bags got a group shot and went on our way. We had to drop quite a ways and then like all ridge traverses gain it all back a couple of times. It was really annoying but at least we were able to bypass the 3rd of 4 big mountains we had to get around. I do kind of wish I had made the trip to the summit though as looking from the valley I can't say I've stood on the summit of all the peaks above which is kind of sad. But can't cry over spilt milk. At 9:30 in the morning we were all on the summit of Hakuba Yari. We found that the snow was just getting good so quickly got ready for the ski. It's a shame we couldn't have stayed up higher for longer but then we had been up high traversing mountains since late in the afternoon the day before.I won janken and got to drop in first. The line was great up top and I made some really fun tracks in the perfect corn snow. I got to my safe area on the far side of the bowl just above the crux of the route. Dan and Nick then joined me and went further down the route. We would now enter the crux of the route. The line on Hakuba Yari is interesting. It starts out wide but constricts right down to just a few metres wide for about 50 metres vertical. As it was spring the skiable snow was quite a bit narrower and we had to make some fun jump turns through this section. I had a tough time keeping the smile on my face from getting too big. It was really fun. After the constriction the line opens up again however we couldn't go very fast because there was lots of rocks in the snow. We were also all very tired and just safety skied the rest of the face. The line didn't dissapoint. We had so far skied 1000meters vertical of very good falline skiing. But we still had quite a ways to go. We regrouped on the lower apron and discussed our exit. The line empties into a tight area below treeline and on the map there is a waterfall. We could see many a ski tour party coming into the bowl from a ridge to the north however we didn't park our car where they came from. Nick made a quick phone call to get some information which he didn't listen to. His information told us to exit out the way people were entering our bowl. For some reason we decided to hike up a ridge to the south. I looked on the map just before we started bootpacking up and found that if we gained the ridge above we could ski down the next valley. The map didn't show any obsticles that we'd have to get around. We made our way up to the ridge in the summer like temperatures and had a good rest. I again looked at the map and we decided on that information to drop into this bowl. There wern't any ski tracks so this should have been an instant warning to us. We skied very fun snow for 600 more vertical and then saw that we were almost at the bottom. But we wouldn't be able to exit that easy. The valley got very steep and dropped out of sight. We could here the noise of a waterfall and there wasn't a way around it as the valley walls were now cliffs. We thought we might be lucky though because just as we reached the decision that we couldn't exit this route there was a great looking route to the north east up a mellow snow slope. Maybe this would take us back to the original valley. We were all very exausted and the thought of hiking all the way back up what we had just come down was out of the question. At least we didn't try getting around the unmarked waterfall.We very slowly made our way up the slope and were very lucky to find that after a little roll in the slope it went for quite a ways up. It looked like at the top that we'd be standing high above the floor of our original valley. The only problem now would be finding a skiable line down to the bottom. But in that we were also very lucky and without even having to look very hard found a very skiable route to the very bottom of the valley. We wouldn't even have to get around the original waterfall as we had now bipassed it. It had only taken us quite a bit more effort to do so.Another quick rest and a triple check of the map to make sure we knew where we were and I set in first. A few cracks to get around but other than that it was easy.I was nearly to the bottom though when I heard very scared yelling. Nick was screaming for Dan to get out of the way. A very large ice block was flying down the slope heading right for Dan. He just jumped out of the way of the block. I was nearly at the bottom of the slope and found that after nearly taking out Dan the iceblock was now coming straight for me. I quickly traversed to the other side of the slope and watched as the block bounced to the very bottom and into the avy debris. Very scary. The block was about 1 meter around and was moving very fast. If it had hit Dan like it almost did he would have been very lucky to escape with just a few broken bones.With that little scare out of the way we skied the rest of the way to the end of our valley. We were now faced with just 1 more little adventure. A river crossing.Normally when we exit this valley the river is covered in snow. But with the late season that we were skiing the river was now very open and was much larger with the snow melt. Dan and Nick barefooted it in there ski boots while I just walked across not bothering to change. I was going to get wet anyways while they had dry shoes to change into. The river was about knee deep, flowing fast and for Dan and Nick with bare skin exposed very cold. It was really fun.With the river crossed that was the last of the adventure that Hakuba Yari could throw our way. We just had to hike the final portion of road which took an hour and we'd be back at the car.What an amazing trip. We experienced almost everything we could on this trip. Sub-zero temps, strong wind, narrow couloir skiing, exaustion, corn snow, route finding problems and river crossing just to name a few things that were interesting. I'm happy to have knocked that line off.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Happo-One
30th April 2006
