Sakayu Olsen is soooo Japanese good food, quirky accomodation, neat library nook, bit labyrinthy, easy touring, fun finding your way back from the rope way.
I posted this in Latest ski ＆ tourism news thread but didn't here. Hotel Jogakura has English speaking backcountry tours and if you stay at the hotel, it's quite reasonable. Here is the online brochure. The online brochure : https://japanpackage.com.au/pdf/hakkoda_backcountry.pdf
Toured 490m up Iwate San above panorama today ; tight trees , there’s a frozen waterfall to visit. Then 300 yo Matsugawa Onsen Didn’t tour up Iwaki as Springs had pow infield.
@Ramenman - sensei, how many Ropeway trams are available to ski from ; (the well known are Asahi, Kuro, Hakkoda. ) Nasu opens soon , is it good for ski mountaineering Mt Chausu ?
Speaking of Mt.Chausu (Tochigi Pref's one, not Iwate's Chausu), I have no idea because I have never skied there, but some people are actually skiing there in March by use of the ropeway. But I think Nasu area is not very snowy area and this season is the least snowiest season, so not sure the mountain has good snow now. Nagano's Komagatake has one. There are many mountains named Komagatake in Japan, such as Aizu Komagatake = Fukushima's tall mountain(2140m) which is popular for spring time backcountry skiing , Akita Komagatake = Tazawako's mountain, some other regions have mountains named Komagatake including Hakone (Japan has many same named mountains and it can be confusing) Aizu Komagatake last week. As to the ropeway of Nagano's Komagatake, they are repairing it now, so you can't ride it(it's famous for springtime - early summer skiing there) https://www.chuo-alps.com/lang/en/ Shin Hotaka ropeway is running in winter but it seems they say "Don't use the ropeway for skiing / snowboarding". There used to be a ski resort there (like Asahidake / Kurodake), but it got closed more than 15 years ago(I'm too young to know the ski resort). The ropeway goes up to 2160m and some serious climbers climb to the peaks of nearby mountains (rounghly 2700 - 3000m) in wintertime. Filmed around the ropeway station. http://shinhotaka-ropeway.jp/ Sorry, I was thinking to write a bit more but I also need to prepare to go to ski now (another springtime backcountry day today!)
This was filmed at Mt.Sanbonyaridake(1917m) very near Mt.Chausu(Tochigi's Mt.Chausu, not Iwate) on March 4th, 2018. The ropeway goes to 1700m asl while the peaks of the mountains are around 1900m asl, so 200m vetical hike. If you are willing to hike for a vertical of 200m, you might like Tengendai as well. The highest lift station is about 1820m. The peak of the mountain is about 2040m. It's a relatively short hike(only an hour or so). It's very snowy mountain, the altitude is high and north-facing, so the snow condition is relatively good in spring. It's one of our most common backcountry mountains. I've post this video a few times in Latest Ski & Tourism News thread and it was filmed in late December (December 28th). Usually, mid March there is better than late December. The same backcountry route at Tengendai in mid March (March 11th, 2017). Tengendai mountains are popular for green season hikers (there are many different green season hiking routes there), and we use those green season hiking routes for backcountry skiing as well. This was filmed on February 27th. Tengendai on "April" 13th.
