NISEKO_SASSKI_SE

Friday

2010-02-05 08:38 | 1422 Visningar | Inga kommentarer

Really heavy wind and the heaviest snowfall i have seen since we arrived. i think that we got around 60cm of snow on the top tonight. The weather forecast reported that we have got 170cm of snow the last 3 days! Took some rides with the same crew on gate5 and we found the deepest snow here so far. Lost all other people so Sara and me decided to get traverse over to gate 1 or 2 but Sara got stuck in a in a 160cm deep hole in the piste and she needed to dig out her board. Tried to get over to gate 1 but it was totally impossible the visibility was 1 meter and the wind was 30m/s.

Decided to call it a day and stop skiing since we could not see anything! Headed for some lunch and then off to the sport shop to find some snowshoes for som even heavier backcountry boarding! As usual the Niseko weather gave us a surprise, after a hour the sun was shining for 15 minutes and then it started to snow again. After a weather check all the top lifts where closed and also Niseko gondola. So we decided to not ski anymore this day.

We have now geared up with snowshoes and tomorrow we are going to head over to Moiwa and do som serious backcountry. Jenny and I decided to extend our stay for a couple of days, and thanks to the crew at www.ekimne.com we could have the whole house that is for 8 persons for ours self and just pay for two persons!

This will probably be my last blog from Niseko since my computer have crashed, and the rest of the crew are leaving home with their computers. Over and out for me from Niseko.

Thursday

2010-02-04 14:05 | 1463 Visningar | 1 kommentar

Since the blizzard last night i think that we got around 40+ cm of snow tonight, Teamed up with the aussie seasoners and the Swedes and Ingo again in the Hirafu gondola and we decided to head out to gate 5 again, we started with the short run that ends in the hanzano3 lift, fresh tracks again, headed up again and did the ride on the skiers right from the hanzano3 lift in the forest and it was bottomless powder and steep in an right leaning angle really nice and fast. Niseko is totally crazy i have never seen this much powder anywhere ever! Took the lift up to gate 4 and decided to go for the golf course run and it was totally fabulous waist deep powder and almost no trees and the sun was out for a moment, sadly the run ends in a hike for snowboarders like me.

We split up in the group and Jenny and I decided to go thru gate 3 and hike the 30min to the top and ride down to the annapuri lift system thru bowl 2. Really strong wind and the visibility was almost nothing. Asked some Aussies for directions since we could not see where the ridge started. Traversed to the right to get in to the bowl but misjudged the direction a bit and cut down too early from the mountain in too an area that was no good, too steep and way too much snow, decided to get out of this place as soon as possible so i headed straight down and as soon as i took a left turn i started a small avalanche 30m x 30m and 1m deep continued keeping left and the slide passed me on my right side. Decided to get out of this place as soon as possible turned a hard right and headed straight down out of this place and deeper into the nr2 bowl and we were out safe! And ready for a underwear change :)

As promised here are som pictures from yesterdays ride from Moiwa, one of the best powder days ever!

wednesday

2010-02-03 12:48 | 1532 Visningar | Inga kommentarer

My computer has crashed, so my blog will not be as updated as it could.

Yesterday got some absolutly perfect runs in gate 1 & 2 first in gates and set the line in the tracks!

Today, blizzard -18 and strong winds. Did one run in gate 5 and heard that gate 1,2,3,4 where closed. So we decided to get over to the system next to Niseko, Moiwa. Total blizzard here to but almost no people. There were no tracks anywhere whe found poweder to our waist all day long, and ended up with a really nice ride that ended in a 1.5 hour hike. I have never seen the amounts of snow in my whole life that i have seen the last days. Niseko is so good! I will try to post some pictures from today later.

Monday in Niseko

2010-02-01 11:00 | 1621 Visningar | 1 kommentar

Got up early, and was surprised to once again to see the sun in the morning. We had pickup this morning from Ben one of the managers at ekimne.com. The plan was to catch the first gondola at 08:30. We arrived at the Hirafu gondola at 08:15 and was almost 1st in line. Met some Australian seasoners, two Swedes and a Norwegian from Widero. The plan was to get as fast as possible up to gate 5 in Hanzano to get first tracks and we made it, we where first up and set the tracks, the weather had changed to snowstorm, took the short run to the hanzanoo 3 lift and went right back up again and took the longer run down to the cat tracks with some hiking to the piste. We also got some more off-piste in between two pistes with some nice tree skiing.

Decided to give the strawberry track a run and got a few nice turns but there where tracks almost everywhere. So we decided to head back to gate 1 & 2 and noticed that gate 2 was closed just as gate 4. Still got some nice tracks in gate 1. Decided to give gate 7 a try but this was all messed up with tracks everywhere, headed back to gate 1 and traversed along the ridge for 15 minutes and still found fresh tracks and the sun started to shine again! After 6 hours of constant riding without lunch we decided to call it for the day and headed down to Hilton for some hot Onsen and good pizza.

Got back to the cabin around 17:30 and got notified that one of the participants Larissa was injured, found her on the sofa with her leg in a casket. She got a knee fracture crashing in the deep snow during her first run. We all feel so sad for her. No more skiing for Larissa in Japan this trip :( Today’s pictures

Niseko Sunday

2010-01-31 09:02 | 1753 Visningar | Inga kommentarer

Woke up early in the morning on Sunday, and noticed that Niseko got another good 30+cm of snow and the sun was shining! Started by taking the Hirafu gondola up and then king hooded triple to the top and noticed that i had lost a screw in my binding, did some temporary fixing with some wire that i found. Skied just below for some really steep and deep riding left of the lift around the tree line.

Me and Lars decided to get over to gate 1 and gate 2 area where we found some really nice tracks yesterday. Entered through gate 1, and dropped down after 100m and got some fresh tracks in waist deep powder, no tracks from yesterday where visible.

Next time we went through gate 2 and followed the ridge to the second bowl, found a really tight and steep spot with lots of trees and some really loose deep powder that i got a couple of good turns.

The time is now 5pm and it has started snowing again according to the weather report we should now get 8cm of snow hourly!, we are all relaxing in the cabin and getting ready to go to a Onsen nearby.

In Japan finally

2010-01-30 13:42 | 1821 Visningar | Inga kommentarer

Sorry but i have not had any internet access the last days so this is my first blog from Japan. We Arrived in Tokyo after a totally insane snowstorm in Copenhagen, finally after 2h delay several de-icing and plowing of the runway we finally got going. Arrived in Tokyo and hade a hectic day in Tokyo doing all the touristic things, Roppongi and so on.

Left Tokyo to haneda in the morning of the 29jan no thirills trip to Niseko, landnded and after a 2.5 hour transfer we arrived in Niseko villege Hilton, at 6pm and started with a hot Japanese bath (Onsen) 42c of pleasure. And it was pouring snow!

Morning of 30jan wakeup call att 0645, loaded for a nice breakfast at Hilton, then ready at the gondola at 0800:) We got 40cm snow tonight. So me and Jenny was totally loaded to get out to set some fresh tracks. And Niseko gave us a good treatment with powder up to our waist all day long! Things did not get worse since we found a local guide who showed all us the nice backcountry tracks! on the Annapuri side.

So here are some pictures! randomly starting from Cph to Tokyo to Niseko and everything that has happened in between.

SAS SkiClub Sweden is going to Niseko on the 28 jan

2010-01-19 15:06 | 2020 Visningar | Inga kommentarer

14 people from SAS skiclub is leaving for Niseko on the 28th feb. Follow our daily blog here.