Having skied the Y-Couloir the day before under a clear sky we set our eyes on another steep line past Karamatsu. I wanted to get into the long saught after double couloir far above Happo. We had a bit smaller group this time though with just Jer, Dan, Nick and myself. The morning dawned with high clouds. We geared up and dropped my car at the exit. While driving to the Happo-One lifts a few rain drops started coming down and we thought this would be it. But Nick said let's just go up and see what happens. As luck would have it the weather kind of cleared by the time we had skinned to the top of the first big bump. Not a clear sky but bits of blue here and there. Most importantly of all, no rain.We were moving pretty slowly though because of our big day before so when we reached the top of the south bowl I thought that maybe we would miss our chance on the double couloir I have so very much wanted. But we would at least get to ski a big open line and maybe gain some confidence back from the sorry state of snow we skied the day before.It worked and we found reasonable snow. Not perfect corn but not sludge. We all skied down to the waterfall for the always entertaining and horrifying ski-out through the canyon. Definitly not somewhere to sit down and have a picnic. As they have also plowed this road we had a bit of a walk back to the car but at least this time we were ready for it and the others were able to pack running shoes into their bags. I walked out in my AT boots. Another good day in the mountains.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Y-Couloir from Tsugaike Ski Hill
29th April 2006
Around the start of this year's ski season Nick and I were resort skiing at Happo-One and while riding a chair he pointed to the north showing me a cool looking massive couloir. He said let's ski it and I said ok. The months passed by, my foot healed and we knocked off a load of really cool lines around Hakuba. But what we had dubbed the Y-Couloir because of it's shape remained unskied. I think it remained unskied because we both thought that the safest way to ski the line would be to camp overnight and hit the couloir early in the morning. We would do this because it is south facing and gets sun most of the day. Camping would involve a lot more planning so it always stayed on the backburner waiting for some free time.Maybe we forgot about the camping or maybe we got too lazy in our safety but we decided to knock off the Y-Couloir on Saturday April 29.At first the trip would just be Dan, Nick and I but when Nick was renting crampons from Evergreen Dave, James and John signed on for the trip. They are all strong and experienced backcountry skiers with Dave being a level 2 Avy technician. I certainly didn't have a problem with them coming along as it would let me see how they go about their backcountry skiing.We got as early a start as possible getting the second gondola to the very top of the mountain. We started skinning at 9:00am. The sky was blue and the air was really hot. James and I were out front and on the final climb to the summit of Norikura we raced my best time of 70minutes back in Spring Break. We beat it with 62 and 63 (me) minute times to the summit. Very nice. We sat down and waited for the rest of the group. They soon followed up with Dan in the back trying to find his rhythm on my skinny skins. He wasn't able to climb at the angle that the rest of us were ascending at. But he held on just a bit behind at the top of each bump along the ridge. We finally reached our highpoint which turned out to be 2769 metre Korengedake at 12:00. We had been skinning for a very good 3 hours and had gained about 1000 metres. So far my biggest elevation gain of the season and also the highest I had been this year. Very nice. From the summit all we had to do to see into the Y-Couloir was look over the edge. From there the run fell 900metres to the valley bottom below at a good angle. At it's steepest maybe 45 degrees.We relaxed on the summit for a bit before finally getting on our way. I have always wanted to ski the skiers right arm of the Y while others wanted the skiers left arm. No problems there. We would just meet halfway down. Dave dropped in first and for 1 or 2 turns it looked good however the snow was really soft and with the angle it started sliding a bit. He nearly got taken out with his sluff as it passed him by and picked up even more speed. Looks like we were a bit too late. But it wasn't very dangerous if you paid attention to what was happening around you. I couldn't really see Dan's, Nick's and John's run though unless I stood right on the slope edge which made me a bit uneasy as it felt like a cornice. After they were out of site on their way down James and I skied along the ridge trying to find the entrance to our arm of the couloir. Good thing I had taken a very zoomed in picture that morning or we may have dropped into 1 of many couloirs that cliffed out. We found the correct line and even better found good snow. James dropped in first and ripped it like he was skiing groomers. Big train tracks right down the guts to the corner where he pulled over to let me catch up. I didn't carve my way down the run but instead did sliding turns and had a good time. We knew that at the corner the couloir got quite a bit steeper. James again went first so that I could take pictures and again he skied it like a pro. At the bottom though his sluff nearly took him out as it gained a ton of speed on the steeper slope. Nick was at the intersection trying to take pictures of us and had to quickly get out of the way as the sluff roared out of our line. When it hit the other slide path it excellerated even faster on the slick ice layer. My turns down the rest of our section was fun but again I skied it defensivly in the sometimes difficult snow. When our arm of the line joined the rest of the Y I found that all the nice snow we had seen from above was gone and replaced with difficult avy debris. It was soft but very difficult to ski. We all struggled down to the bottom of the couloir where finally we got back on good snow and skied over to a safe area. I was exausted.We still had a load of skiing out to do though so after a good long break got underway on the lower angled valley bottom. We did it Chinease downhill style until James wanted to jump off of something big. He had spotted a large cornice. He easily got a good 7 or 8 metre drop out of it and landed it clean. Pretty impressive. We skied the rest of the valley out hitting the plowed road with still a lot of valley to go. They just plowed this road but don't let cars drive up it. Dave called his wife though and she somehow got around the old man blocking the road at the bottom and after a km or so of walking we got picked up which was really nice.So the run. As I said above we never skied it earlier because we correctly assumed that you'd have to get there really early to get good snow. We didn't get there early and had crap snow. But we skied it and had a great time.
