Maddest thing I've ever seen in a ski resort

Mountain bikes are for mountain tracks, skis and snowboards for snow resorts. It's really that simple. Whoever thought of mixing the two is probably still recovering from serious injury.

These photos were taken on Dec 23rd: we went on a road trip to Shiga Kogen ski resort in Nagano prefecture. The bike race took part on a resort piste: we were allowed to board down alongside the stragglers.

The bikes were not as quick as we thought they'd be: it looked like a lot of leg muscle power to was needed to get through some parts of the course. For the steeps, it seemed like a case of closing your eyes and hoping for the best...

Happy christmas !

Well we may not have had a lot of new snow but the conditions out on the hill are perfect. The difference this year from last year is that the tempratures keep really low, even with blue skies like yesterday the courses are keeping really fresh. It looks like the next new snow will be with us by the weekend which will help the lower resorts in the town. (We went on a tour of some other resorts Shiga Kogen and Nozawa, at this stage Kagura has the best conditions out of them all).

First day out at Kandatsu

Yesterdays conditions at Kandatsu where excellent, the snow that settled the night before had been groomed and there was hardly anyone out, but 2pm I was still finding groomed patches that no one had been over. It was some of the best groomed conditions that I had ever been on without having to wake up early! This weekend sees another batch of town level resorts opening such as Naspa Ski Garden, Yuzawa Nazakato and Ipponsugi. We hope you enjoy the weekend.

Blue skies and powder snow in Tashiro

Today was the first time that we had the chance to try out a few runs in the Tashiro area of Kagura ski resort.

After quickly bombing around the resort just to make sure that all the runs were still there, we ended up taking one or two slight diversions, finding some great runs and fresh powder snow.

The weather was very changeable: periods of deep winter blizzards interspersed with bright blue skies. I took these photos while the sun was out (click photo for a larger version)...

Kagura ski resort

Slight diversion in Tashiro

Gala Opening Day - still dumping snow

Saturday saw the beginning of the season in earnest. Whilst we've been enjoying the snow up in Kagura for the past few weeks, it feels great when the town resorts open up as well.

I got to Gala in the afternoon. It would have been better to have some more time on the slopes, but it took a while to recover from the night before - the opening night of the bottle bar...

This was a shame, because the snow conditions are fantastic. Its been snowing heavily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Gala Yuzawa, 15 Dec 07

bottle bar opens today !

I woke up this morning to light snow outside my window but now its starting to fall quite heavily this is good news for GALA which is opening up today, its set to snow till at least Sunday. This Saturday also sees the Kagura / Mitsumata / Tashiro area becoming fully operational. They are definitely having a good start to this season. This Friday will also see the Bottle Bar opening up from 7:00pm. We hope to see you in there this season.

Guinness World Record Confirmed!

I got the certificiates through for the Guinness World Record today - official confirmation that we broke the record for different ski lifts ridden in 1 day. On the last day of the season, Patrick, Josh and I beat the existing world record of 42 lifts, by riding 44 in a day.

Here's what the certificate looks like:

As an added bonus, the certificate puts Josh down as being from the UK when he's actually our resident Aussie at the WeLoveSnow office.

Surely someone out there can do better this season?!? We rode 44 lifts, this on the last day of the season when there were a lot of lifts closed and no night-skiing...

Whilst I've linked to this many times already, here is a description of the day, and a video file of the record breaking attempt. (The video was taken on the last day of what was a short season for the lower resorts last year)

It's still dumping snow!

Another day of snow and another day of work. Thankfully work is standing on a ski slope making sure people have as good a time as we do. It has been snowing constantly for two days and the conditions are perfect in resort (although plenty of shovelling to be done by businesses to clear snow at town level). The lift lines are just full of grinning faces of those that are lucky enough to be up there today. It'll still be great at the weekend so don't depair if you are reading this at your desk.

