Hakkoda-San

Hakkoda-san in northern Honshu. 20 cm on Saturday, 35 Sunday morning and 10-15 more by the end of the day. This place is wicked deep. It was a good weekend.

The Hakkoda-san tram. There and one short two-seat lift comprise the ski area. There are two official "courses," everything else is off-piste powder amazing-ness. The tram is about 12 minutes to the top. A season pass is about $450. In the two days there I only skied the front of the mountain but that alone was almost worth moving to Japan for a season. In the lodge I met a Canadian who found an ad for a WWOOF-ing position at the lodge and flew out like two days later. He doesn't speak any Japanese. He shovels snow, washes dishes and rides all day. I think skiing/riding is a universal language all it's own that unites people. I'm really tempted to take that job next season.

The snow monsters at the top of Hakkoda-san. Those are trees! Apparently they get about three times as big as that! That was also about the clearest it ever got up top. The wind cranks up there!
It was too much of a white out to take pictures on the run, so here we are at the bottom. Despite all the snow, it really hadn't started until about the time I showed up (lucky me) so there was no snow bridge over the creek.
I've never seen a forest so white, it was like this snow dream land. Unfortunately much of it is low angle like you see here. When that's the case, I hate to say it, but there really can be such a thing as too much snow!

What can I say I love trees :). The sun tried it's hardest to come out after lunch, but to no avail.
The Sansou lodge at the base of the gondola. The owner is the happiest man I've ever met and he owns the cutest dog! We had an incredible dinner of stewed crab and clams and such and the best sake I've ever had in my life!

A beautiful morning! Supposedly there was 35 cm of new overnight.

I know these are all really low angle shots. I wasn't going to stop on the steeper stuff (too much fun with the face shots), plus I was always in the back. So the only time I took pictures was on the traverse...again my thing for trees.

The second day we skied with Ted, who flew all the way from Sweeden to ski in Japan.
I'm not sure if this convey's it, but it was NASTY at the top where you get of the tram. That's not a snow cave, there is a building underneath there...somewhere.

I'm heading back up there this weekend, so maybe I will have some better pictures...I know I will definately have more snow filled stories!