Backcountry Skiing – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One
15th April 2006
After the failure of last weekend not getting to the summit of Yakedake I had to summit something big to redeem myself. So it was back to Hakuba for a line off of Karamatsu.Nick was going to ski with me and Sarah, Will and Andy were going to accompany us for a bit before dropping off the north side of the ridge to ski Happo-zawa.We soon got underway a bit behind scedule but were lucky in that they didn't open the gondola at Happo-One until 8:00am. We were planning on riding up to the top at 7:30 so even though we were 40 minutes late it didn't matter because we boarded the gondola at 8:10 just 10 minutes after they opened it up. But in the future certain people and they know who they are are just going to have to start getting ready in the evening.The weather in Hakuba that morning kind of looked promising. While it was cloudy right above the town we could see pockets of really nice sunshine hitting the peaks above. Once we got to the top of the resort however my moral dropped as we were socked right in with some very poor visability. So instead of heading right away for our run Nick and I stuck around and helped the other 3 into their line. It just so happened that by the time we were at the top of the Happo-zawa route we also popped out of the clouds to brilliant sunshine. This re-motivated me and after telling Will that his line started right there in the trees hurried up my pace to get to the summit and run before the snow either got too sloppy to ski or the bad weather that was forcast for the afternoon moved in.After skinning up the remaining ridgline Nick and I found ourselves near the top and traded skinning for botting. The snow was soft enough to not need crampons this time and we booted up to the summit with only a few dozen plunges up to our thighs in the snow. While I was hiking to the summit I was listening to a bit of rock-fall and snow sliding off the big face past Karamatsu. I had been talking to a Japanese skier that was just ahead that was going to ski the face but each time we heard snow and rock falling we looked at eachother and shook our heads. It was funny as well because I had talked to this fellow back in March when I was in a blizzard up above Tsugaike ski hill. On the summit of Karamatsu we talked a bit about our lines and then he left to ski his line and I went back down the ridge to where Nick was waiting to ski our line. I was very happy to ski off the highest point on the ridge which is something that I really like to do. The ski down the ridge wasn't anything special and was really just sidslipping because the south side had been quite wind swept of snow but hell at least I skied off the summit.Back at the top of the line we would ski Nick got ready and I moved into position as I was going to drop in first. The line is a bit narrow and from the top you couldn't see the bottom as it made a couple turns down into the thick fog far below.When Nick was finally ready to spot me and grab a couple pictures I dropped in from the side and found rock hard ice for the first couple metres. This was quite a surprise and I nearly slipped right out but the snow quickly turned soft and spring-like and I made a couple fun turns into a safe area to watch Nick come down. He skied the line directly from the top of the couloir and after passing me went to a safe area as well. We pretty much skied the entire couloir like this leap frogging eachother and getting into safe zones. The snow was pretty good the length of the couloir. Near the bottom of the couloir propper we were back into the thick fog and had to stay close or we would have been lost. It was really thick. The snow here got quite a bit more difficult as pretty much everything had slid earlier in the week. At least the debris was soft enough to traverse across and we found a few spots that were skiable.The fog didn't last forever though and we popped out on the lower slopes for the fun wide open 30 degree slopes. We cruised down these to the bottom and a quick snack. While finally eating (I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at 6:30 and had only drank 500ml of water) at around 1:30pm we were able to watch a large guided group of about 10 descend one of the worst possible routes of the day. The entire thing had slid earlier in the week and the bottom was all avy debris. Sure it was quite steep and under better conditions would be quite fun but there were certainly better routes than theirs.With the hardest part of the ski complete we could finally relax and enjoy the ski out which is also quite fun. It got very warm on the lower section and I had to strip right down to just my longjohns. A lot cooler this way. I finally got Nick convinced about not taking off the skis until the last scrap of snow has been skied and we had a great time walking across dirt and rocky avy debris with the skis still on. I love spring skiing.A great day out in the mountains and I knocked another line off that I have wanted for a while.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba - Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
29th March 2006
