It doesn't seem that long ago that I attended the World Premier of MSP's "Push." My friends and I watched the teaser endlessly until we knew it by heart. When we saw each other in the halls of our high school, we would shout "push!" and give each other a shove. By the time it finally came time to load the Whistler Gondola for the movie screening at the Roundhouse (pretty awesome for a free show!), we were so excited we couldn't talk about anything else. As the lights dimmed and the roar of the igniting matchstick filled our ears, the crowd erupted into cheers and didn't stop until the final scene.
That was 14 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. On that screen, I saw my ski idols shredding powder through snow-laden birch trees in Japan. I was captivated and couldn't get that image out of my mind. To this day, thinking about Japan conjures up visions of skiing bottomless powder through deciduous forests, soaking in hot springs and views of snowy mountains over steaming bowls of ramen.
 |
| The things dreams are made of |
Needless to say, it felt pretty surreal when we touched down in Tokyo at the end of January. Disoriented and exhausted, we met David and Tyler at an Izakaya for some greasy food and beer before collapsing into our "large twin" bed. A few hours later, we were wrestling ski bags through train stations and the Tokyo airport, en-route to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido where we would be exploring "Japow" with a rental RV for two weeks.
 |
| A tip for those traveling to Japan - give yourself time between transfers/flights to allow for luggage delays. We met lots of people who had their skis show up 1-2 days after they did |
We picked up our rental RV without much trouble. With the help of GoogleTranslate, the staff at FujiCars were able to get the important messages across ("DIESEL ONLY!"). We unpacked and repacked our mountains of gear into the cute little RV which had been advertised to sleep 6 (Japanese size). Four of us North Americans would be a cozy fit. With our friends Alanna and Claire in tow, we hit the road for Niseko, well after some conveyor belt sushi of course!
 |
| The Cresson B was to be our home for the next two weeks |
 |
| Sampling some of the local "fast food", delivered on little bullet trains directly to your table |
 |
| Kyle takes the first shift driving the RV |
We had booked the van online a few months before departure. It was a less expensive option for accommodation, and allowed us to be flexible and follow the snow. It turned out to be a great idea because we had picked the worst ski season in over a decade! The base and total yearly snowfall was less than half the seasonal average, and it had been raining.
Camping in the RV was easy. Japan has tonnes of "michi-no-eki" rest stops with 24-hour bathrooms and overnight parking. Many of the michi-no-eki were right in town and filled with other van-life foreigners on a budget. We brought all our own dishes, pots, cooking supplies and sleeping bags from home, but these items could have been rented from the van company. The RV came with a one-burner butane stove, solar panel, accessory battery and had a furnace that ran off the vehicle's fuel tank to keep us warm on those -15 nights.
 |
| Welcome to Niseko |
 |
| Okonomoyaki - "the things you like, fried" |
 |
| RV life in the Niseko parking lot |
Pouring over snowforecast.com, we saw a promising storm that was heading for the centre of the island. We cut our losses and took a travel day, leaving rainy Niseko behind.
 |
| When its raining in Niseko, go to Haru Bakery instead! |
It didn't take long before disaster struck again. This time, it was the RV that broke. The accelerator cable snapped, leaving us stranded at the side of the highway. Kyle managed to jimmy-rig a temporary fix that allowed us to get to the Toyota Dealership in Chitose. FujiCar was very responsive and had replacement vehicles driven from Sapporo to meet us within hours. It ended up being an upgrade, since all they had available in their rental fleet were two luxury vans. Suddenly we had more space, privacy, and soft mattresses (the RV bed was basically just a piece of plywood). We kept one van for cooking and hanging out, while the other was used to store and dry our gear. It was a much more comfortable arrangement.
 |
| Broken down outside of Chitose |
 |
| Kyle improvises. He is a "very good hand" |
 |
| Goodbye RV |
With our fleet of vans (3 including Jordan and Heather who traveled with us most of the trip), we made our way to Tomamu. This tiny ski hill sports four massive towers, a club med and a wave pool. They had received some new snow, but due to high winds the upper lifts were closed. After a few runs with the ski school hoards, we swapped out our resort gear for skins and toured up to ski the steeper slopes on the other part of the mountain. The snow was heavy and not particularly inspiring.