December skiing starts with blue skies

Snow enthusiasts are still enjoying the fantastic start to the season. They were out in force this Saturday taking advantage of the good conditions so of course, we had to join them. With blue skies in the morning the weather was playing its part too. The clouds started to come in during the afternoon and we hope it is the start of the predicted snowfall for this week. We'll keep you updated but in the meantime have a look at some of the photos from the weekend.

Kagura on Friday 30th of Nov

The early seasons runs are just getting better, trying out all the different conditions and getting back to last years levels. Friday was again blue skies with the sun beating down, but it was colder you can sense the real big dumps of snow are on the way. The melting and freezing of the courses has made them really quick, Kagura Gondola course on full throttle is the quickest it has been in a longtime. (The re shaping work in off season makes it a straight through race with no slowing down half way like last year). One down side (still rather take the blue skies at this stage) is that no new snow has meant the deep moguls on the challenge course. Get a tin hat and ready for trench warfare attempting to fly down this one.

Forecast ahead looks like the snow will return during mid week, although still rocking at the amount of early snow, we are greedy for a new fresh dump. I had a chance to take the camera out a few times so hope you enjoy the shots below

Blue Skies in Naeba

After almost breaking my knees over the weekend, I took a few days off. Today I tried a couple of hours in Naeba. It was a beautiful day: the blue skies were stunning. I had a few techinal problems with my camera (remembered the camera, forgot the memory stick), so today I'll have to post some low-res pics taken with my mobile phone:

Naeba has less snow than Kagura or Mitsumata. The Gondola No 2 was running, but the course under it shouldn't really have been open. There is a small lift just below Gondola No 2: this run had great snow, and is a nice easy run to get warmed up.

It was just great to be out in the mountain today, and the views were fantastic. The temperatures came right down: I regretted not bringing a scarf with me...

Kagura opening day - amazing conditions out there!

Kagura's season started on Friday 23rd November, and with style: the conditions were fantastic.

Even the lowest slopes in the Mitsumata area had knee-deep powder runs. Friday was a cold day, though thankfully as the morning progressed the snow held up, allowing for better visibility.

Usually on the first day of the season, there isn't a great deal of snow around: this gives you a chance to get your legs ready for when the snow dumps arrive. There was no such luxury this time round: from the very start, the powder was up to knee deep. It was amazing to have such conditions at the end of November. My leg muscles were begging for mercy after an hour or two, but it was impossible to stop.

Saturday was more of a blue sky day. There was still plenty of powder snow to be found, as shown on the picture below (clicking on the image gives a larger version).

Blue sky & fresh powder snow in Kagura, Sat 24 November

Kagura main gelende, Sat 24 November

Outside Echigo Yuzawa Train station, Friday 23rd November

The ski season couldn't have started better. Looking forward to plenty more days like these...

Snow everywhere !

It has snowed all night. This year is already bringing back memories of the epic season 2 winters ago. The snow is still falling and it is only November. Looking out of our window it already looks like mid-winter here in Yuzawa. There is a very good reason this area has been nicknamed "Snow Country". Check the photos.

Its Snowing !

Our prayers have been answered and the snow has arrived in fine style....and just in time too. With Kagura opening their lifts on Friday we fully intend to be first in the queue to see if rumours that both the Kagura and Mitsumata areas will be open for the first day. The town is back to its winter finest and hopefully this is just a little taste of all the snow to come this winter. Have a look at these photos taken on the way to work this morning.

Snow on the Yuzawa webcam

It was great to see the view on the Yuzawa webcam today: snow on the ground level. What with Kagura reporting 70cm of snow down on the top piste, its looking like all systems go very soon

The above picture shows a still of the Yuzawa webcam.

Snow forecast

Just recieved this weather update from snow-forecast.com for Kagura ski resort, and its looking good. The below report is for the resort mid-level



Kagura opens on November 23rd...cant wait!

Snow on the slopes!

