Another Day at Kandatsu

This season I have been going to Kandatsu quite often everytime I go I begin to like it even more. The terrain park is one of the best in the area and it also boasts the steepest slope in the Yuzawa area. The snow conditions at the moment are great the temperature is low and the ocassional dusting of snow is keeping the slopes in good conditions. We are set for snow till Sunday but then we might have a few days of sunshine. The outlook for this weekend looks to be good for everyone coming up this weekend.

It Just Keeps Getting Better

Picture this a whole week of fresh snow, just as the weekend approaches the winds increase and the key top lift stops working for most of the day. Just as everyone has had a good blast through the lower powder and is ready to head home, the resort open this top lift for the last 2 hours. 100cm of totally un touched powder on all the top courses, no groomers no tracks, no people just your own un tracked powder heaven. It just does not get any better than this. Then just as the heart returned to a normal pace, the clouds cleared for Saturday and the sun came out. More untracked powder off the pistes and a real buzz around the resort as season 2007/08 hits the real take off button.

School trip from Tokyo

The School trip finished up today with some fun in the terrain park in the afternoon, no one was injured all the kids seemed to have a great time skiing in Kandatsu and the ski instructor staff also including our Japanese instructor had a fun time teaching them. This has been our first school trip for the year and we have more to follow but if they all continue like this it should be great ! The weather forecast is looking to be snow from tonight (around 9:00pm) and should hold out for the rest of the weekend and pickup again on Tuesday. See you on the Mountain.

Full day at Kandatsu

Today I taught kids from the British School in Tokyo for the whole day, these guys are up until wednesday and are at Kandatsu for the whole time during the day, there are great group of kids who are all at different levels of ski/boarding but they are all trying there best, the conditions at Kandatsu where great today with the sun shining, tomorrow looks to be more snow until atleast Saturday if not further - we`ll have to wait and see but there is well over 1m in the town so thats great news.

Snow is still falling

My Predicted snowfall of 20-30cm was a little short of what fell, Kagura reported 60cm at the top with the village getting a good 40cm of snow, it is still dumping down and there should be atleast another 10-20cm by tonight. Last night I took a "short" journey to Muikamachi (the next town over) and the short drive ended up being very long and hard going and at one point when stopping at a traffic light the snow on the roof of the car covered the whole windscreen. Anyone coming up this weekend is set for some really good snow but please be careful if you`re driving or even walking down the road. Have a good weekend.

A Winters day

Strong winds, poor visibility and snowfall which is almost horizontal is what it is set to be all day. Kagura and Gala are both closed to due to the strong winds. The snow is set to remain till at least Saturday but depending on the weather could change to snow again after Saturday. This system is set to put another 20-30cm on the Yuzawa reorts and a little bit more at Kagura. I hope everyone can get out on the hill this weekend !

Yuzawa Park Resort

One of the joys of this area is the amount of resorts within easy reach of the town. Most people don't venture away from a couple of the more popular areas but you can jump on a bus and 10 minutes later find yourself at the foot of a resort with a completely new area to explore. Today I had an afternoon lesson at Yuzawa Park Resort. There was hardly anyone there, the slopes were in pristine condition due to the cold temperatures and there was still un-skied courdroy at 4pm. It's well worth venturing off the beaten track.