March 29 - Backcoutry skiing above TsugaikeThe snow started to fall the night before and the weather was overcast with strong wind. Still we didn't want to sit around so got out for a little tour above the resort. Sean and Nick were out there with me and our original plan was to cut into some low angle north face runs to see what was happening out there with all the new snow and wind. Plans change though when you have 2 type A people on a trip with conflicting ideas about where to enter the north face runs and where our north face runs were. Turns out Nick and I were talking about different north face runs but that doesn't matter because we made a good decision and ended up skiing an amazing south face line. The run wasn't very steep but the powder was deep and the trees were open. It also helped that Nick had his new camera out and it has multiple frame ability which is good for action shots. We all took our turn in front of the camera and had a great time.When we got to the bottom we decided that going back up into the blizzard didn't sound like much fun so instead we did a couple laps on the south faces before heading over to the north faces.Again we had great snow although the coverage down low wasn't as good and we occasionally hit the crust below. Nothing that wouldn't be covered up in the days of storm still to come. A fun short day in the mountains.March 30 - Happo-One Resort skiingNick had an interview in Nagano city so he was only going to ski a half day. I had a free ticket from SJ and so with early loading at Happo we went there to see how much snow they had gotten up high.We got one of the first gondola's at 8 and got to the top for first tracks down the quad. It was really fun and I only touched bottom a couple times. The hounds were out though and we had to move fast. With just 1 run under our belts we moved over to skyline and were able to get 1st tracks down there where we had to wait a couple minutes for them to open the lift. A few more laps there and then the resort was pretty much tracked out. Normally we'd hit the trees for the rest of the day for untracked turns however at Happo this year it seems like Japanese people are all into tree skiing. We actually had competition for turns. This isn't very fun as the mountain gets tracked out quickly. We were always having to run to get to each chair and as Happo is very poorly laid out this usually means having to side step up steep hills to the next chair. All the while doing this very quickly because some J-snowboarder thinks he is king shit and the powder in the trees is free for the taking.The clock wore down and it was just me left as Sean had left with Nick do to sore legs. I wasn't much better off with this being my first hard resort ski in 3 months due to my foot being broken. So I went in for a break and to eat my lunch. I too succumbed to my complaining legs with the thought in my mind like the day before that with more snow, tomorrow will be epic. I may as well save myself for then.
Backcountry Ski Hill – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura North Faces – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
27th March 2006
March 27 - Hakuba Norikura North FaceEverytime that I have skinned into norikura people asked me if I am going to ski the north faces. I always say no I'm going to ski blah blah blah over there. But curiosity got to me and with Nick around I had a partner to check out a new area.We took the upper gondola up and when we got out of the station a lone telemarker took off skinning fast. Nick said to me joking that that's the kind of person I'd be racing if I chose to enter the SkiMountaineering race in mid April. I laughed at him and we started on our way. The telemarker was off ahead breaking trail straight up the mountain. I scoffed at him and started to put my own track in cutting switchbacks into the hill. Much easier than going straight up. I soon started gaining ground on the telemarker as he was stopping more often to catch his breath from going straight up the first hill. At the top there is a stretch of flat ground that goes for quite a ways before you get to the final hill. I had caught up to the telemarker here and we both started a non-verbal race to the summit. I wanted to show him that switchbacks are faster and he just wanted to show me how big his unit is. Again as we hit the final hill he started straight up and I made some big switchbacks. While I was covering a much further distance than he was I was able to stay at the same elevation if not just a little bit ahead. We soon came over the last bit of hill and were on the huge flat summit. I'll say it was a tie because in the end he went off somewhere else in what I hope was shame for not winning to a smelly gaijin.Once on top I noticed that while there was a clear blue sky the wind was moving fast enough to drop the temperature considerably. I got most of my clothing on and huddled down to wait for Nick who up until now I had forgotten was even out with me. He turned up a few minutes later and we chilled out behind our large rock trying not to be blown over or lose an gear in the strong gusts.After we had lost the sweaty chill we continued on our way across the large summit of Norikura. I finally got to see the lake that I have seen on the maps but always wondered where it was. In winter though it is just a large white flat area. When we got to the wind scoured north summit we immediatly saw a really cool looking ridge coming out from the massive cornices.It would have been dangerous to both go over and look for the entrance to the ridge so I remained on the summit and directed Nick into the line using my poles as directional markers. It was amazing to see how large the cornices are as he looked tiny up against the huge overhangs. I got him into the line and then went over to join him being sure to stay well back from the edge. The line looked really fun starting on a mellow ridge and then dropping steeply into the chute below. But from there we couldn't see so much and it looked like it choked into a narrow section that we couldn't really see. We abandoned that idea but looking back to where I was standing previously saw another cool looking line. Back to the north summit we went and got everything ready for our descent.We edged over to the top of the slope and found an amazing looking open and steep powder field all for us. There was nobody