Okay, its only the man-made stuff, but its still good to see. I went to Naeba yesterday, and saw the resort preparing for the start of their season on 17th November. The snow-making has started in earnest.


The picture shows part of the snow being covered. The temperature when I visited at lunchtime was 11 degrees, with quite a wind chill and spitting rain. It certainly wouldn't take much to get the temperature down to 4 degrees overnight, and for that rain to turn to snow.


Apart from the forthcoming snow season, at the moment its actually a beautiful time to escape the concrete of Tokyo and get out into the Niigata or Nagano mountains. Its now the peak of the 'kouyou' season, when the leaves of the trees turn colour. The below picture shows Daigenta canyon, a 15min drive from Yuzawa.

Free Japanese sake tasting

WeLoveSnow is based in Yuzawa - apart from ski resorts and huge snowfall, this town is also famous for

its 'onsen' hot springs, and the best quality quality rice in Japan is grown here.

The rice is so good here due to the quality of the water. And because the rice and water are so good, this makes for one of the best places in Japan to make sake.

Shirataki Brewery makes 'Jozen', one of the most famous sake brands in Japan. We have been helping Shirataki brewery to make their new English website. Feel free to take a look.

Apart from a wealth of information on the sake-brewing process and Shirataki's products, the best part of the site is the offer of free sake and a sake glass when you take a tasting tour at the brewery - the tour is also free of charge, and is open to everyone over 20 years of age (the legal age for drinking alcohol in Japan).

The brewery is only a 5 minute walk from Echigo-Yuzawa train station. For more information, see this sake tasting tours page.

Getting chilly: forecast -2 degrees !

We've been adding a view features to the site - the first page of our ski resort spotlight pages now have an info box giving various useful info, including links to weather reports.

Clicking the 'top of mountain' weather link on our Kagura page, the temperature is forecast to go down to -2 degrees overnight on Saturday... bring on the winter weather!

Kagura New Lifts and Runs

Well the new season is on the door step and Kagura have been busy re working their courses and lifts. Found out today that they have removed 3 old lifts from the main Kagura piste and built a brand new high speed lift promising faster and quicker trips up the hill. On the Gondola course they have ot rid of the middle flat part so there is no way you have to un strap anymore. On the Tashiro lake course they have built a new course direct back to the ropeway lift making it real quick to get back home. Other alterations involve a new entrance to the Kagura restaurant so more slipping down the ice to get the curry in a hurry.

First snow of 2007/08 season

Whippie whippie, just watched the evening news and it is official, snow is forecast for the mountains tomorrow night. 3cm bring it right on! and just getting whispered in my ear that it has already sprinkled some down on the top of Fuji. There we go this season is going to be massive in Yuzawa, it is going to be early, big, fantastic and just POWDER. Nothing more to add to the blog except for I Love Snow, You Love Snow WELOVESNOW.

WeLoveSnow hoodie winner (with her pet Elands)

In the rush of excitement after making up our WLS Hoodies, we ran a competition to give one away. This was ages ago - it took us a fair while to get the hoodie posted off. The winner was Carol, an expat Brit (I think) living in Kenya. Carol sent us a mail with some pictures showing off her prize;



Carol writes: "thought I would send across some piccies with me in my We Love Snow hoodie!!!! This is taken in my garden yesterday – I live in a Wildlife Sanctuary so thought they were quite unique pictures for you to show me in my We Love Snow hoodie feeding my two pet Elands!!!!"



Many thanks to Carol for sending in these pictures...before today I had no idea what an Eland was.

Countdown to the ski season

At the time of writing, there are 69 days, 18 hours, 17min and 47 seconds to go until our ski season begins, at 8am on Nov 17 at Naeba ski resort. The reason why I can say this with such precision is that I have just added a countdown script into the news section of our home page

Weather permitting, on this first day we'll be treated to a 300m run and a 150m run on man-made snow - although on some years there is a covering of natural snow over this base. Whilst this isn't ideal, its always a great feeling to get the gear back on and get strapped in & clicked onto boards and skis. The first day always feels like a bit of a fashion show - lots of people trying out new gear that they have bought for the season. Its also the little details that I love, such as once again hearing the familiar dulcet tones of the announcements telling you to raise the chairlift safety bar before you get off.

