The big Myoko/Madarao/Arai thread - 2017/18
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Hi,, did you stay at the resort, id love some more details, not really into off piste, wife is low intermediate.. cheersHad a ski at Arai today, was super impressed!
Today was perfet powder depth for me, about knee deep at top in parts.
So much to love about the resort:
- Bottom to top gondola
- Fast quad chairs elsewhere
- Everything new
- Heaps of off piste terrain, can only imagine how good it will be when they open up the rest!
- Uncrowded
- Little things like restaurant counters having tablets preloaded with Google translate for overseas visitors, staff seemed genuinely pumped and service was great
- They have almost 4m depth at top, WTF
Found about 3.20am this morning apparently. My only shock was that it was not foreigners!
https://www.joetsutj.com/articles/28516926
I did a day trip from Akakura Onsen, took about 20-25 mins. My partner had a look at the hotel pricing and it was expensive (2 nights about 1800 AUD).
My bad, the gondola is not actually bottom to top, but there's a speedy quad that takes you to top just off gondola end station.
I wouldn't recommend for low intermediate to be honest. There's a few decent mellow groomed runs for that but I can think of other Jap resorts that have it in abundance including nearby Myoko. One of the green runs (Rindou upper) is notably steep in the section going toward gondola mid load, and the couple of blue runs at the top were ungroomed (not sure if it's always like this).
The great new infrastructure and large 'avalanche controlled' off piste areas were what made it really stand out.
Another downside is its relatively expensive for a Jap resort (6000 yen for one day lift)
You may not realise it, but using the term "Jap" is considered to be offensive.
After much hard work etc The Avenue at Chalet Madarao is finally open. This is a restaurant open for breakfast, apres and dinner. And a bar open for Apres and dinner. We would love to see any forumites visiting Madarao so please drop in even if it is just to see us.
Anyone with a car is welcome to park outside when we have space. Contact me first to check. Since you can ski to the slopes from across the road it is a very convenient location.
Thanks for the reply.
Just a note , theres no abbreviation for the word Japanese..Its bit like calling an Aboriginal a Abo.. Im sure you didnt mean it that way...
Be great to come visit for Apres and or Dinner , cu early Feb .
We may have a groomed path back yo yhe lodge by then. The resort is trying to do this for us but have made no promises as there is some issue relating to going under the chairs. It is a bit frustrating s we can see prople on the slopes but we are not allowed to traverse across from there.
That Niseko All Mountain ticket includes night skiing, the "8 hour" (= "day" ticket) is 6300yen, BUT if you get multiple days, it's only the All Mountain ticket with night skiing, so a weekly costs 6400yen/day, even if you never go night skiing!!!!
But I know what you mean!!
I said relatively expensive for a Japanese ski resort. You're comparing to literally the two most tourist frequented and commercialised ski resorts out of hundreds in the whole of Japan (bar maybe Nozawa), both of which are much larger and have many times the number of lifts.
Coincidentally I skied Happo today and it was 4800 on MasterCard. As much as I loved Arai, I can't say it's good value compared to Happo, though I was craving Arai level crowds.
Sincere apologies to anyone offended by 'Jap ski resort'.
lol wrong boys. But very close friends of that pair. The mogul skier is in Winter Park and the games addict is back at FF going to uni.Yep pair of Hams
Haha of course i am! but with what they are charging for a room in the hotel they dont really want people that cant afford to pay 6000 bucks for a ticket.
haha I definitely couldn't afford to stay in the hotel! but for someone staying in Akakura Onsen with a car it's an easy trip.
I loved Arai so much and was splitting hairs to find negatives, but the 6000 yen lift ticket was a bit more than the average 5000 or so I've experienced across Japan (and you can pay more to get priority lift queue but I wouldn't recommend based on the crowds I experienced). Goes without saying it's incredible value compared to any ski offering in Australia.
I would highly recommend anyone that can comfortably ski the off-piste areas check out Arai if you're in the area!Have a takkyubin question..
Im landing at haneda at 0530 and will be sending one bag off to myoko straight away via black cat.
Was going to hit the ski shop area and head out to nagano in the afternoon to pick the car up and head to akakura, so not planning on skiing until the next day.
In peoples experience Would this leave enough time for my gear to get to akakura by the next morning? Or would i be better off hanging onto my riding gear just in case? (Was planning on leaving it at the jr office at toyko station while i scoot around town if this was the case)
Earliest it will be delivered is some time the next day. You can check potential delivery times when you go to send the luggage.
I think they will tell you 48hrs but as skichanger said my luggage always landed the next day. But they wont guarantee it.