around and not a track in site. I guess I can't be too surprised as it was Monday. I got to go first and dropping in found very dry and again fast snow. I made both big and small turns before getting into some trees where I stopped and got the camera out so I could capture Nick coming down. He ripped it up as well and the smile was big on his face. Giving him my camera I skied the remaining section while he took pictures of me for once. The snow was so good. We regrouped in the trees far below and had our lunches. It was nice being away from the helicopters and crowds.As we had dropped into a different drainage we would have to skin back out again. Nick started breaking trail as I had broken trail all the way to the summit before. He soon brought us out onto a ridge where he saw another fun looking run. We skinned for another few minutes and were soon at the top of it. Nick skied first this time and found even deeper and drier snow than the last run. Absolutly amazing.At the bottom we again had to put our skins on but this would be the last time.Our original plan was to again ski out to Norikura ski hill and we stuck to it. When we got to the high point of the traverse out we deskinned and got ready for the rest of the descent which was still a long ways out. The ridgine as before only offered a few turns here and there however when we got to the final bump there was a nice long south face again waiting for us. It was now late in the day though and we feared that we may have missed the best of the corn. But the snow was still pretty good if just a little mushy. We skied out to the road walked across the bridge and put our skis back on to traverse back to the Tsugaike ski hill.An amazing day out in the mountains with great turns. In total we were out skiing for 7 hours and we must have gained about 1000 metres vertical throughout the day. Great Great Great.March 28 - Rain so went to Matsumoto
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One
25th March 2006
March 25 - Couloir on Karamatsu1 month before I had tried to get into this area with a large group of people. We were turned back because of a sketchy looking ridge near the end of the valley.I really wanted to ski off of Karamatsu and so pestered Nick enough to take Saturday off of work as that would be the best day of the weekend. Nick and Sean were also going to be in Hakuba for the week on their Spring Vacations.So with the plan of skiing a big line in our minds we got an early start the next day.Getting to the top of Happo-One ski resort there were just a couple people ahead of us on the ridgline. The race was on. I didn't think that almost all the backcountry skiers and riders would be going to the same place but that was the case. There was maybe 20 people that wanted a big line. Nobody was going to settle for low angle powder. We were able to stay out front for most of the ridge climb however soon dropped a bit when we switched from skis to crampons. This was partly my fault because I was having a bit of trouble with my crampons not staying on. But I finally got them dialed in and we made it to our high point. The view from this high was amazing. We could see Tsurugi, Tateyama and Yakushi which are on the other side of Kurobe Dam. It was really nice. Had there not been people a couple other parties wanting to get first tracks I would have liked to sit a for bit a look at the mountains but...We walked down the short slope to the start of our line a couple minutes before a group of 5. As we had gotten there first they let us go first. You'd think that would be assumed but in Japan there arn't any common courtesy rules like that. We geared up quick and after a quick janken Nick dropped over the lip into the couloir. It was pretty steep up top. Well over 45 degrees. I could tell he was having a good time as he was going as fast as he could in the dry and very fast snow. He disapeared around the corner at the bottom and the party watching us said he was at the bottom so it was now my turn.I dropped in where Nick did and found very fast and dry snow. It was really amazing. I ripped it the best that I could and had a great time. This was easily one of the best lines that I have ever skied in my life.When I reached Nick at the bottom of the couloir we both had huge smiles on our faces.We still had a load of vertical to get through so after a quick break to look at our turns we skied the rest of the valley before it gets flat. The snow was pretty good here and we were able to arc some big high speed turns. At the bottom of the valley we ditched a load of clothes as the sun was making things hot. Looking up at our lines we also saw a load of other great tracks down many of the couloirs. People were putting in some really nice turns. This is definitly an area that I want to put more tracks in.The ski out was the same as last time however we avoided the death trap of the waterfall this time. The other main hazard on this route was getting safely over all of the avy debris that stacks up in the narrow ravine. Not a place to get the bbq out for hotdogs. All in all one of my best days in the backcountry. Skiing a steep line like that in pristine conditions was enough to make happy for life.March 26 - Did 1 run as the conditions were not very good.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike Ski Hill
22nd March 2006