The first day always has a little bit of spice. Having boarders and skiers on the same slope always gives potential for some fun, especially when its generally experienced boarders & skiers who sometimes try popping the moves that they last tried 6 months ago.

So whilst the first day never provides the best snow of the season, its just great to get back on the slopes, in the knowledge that the conditions are going to get better and better....

Fall-line skiing

Much excitement in WeLoveSnow towers last night, when we received a sneak preview of a 6 page article on skiing in Yuzawa from Fall-Line Skiing magazine in the UK. The article will appear in the October issue of the magazine, in the shops on September 21: for readers in the UK, check it out!

Quoted in Business Week

Yesterday I was honoured with a quote in Business Week: Land of Rising Tourism Hopes. [The article gives a mention to Japan Worldwide, the company behind WeLoveSnow.] Given the amount of local Niigata sake that had been sampled on the night when I met the journalist, I'm surprised that 1) I said anything quotable or even coherent, and 2) that Ian could remember any of it...

Probably can't ski in Japan this year - gutted

I am almost certainly not going to be able to ski in Japan this year (which is something that I have enjoyed with my friends at http://www.welovesnow.com/ now for several years). The reason is that my wife is pregnant and due in February! Maybe I can sneak a quick trip in early December, so long as "junior" doesn't come early I might have a fighting chance...


I am biased, being involved with WeLoveSnow, but some of the best memories I have of both skiing and "related activities" (such as Kareoke, somersaulting off bridges into deep snow getting a small bruise along the way but still smiling, driving over the mountain in a jeep to go night skiing until midnight, trying and failing to snowboard in snow up to my eyes, trying and nearly failing to ski off piste in snow up to my waist and drinking Sake with various delicious raw items of food) are from Japan.

If you haven't tried skiing in japan yet you should! I have included some snaps from my previous trips over, no particular order...!

All the best

Paul

WeLoveSnow in Nagano

The title has quite a ring to it... we've been slaving away during the summer to put all the preparations in place for offering ski and snowboard tours to Nagano prefecture.

This year, we will be covering Nozawa Onsen and Hakuba in addition to Yuzawa. Whilst WeLoveSnow is based in Yuzawa and this ski area will always be closest to our hearts, undoubtedly there are some fantastic resorts in these areas which we hope you will enjoy also..

Only in Japan..

Sushi USB memory sticks have to be the best invention of the year.

I was suckered into buying one the moment I saw them in my local Bic Camera electrical store.

I got the sea urchin [top row, 3rd from left], though the ikura version [top row, 2nd from left] has the added benefit of having a light flash through the fish eggs.

Many restaurants in Japan have plastic versions of their dishes made up, which they show in the restaurant window or on an outside table. Someone must have got hold of a job-lot of plastic sushi models, and thought of a handy alternative use for them...

Echigo Tsumari art festival

The Echigo Tsumari art festival is a triennial event - the last big one was in 2006, but in the intervening years there are smaller events in the summer. The festival is based in Tokamachi - a small town about 20min from Yuzawa. The train ride on the joetsu line from Echigo Yuzawa is in itself an experience - some amazing scenery, and you travel on one of those funky old trains with doors that you have to open and close by hand.

Thought I'd try to post a photo as a test...

This is one of my favourite photos from last year, taken at Kagura ski resort on 2 Dec 2006. Only 3 months until Kagura opens again...cant wait

Our first post

Thanks to Jim, who sent in this link to the office regarding skiing in Australia. Certainly, our Aussie customers always give us positive feedback regarding snow conditions in Japan - this helps us understand why!