Hakuba 2011 Trip Report
Nothing short of amazing!!
Day One
We flew out of Melbourne on the 12th of Feb and landed in Tokyo on the morning of the 13th to a beaut sunrise.
Spent the first day trekking through Tokyo’s Jimbocho, I was on the hunt for some new boots. Unfortunately the dream boot was not a great fit. So I settled for some updated K2 Darko double Boa. We took a bit of time to find the bus stop where we had to get the highway bus to Hakuba, and made it on without a minute to spare. Arriving late at night we dropped off our bags and headed to a schmick little Izakaya for a few bevvies and a lot of yakitori.
Welcome to the land of the rising sun!!
On the bus from Shinjuku up to Hakuba we caught a glimpse of little old Mt. Fuji
Day Two
Our first day on the hill was at 47, Frank the mascot gave me a Valentines chocolate, so I had to have my photo taken with him. The morning was spent getting our legs on many of the groomers met up with a buddy around lunch time and he showed us a few little hidden gems off the back side of 47, venturing off into some tree areas where supposedly only the Black Diamond club members were allowed. We ended our day over on the Goryuu side and walked to my buddy Dan’s Hostel and it started snowing more and more as we walked along the road soon we passed by this lodge called ULLR. I thought it was a good sign.
Day Three
It dumped overnight and we had already made plans to hit Cortina as early as possible, which meant the 8am train from Hakuba station. We had to walk 30 minutes to the train station catch a train for 20 minutes and then get on the shuttle bus from the train station to the hill. After all that planning and effort, nearly missing the train (we had to hold it from leaving the station for a few minutes) nearly not making it onto the tiny shuttle bus already full of Happy Gaijin anxious to get first tracks in Cortina. We ended up not riding Cortina at all that day, due to the top 2 lifts being closed for Avalanche danger. We decided not to waste our time on the bunny slopes of Cortina and took the next shuttle over to Iwatake, where I remembered a few pretty sick lines through some trees and the back bowl area. We didn’t get to Iwatake until about 10:30 am but there was still some untouched areas on the back bowl side.
We found a way to cut down the walking time.
Under one of the lifts at Iwatake
Day Four
After building our expectations at Cortina, we were in for a ripper day. The clouds had broken and the sky was clear, reportedly 20+cm dropped in the last 24 hours. Plus the top lifts had been closed all day yesterday, so whatever had fallen the day before was also untouched. We first hit the Northern side, with a south facing aspect it was pretty deep but quickly getting heavy due to the warm sun. After a few laps, we headed over to the left side where the trees faced to the North, much better in the shade, we spent most of the morning here and kept tracking it until a late lunch time. We then hit the back side in the Back Country area. After getting the sun on it all day it was heavy and kinda tracked out. Would have been good fun in the morning - but rather treacherous in the afternoon.
In the trees at Cortina
Day Five
Another pearl-er of a blue sky day and we hit Tsugaike. Unfortunately due to yesterday’s warmth the snow wasn’t the best, but we spent a lot of time in the two parks at Tsugaike. Avoiding the abundance wide open green runs at the lower section. Unluckily we broke for a late lunch again, and all the food places had already closed, except for one - Kentucky Fried Chuck! I didn’t feel like riding much after lunch but pushed through and managed to make it through til last lift. A well deserved onsen, for aprés and we totally Gaijin Smashed it!! snuck in a few bottles of sake and took some nudy photos 
Day Six
It took us until Day Six to ride the closest hill to our accommodation, Happo One. A very strange day for snow it was cold and windy up top, gluggy heavy elephant snot and zero visibility in the middle and warm spring slush at the bottom. It was definitely hard work getting to the top, it was 2 chair lift rides from the top of the Gondola. If we decided to avoid the gondola and stay near the top we’d ride about 4 lifts to get back to the top again. The snow was decent up there as there were quite a few wind deposited pockets and it felt like fresh tracks every hour or so - beit in only 10 - 15 cm. All in all a frustrating place to ride unless it was top to bottom goodness then the Gondola would make up for all the disjointed lifts.
Day Seven
Seeing as 47 has the best park we figured no new snow meant that park would be more fun. We spent a lot of time here riding the pipe and quite a few of the smaller features. Some of the Japanese boys and girls were going pretty big of the XL kickers, best trick I saw cork 7 with a stale fish. We spent a lot of the afternoon (when the half pipe closed at around 2) making big sprays on the groomers and covering the camera guy with as much snow as possible. Great fun until it got super icy and the crowds seemed to pick up on the Goryuu side. Possibly the first time we had to wait in a lift line.
Big Spray
Day Eight
After yesterdays shenanigans we decided to take a day off snow and visit some sites. The plan was to go to Matsumoto Castle, go see the snow monkeys and hit Nagano City on the way home. A little too ambitious for a day trip considering we didn’t leave the hotel until after 10am. On the road we passed by a local mini festival, which basically consisted of 10 stalls selling some Japanese sweets and toys. Matsumoto-jo was quite amazing, but we didn’t have enough time to make it to Jigoukudani (snow monkey park) considering it closed at 4pm. So we managed to get to Nagano City before Zenkoji (the big temple) closed, and had an awesome dinner in the city.
The main gate to the Zenkoji
Day Nine, Ten and Eleven
Was spent riding 47/Goryuu as we didn’t get any new snow until the last day and even then it was quite wet slushy snow. So we spent a lot of time lapping the 47 and Iimori parks. I really enjoyed all the little hits on the side of the green cat track at 47 too. It’s mostly toe-side wall for me and was pretty good fun until the end, where an old dude stopped right in front of me and I had to take him out. Rude of me not to apologize but I managed to jam on the brakes enough that I only tapped the tips of his skis, yet he still managed to fall over… serves him right for stopping in the middle of an intersection.
Day Twelve
We were all pretty hungover from a big Borthday Party for one of the local Dj’s and decided to have another day off snow, it was kinda drizzly and wet anyway, and we didn’t get up and at ‘em until about 1pm. Walked our way to the train station, and had the biggest bowl of ramen placed in front of me, shared some okonomiyaki, and bought fireworks!!
Day Thirteen
We had one night in Tokyo before jumping on a red eye flight from Haneda to Melbourne via Singapore. A great way to round off the trip with an all-nighter in the city. We did a little shopping, had some freshness burger, and quite a few beers at another yakitori joint.
“Nama dai, mistu onegaishimasu!!”
We call him “Afrobus”
View from top of Goryuu
Matsumoto Castle
Great trip report! Can’t wait to go myself.
Strange that the snow conditions didn’t sound as epic as people usually rave about. I guess it can’t always be infinite nice dry pow…
I love seeing aussie tourists in backcountry areas without any avy gear…
Yeah we managed to catch a good little spell of powder at the beginning of our trip. It can’t be on all the time :(
I would normally not consider back country without proper gear and people with knowledge to use it. It was possibly not my smartest move ever! 
Dont feel too bad, Gamblor sounds like he’s got something against aussies, more than the lack of equipment in the backcountry.
Great trip report, kneeboard. Thanks for sharing with us. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time. That castle looks unreal! 
Gamblor doesn’t have anything against Aussies. We’ve all made the mistake of heading into the backcountry without the right equipment or with a crew lacking experience/knowledge. I know I’ve done it before. Gamblor has significant experience in the backcountry and I’m sure he knows the dangers all too well.
Play nice, guys. 
I would normally not consider back country without proper gear and people with knowledge to use it. It was possibly not my smartest move ever!
You sound like a good guy. Glad you had a good trip!
Louise, if I had something against Aussies then I’d have quite the problem with half of my family! 
Sure beats a GoPro edit. Hahaha, joking, joking…