March 22 - SunshineI was again going to ski with Minako for her last day however after 1 run I couldn't bare to spend another day in the resort especially with the clear weather.In the parking lot I had met Tatsuo and introduced him to Minako. He was going off to ski the North Faces of Norikura that he called his secret area. I was quickly jealous. In the gondola I told Minako that he is the dude in the Landmade DVD and she got really excited about that yelling at me for not telling her earlier that that's who he was.But after 1 run I ditched Minako and went back to the car to gear up for backcountry. As I was getting a little bit of a late start I shelled out the 750yen to ride the upper gondola. From the top station I saw that there were just a few ski tourers ahead. I had a chance to make my own skin track up the entire mountain. Very exciting and good exercise. I was able to skin the entire mountain from the top gondola putting in nice switchbacks in 70 minutes without stopping. I had gained over 600 metres in just a bit over an hour. That put all my mid week tours in Takayama to shame for sure. As I had made such good time to the summit I had been able beat all of the heli-skiers that had been dropped off a bit before. That meant a large, relativly safe and untracked powder face for me to ski. I jumped at that chance right away and just 10 minutes after reaching the summit was clicked in and ready to ski.The turns were amazing and I was so happy to have my Volkl Explosives. They might be a lot heavier than the K2 Shuksans but the descent is so much more fun. As I still had lots of time left in the day I chose to traverse out to Norikura ski hill along a nice ridge. This was lots of fun and I was able to get many more fun turns on the way down. The final slope is open and south facing which made for great corn turns. Now at the resort I walked across the bridge dividing Norikura and Tsugaike ski resorts before getting back to my car. March 23 - It snowed heavily all night and by morning there was about 20-30cms of very wet snow. On the gondola ride up all of the south faces had slid to the bottom in many places going right across the roads that beginners use. I got to the top of the gondola clicked in a skied back to the car. Not even a day.March 24 - Mark from Toyama had called me up the night before wanting to get out into the backcountry. It would be nice to have some company. We were going to ski something on Norikura. You'd think I'd be getting a bit bored of this area but there are so many runs to do.As I had taken the gondola last time the thought of having to skin up to the top station was only a thought and we paid for the ride. Just as we walked into the gondola station a Japanese guy recognized me from some backcountry trip last year. He was a BlueCliff guide that I have seen a few times in the Tateyama and Karasawa areas. Small world. Or maybe I stand out.We started up the hill and soon made it to the flats where the heli drop is. I had a wait a couple minutes for Mark but he soon arrived and we started up to the top. I made good time and had my sandwhich at the top while Mark snowshoed up the hill. From there we walked over to the south face runs. We debated the merrits of digging a pit as Mark had just finished his Recreational Avalanche course. In the end we just talked about the conditions and looked around to see what was happening naturally. Somehow I was the guiny pig to test the slope and found some very fun snow. We skied the run all the way to the bottom of the face. It was a great ski. And at the bottom Mark asked when lunch would be. I had been caught up in Matt land and had forgotten that he had had nothing to eat. So he chowed down while I took in the beauty that is the North Japanese Alps. Another really good day out in the backcountry.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill
18th March 2006
March 18 - Hakuba Norikura South Face with NickStarted my spring vacation by doing a great backcountry trip with Nick.The weather report was for sun turning to rain later in the afternoon so we got out early. Our plan was to skin up Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike ski hill.We made pretty good time to start with however by the time we reached the top gondola that we didn't ride there was some maniac making the most horrible skin track in the world ahead.While skinning this straight up the slope track I was able to skin right beside our friend Tatsuyo the Hakuba big mountain skier who was snowshoeing. We had a good conversation about the many lines we wanted to ski in the upcoming spring season. At the top of the first slope I waited a coule minutes for Nick to catch up before again continuing on.Tsugaike ski hill offers heli-skiing above the resort and they advertise it as skiing in this uncharted wilderness when in reality it's skiing a flat run with hundreds of people. We were lucky enough to be skinning right next to all this chaos and were constantly being buzzed by helicopters. Once dropped off the clients can either ski right back to the resort or make the treck to the very top of Hakuba Norikura. Most ski back however a few adventerous souls make a boot pack up the final slope. With the line of people booting up it looks a lot like historical Klondike Goldrush pictures from back in the day. So it was with the tourists that we made our way to the top. Nick didn't want to skin up the near vertical skin track so booted up while I made my way up the steep track.At the top we again rested for a couple before leaving the masses and heading over to the south side of the large summit area. We were finally alone and standing on top of a large open south face. A few photos and then we traversed into our line for the descent. The snow wasn't powder and wasn't isothermic crap. The skiing was very much just controlled sliding. No edge hold so you couldn't carve. It was lots of fun though and started out my holiday great. March 19 - High winds - Rest dayMarch 20 - High winds and snowing above the resortI needed to get out again so skinned up above Tsugaike resort. I wanted to meet up with our friend Katsu the kayaker and his large group however as soon as I reached the top gondola that I again didn't take the wind hit. I retreated behind a hut to put more clothing on before attempting to make it a bit higher. I had to get my 300 metre vertical to make it a day. I didn't have to go much further though to get that. I ended up stopping in the last group of trees I could see. The wind was really strong. A guy on snowshoes with spatulas on his back passed me there saying he was going to the summit. Crazy nut. I skied fun low angle powder back to the resort.March 21 - Cloudy - Skied groomers for 5 hours with Minako. I only have 2 pairs of skis mounted right now. Both are big fat skis with one setup being backcountry and the other setup being resort. I took the resort fat skis and tested them out as best I could on the groomers. It was fun if just a little sketchy at times.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One