 |
| Van convoy |
 |
| Cooking van |
 |
| Gear van |
 |
| It started to snow! |
 |
| The towers of Tomamu. |
Eager to move on, we made our way to Furano where we ran into some friends from Bozeman on the tram! They were on the same sort of itinerary as us, which seemed to be more focused on eating and soaking in onsens than skiing, thanks to the conditions.
 |
| Ramen night |
 |
| Furano "romance lift" aka double chair |
 |
| Reconnecting with old friends in far-away places |
Each night after skiing, we would find a local onsen (hot spring) and spend at least an hour soaking in the healing waters. The onsens are often separate gender and there is a strict no clothing policy.
 |
| Fukiagi Onsen, one of the rare mixed gender onsens, near Tokachidaki and Furanodaki ski touring areas |
Snow was finally in the forecast, but it wasn't expected for another 3 days. To kill time until it snowed, we decided to save some money and go ski touring instead. We drove into Daisetsuzan National Park and took a 1-way trip up the Asahidake Ropeway. Mt. Asahidake is the tallest mountain on Hokkaido (2291m) and the tram takes you up to about 1600m. From there, you can ski tour and bootpack to the summit. Typically, the mountain is very cold, with high winds and no visibility. We managed to time it perfectly and were rewarded with calm bluebird skies and a balmy -5. We boot-packed for ninety minutes up the wind-scoured ridge to top out on the "roof of Hokkaido." From there, we were able to drop in off the peak and ski boiler-plate and sastrugi down into the crater, past steaming vents that gave the whole experience an otherworldly feel. It was a highlight of the trip for sure!
 |
| Welcome to the roof of Hokkaido |
 |
| Loading the ropeway |
 |
| Mt. Asahidake. Can you spot the steam vents? |
 |
| Ridge boot-pack |
 |
| Summit photo |
 |
| Epic line down the crater with less than epic snow |
 |
| Skiing past the steam vents |
We celebrated the epic day with a late night onsen and a few Strong Zeros, and were entertained a Japanese man we dubbed the onsen master for his ability to soak for hours on end in a scalding tub that none of us could tolerate. Mega hotto! The next moring, we started the day right with a sunrise onsen followed by a tour up Giant Ridge on Furanodaki. The snow was terrible.
 |
| Van life! |
 |
| Fukiage Onsen, my favourite onsen |
 |
| Onsen time! |
 |
| Giant Ridge ski touring |
 |
| A walk in the woods |
After 2 short laps, we regrouped at the vans to determine the next move. Kyle, David, Tyler and I took off for Rusutsu, while Jordan and Heather split off for Kiroro. As soon as Jordan left, it started to snow.
 |
| Parting ways |
 |
| Snowing hard in Furano. Jordan must have left town |
 |
| This guy knows whats up |
 |
| Powder day at Rusutsu |
 |
| Katheryn and Andy arrived at a good time |
 |
| Here comes trouble |
We spent two days skiing powder at Rusutsu, followed by three days at Niseko. We joined once again by Jordan and Heather as well as Katheryn and Andy who were just starting their trip. Although the forecast was calling for about 4 cm each night, every morning we woke up to about 20 cm of fresh. After taking it easy with his broken rib in the bad conditions, David was feeling well enough to ski for the second half of the trip (despite breaking a binding at Rusutsu). Skiing powder is a lot easier than smashing through ice and crust. We took advantage of some sunny breaks to explore the lift-accessed side country from the Niseko backcountry gates and found deep stashes in the trees. Now this was more like it!
 |
| Faceshots and amusement parks at Rusutsu |
 |
| Niseko's G11 was the place to be |
 |
| Single chair on Annupuri at Niseko |
 |
| Exploring the Niseko backcountry (no skins required) |
 |
| Dropping in! |
 |
| Finding some fresh tracks just outside the gates |
 |
| Rusutsu delivers |
 |
| Too much fun? |
 |
| Kyle in his happy place |
 |
| Its deep out there! |
 |
| Happiness is a gondola full of friends |
Our last ski day was spent at Kiroro where we had some of the deepest, lightest snow I have ever skied. We couldn't have picked a better way to finish the trip.
 |
| We love Kiroro |
 |
| Getting cozy on the double bubble chair |
 |
| Bluebird powder day |
No comments:
Post a Comment