Thought as much. ill just have to wait til the jr office opens at tokyo station and leave it there while i hit the jimbocho/owagamachi ski shop area. Cheers guys!
can anyone reccomend what i should do with my board bag whilst spending 6 days in Tokyo before heading to Myoko? Send it to hotel as soon as i arrive or store it somewhere at airport?
contact accom and see if they have room to store, if they do send it from the airport. I also think you may be able to request the date you want it sent to your accom from airport.. some one else may be able to confirm this. This may be a better option.
Just send it. If they are unwilling, or have no room to store, they they can't be that much chop IMO.
I think it would be polite to let them know in advance. And perhaps ask when would be convenient for them to have it delivered.
Agree with Skichanger on this one. But as Mannyk says you can get them to hold the bag a bit before delivery too.
Will be in town soon for a week. Never been to Myoko Kogen (or Japan for that matter but others in the group have).
Staying in Akakura Onsen.
Question is: Wheres the best riding assuming the cover and weather is consistent in the area?
We are *ahem* advanced intermediate snowboarders in our 40s. I can get down most runs/mountains in the world with an element of style but I'm not chucking myself off cliffs or hitting 60ft kickers nor am I breaking any speed world records.
Ideally looking for a few powder stashes away from the hordes (who isnt?).
Tree riding ok.
Some hiking ok.
Steeps ok.
Crazy, crazy steeps and cliffs not ok.
Want to avoid hard packed and moguls if possible.
Not good with avi knowledge and have no avi gear, and I am a bit paranoid so would prefer to stay in bounds.
Have access to a car for a few days.
No aversion to shuttle buses etc.
I realise this is all dependent on conditions and to get something you usually have to give something away but would like to avoid spending time on lifts/areas that might be best suited to others so where should we go on our first day?
Also nightlife reccomendations for food/drink/rad times appreciated.
You could organise something with Itadaki Tours to get an idea of where is best.
And as a generalisation, forget Akakura Onsen, try Akakura Kanko, Ikenotaira and Suginohara. On a powder day go to Seki, with the hoards. And when you have the car go down to Lotte, over to MAdarao and maybe even to Nozawa Onsen or Shiga kogen.
Yes, at Seki, I'd use two lifts on weekends, and just one on weekdays.....
Gotta agree with this. Itadaki are worth it, one day with them showing you the ins and outs will get you 2 weeks ahead finding the best off piste runs on your own.
Yes - with TaQbin (black cat service) you can opt to have your gear delivered up to 7 days after your drop off date. We also checked with our host regarding storage at his end post delivery. No problem. Very useful for us. Family of 5. 5 bags of ski gear we didn't have to lug around for the 12 days of touring before arriving in the mountains.
Myoko noob question ....
Can you ski between Akakura Kanko, Ikenotaira and Suginohara. ?
Looks like it's possible with the fall , but is that terrain between the areas strictly OOB or too sketchy .
or limited to shuttle between the separate lifted areas.
No. there's a big gully between Ikenotaira and Akakan. There's a road between the top of Ikenotaira and Suginohara, but that would be a slog.
Plus they are all on different tickets.
Is there not a Mt Myoko ticket that covers all 3 ?
No biggee tho looks like enough at each to keep me amused for a day.
edit , will have my AT gear so bit of a hike / walk is all part of the plan.
also have the skins to get self out of trouble in need.
The Mt Myoko prepurchase voucher is either or. You can exchange for either Akakan, Ikenotaira, or 4 hours at Suginohara.
Above top lift at Suginohara will tick all boxes..................midweek.
There is a season pass that covers all 3. There is an all mountain day pass that is more expensive than a day pass for any of the resorts and it is implied that it is valid for more than one resort. But it may be that you can swap it for a pass for any single resort rahter than being able to ski multiple resorts on the same day.
And as for the idea of all 4 resorts co-operating
unfortunately.
I had some Finns who went between Ikenotaira and Suginohara. But they spent a lot of time studying maps and conditions. One of them was a meteorologist so they had a good understanding of the weather. etc. They had a significant hike to achieve what they were trying to do.
I've never seen that view before when getting off that top lift, it's always been snowing too heavily!
You will notice a huge cornice from the line of the left cable in the pic to the tree line up top, then if you look far left another large cornice in the shadow, left of the pine. Great caution of conditions required to go the steeps ..........far left through the trees is on a nice easy pitch. Of course things change. There is another peak out of view in the pic.........but thats another story.I've never seen that view before when getting off that top lift, it's always been snowing too heavily!