5th March 2006
The forcasted cloud turned into sun and not wanting to let it go to waste Dave, Jer and I went for a little tour above Happo-one. The plan was to lap up a short south facing bowl when the temperatures rose and softened the spring snow. That's what the plan was at least.The weather however didn't cooperate at all. Once we got to the top of the resort we realized that it was really cold and very windy up top and probably wasn't going to warm up. Just off of the top chair there is a really nice north facing bowl that drops all the way to the valley bottom over a 1000metres below. The bowl was extremly wind loaded and a snowboarder had tried to ride it with a very dangerous result. Right at the roll on the top a fracture released. We didn't see the slide happen but I can guess that it was frightening to watch and horribly scary to be in. I didn't hear anything on the news so I assume the rider made it out safe with a lesson learned.This was Jer's first BC tour and was using Nick's bindings and skins. We set off up the first hill and right away Jer was loving the feeling of earning your turns. We quickly made it to the top of the bowl we wanted to ski. The wind was blowing really hard and it was very cold. In some gusts the best thing to do was just lean into it and try not to get blown over. It was that strong. We didn't linger long on the ridge and jankened for 1st tracks. Dave won and I got 3rd.His run brought us to the reality that there was a crust under the snow. He had a bit of trouble with keeping his speed down. Jer had the same problem. I took it easy and had a fun time getting some good turns in on the interesting snow. At the bottom we traversed over to the side of the bowl for some lunch before skinning back up a ridge to the resort.All in all it was a fun run however the wind took a lot out of us.I really want to get into this bowl when the snow is softer so that I can just cruise down without a care in the world on soft soft spring snow.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One
25th February 2006
On my backcountry ski tour the weekend before I had seen a beautiful face above the Happo-One ski resort. It was 2600 metres tall and had some really cool looking couloirs. I told Nick about it and he seemed really interested so we made plans to get into that area at some point.That some point came up quickly. While sitting around at the lodge Friday night other people also became interested and by early Saturday morning we had 6 people. Nick, Bruno, Hugh, Matt, Chris and myself.We were up kind of early at 6 and were riding up the Happo chairs by 8:30. The sun was out and it was very clear. When we finally reached the top of the resort we knew from the weather that the day would be a really fun.The ridge we would traverse climbs slowly from the top of Happo resort and snakes it's way to the back of the east/west valley. This makes a great ski touring area as on the left are nice warm south faces and on the right cold north faces.The skinning began from the top of the resort at 9:00am at around 1900 metres. We got under way and pretty much stuck together. I was out front and tried to set a good pace as I didn't want to be out all day getting grouchy with having to stop and talk for hours on end. We made or way up the slope until we got to a pretty icy hill that was too steep to skin. So skis off we kicked steps with our ski boots. The 2 snowboarders Matt and Chris were wearing snowshoes. Matt easily made it up the slope however Chris slipped near the top and slid to the bottom ripping his hand open. He finally made it to the top of the slop and we all regrouped in some trees below another icy slope. I decided to boot right up the ridge with Matt and Chris while the other skiers found it easier to boot up a different route. I had my ice-axe with me so it was very easy but had I not had the tool I would have gone with the others. But we all regrouped again on the summit and got on our way again. We were nearing the end of the valley when at the top of a 2500 metre bump we saw the remaining section of ridge. It was not very narrow but it was extremly icy and a fall either way would have been very hazardous. In softer snow we would have easily skied or booted up the ridge. But we made the easy descision to ski a different route and return another time with proper gear for our intended line. The view from our high point was amazing. While we couldn't see very far West because there were very large mountains in the way we could see mountains right on the Japan Sea to the North, many mountains in the East and and all the way to Fuji-san in the South right on the Pacific. A quick lunch and we geared up for our decsent. We would ski a short portion of our accent route before dropping into a drainage on the North. The south faces were getting soft and we had great turns before arriving at the top of our run. Nick dropped in first and found blown in powder. It was quite a surprise over the shear ice that we thought we would be skiing. After everybody else was down a ways I dropped in and found the top to be kind of easy to ski however my foot was definitly holding me back. The snow for me got much more difficult the lower we went as it kept grabbing my tips which made me really have to fight to stay up. Fighting the snow wasn't very good as it put a lot of strain on my foot. But I muscled my way down always being the last in group with everybody watching me ski. It was very embarrassing as I knew they were all judging me. I havn't been the worst skier in a group for a long time and I really dislike slowing people down which is why I always push myself so hard on the accent to be one of the fastest. Once the slope leveled off I found that if I made slow and tiny old-school powder turns I found that I could actually ski with some control but soon the slope ended at the bottom of the valley where we had a quick break. The view from the bottom was amazing. Looking up the valley the peaks are so rugged. It was really amazing.With yet a long ways to go we pushed off down the valley until it quickly got very steep and we found an open waterfall. That wasn't good. Nick slowly sidestepped around it and found that if we were absolutly sure of ourselves we could get around the waterfall without too much trouble. A slide however would have resulted in an almost certain death. I don't often get myself into too many situations like this where if I fall I will probably die. On spring snow the traverse over the hole would have been easy however there was about 15cms of powder overtop of sheer ice. So it was very easy to loose an edge. But the 4 skiers made it across without any problems. Chris and Matt on snowboards decided to hike up a bit and traverse around the waterfall on the actual route we should have taken. It only took them about 15 minutes to traverse around so maybe we should have all traversed around. But it was interesting having to get around the big hole.With that finished we easily skied out the remaining parts of the valley getting back to Nick's car.The entire route went from 2500m to 800m for a total descent of 1700metres. Pretty impressive. I have only decsended 2 times in the backcountry that far. The other trip ws during Golden Week 2005 when I skied from Hotaka hut at 3000 metres down the super couloir to near ShinHotaka at 1300 metres. Both trips go into my books as really fun backcountry adventures.
Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Tsugaike Ski Hill
18th February 2006
Getting back into the saddle has been enjoyable so far. I've done quite a few early morning tours and even snuck out of school for a couple hours one warm afternoon. But all of them are tiny with less than an an hour laps. I decided to up that a bit with my weekend out in Hakuba.I just bought a new topo map for the Hakuba valley and saw a really nice ridge that started near the bottom of Tsugaike and climbed a long ways up. It would suit my needs perfectly as I didn't want a big descent that would be difficult with my sore foot. This route would involve a good elevation gain and then I could have a short descent before arriving back at the top of Tsugaike resort where I could sideslip back down to the bottom of the resort on groomed runs.I got a good mid-morning start and after riding 1 chair up the mountain started skinning up the ridge. I made some good time and sweated it up in the sun. It was a good route and in places the ridge was wide enough to make big traverses however in a few places it was narrow and steep and I had to traverse out onto the south faces in kind of sketchy snow. A little worrisome because I was on my own but nothing ever moved. As I gained elevation I was able to see further and further into the North Alps which hold so many good lines. I had to stop numerous times to take pictures but that was ok as it let me catch my breath. As I was traversing along the top of a large south face I was able to see all our north facing lines that we ski when it snows big. Many of the lines looked really good from this angle and it was really fun recaling all the lines and cliffs we have done.I was soon coming up to the last big hill and looking across was level with the top of the resort. Before I knew it I was on top of my 1900 metre bump in the ridge looking at all the amazing lines. One that really struck me was the north facing couloirs coming off of a peak just west of Happo-One. They were really nice and I'm going to ski them in a few weeks.As it had taken me about 2 hours to get to the top of my route I sat for a while taking it all in and eating my lunch. Once my sweat cooled me down enough I got everything back into my bag and got ready to finish up the route. I was going to traverse along the ridge and tick off another bump however traversing with skins on sketched me out on the icy ridge and so decided to just descend the south face to the cat-track that would take me back to the resort. It was kind of icy but I bet that if I had waited about an hour it would have softened up enough to make some nice spring turns. I'll just have to save that for another day.When I got back to the resort I immediatly saw my friends and so did a run with them through the park. The "run" for me was pretty much just a side-slip as I didn't want to hurt my foot. Everybody threw some good tricks though and I was impressed. But that was it for me and I sideslipped quickly to the bottom of the resort where I caught a bus back to Nick's lodge.A great day out in the hills. I gained somewhere over 700 metres in 2 hours and saw some really good terrain that I want to hit next week or the week after. Very fun.
1 comment:
this is really cool, I like here!
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