Tokyo Snow Club Blog

Gathering a small group together we headed out to Karuizawa Ski Resort in the hope of scoring some more early season runs and avoiding the weekend crowds.

While the resort was only partially open  (for the most part it was still very green!!) there was lots of fun to be had, particulary in the awesome mini-park they had set up.

Located at the base of Mt. Asama, an active volcano that towers over the region, Karuizawa is a fun, medium sized resorts with lots of different runs. Very easy to access – it even has its own bullet train station – Karuizawa is an easy day trip from Tokyo. Also they tell me that John Lennon used to Holiday here  in the summer. Peace.

At the base of the ski resort there is also a huge outlet shopping complex – great for those who would rather spend their day hunting for bargains. We had a look once night fell and found they had a very cool illumination thing going on.

And this wicked candle display was nestled inside a tent in quite a random spot in the middle of the shopping area.

Overall a fun resort with easy access from Tokyo. Well worth a day trip!

Tags: Bargains, Bullet Train, Day Trip, Easy Access, Fun Resort, Illumination, John Lennon, karuizawa ski, karuizawa snowboard, Lots Of Fun, Mini Park, Mt Asama, Outlet Shopping, Random Spot, Shopping Area, Shopping Complex, Ski Resort, Small Group, Tent, Train Station, Volcano, Weekend Crowds

The plan to meet in Shinjuku at 11:10pm on a Friday night for the most part worked out well – apart from the fact that our bus driver decided to park on the opposite side of the road on which we were meeting! It took a bit of running back and forth but we finally managed to get everyone on board.

A glass (paper cup) of wine put most people in a fairly sleepy mood and after watching the start of the movie Hangover in Japanese 3 times, we finally gave up on the 1950′s DVD player in the bus  and the majority of members opted to sleep. We arrived in the Kagura Ski Resort Car Park at around 3am and the first thing that was very clear was – the lack of snow! A little disappointing but it was no problem as it started dumping at around 7am and continued to snow heavily throughout the day.

While at 8am the majority of the resort was still closed due to lack of snow, by 11am 90% of the resort was open with metre deep, unridden powder to be had all over.  It was great hurling past people stuck knee deep in powder hooting, only to find myself stuck in the powder as well  a few minutes later!! Alot of these runs were open for the first time this season so we were lucky to score first tracks on runs that hadn’t been ridden for 8 months or so. Good stuff!!

Around half the group finished skiing/boarding around 2pm and we cruised down the road to the local onsen – Kaido no Yu – a very cool onsen in a traditional style Japanese building with indoor and outdoor hot springs. Stepping outside with nothing but a small towel when its minus 5 degrees is always a shock to the system!!

Heading back to the ski resort car park to meet up with the rest of the group  – a couple of members had a little trouble getting down from the mountain on time – Kagura is a bit tricky with numerous gondolas and lifts that you need to navigate in order to get back to the car park. We eventually left at 5:30pm and after stopping for dinner along the way, arrived back in Shinjuku around 9:00pm.

We were very lucky with the snow and had a great group of folks along for the ride – definitely a good start to the snow season – cant wait for more!!

The next club trip is on the January long weekend (8th, 9th, 10th) to ski and board at Tsugaike Kogen and Cortina and party at the live music event – First Tracks 2011. Cant wait for the next trip! There’s possibly a few spaces left on the second bus for the First Tracks trip so if you’re keen to come check out the details here.

Tags: 2pm, 3am, Arou, Bus Driver, Car Park, Cup Of Wine, Down From The Mountain, Dvd Player, Few Minutes, Friday Night, Gondalas, Gondolas, Good Stuff, Hangover, Hot Springs, Kagura Snowboard, kagura-ski, Little Trouble, onsen, Shinjuku, Shock To The System, Ski Resort, Sleep, Trip Plan, Wit

We had five lift passes for Kandatsu Kogen to giveaway this week and the winners are:

1. 佐々木さん – 朝の５時半に起きたつもりが、夕方の５時半だった。

2. Laura Scarrさん – I once did a one handed handstand to nose dive off a 20 foot candy cane at the north pole…

3. 佐藤さん – やはりスキー場の早朝に、人がほとんどいない銀世界を独り占めしたような気分で滑り降りたときの醍醐味はまさしく興奮でした。

4.  Liamさん – Started climbing down Mt Fuji after watching the sunrise!

5. いけざわさん – 産まれたばかりの我が子を見たとき

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Please email us your postal address and we will get your lift passes out to you asap!

Tags: Candy Cane, Email, f, Handstand, kandatsu, kandatsu-snow, Kogen, Liam, Mt Fuji, nigatta, niigata ski, North Pole, Nose Dive, Postal Address, Scarr, Sunrise, sunrise ski, sunrise-club-tokyo, tokyo-snow-club, tokyo-to-nigatta

We had five lift passes to giveaway this week – all you had to do was answer the simple question:

You havent exercises for 6 months – whats the best way to get fit for the snow season?

And the winners are:

1. Pinchさん – エッジたてず初日は直滑る。
2. Philさん – Have another beer. Why get fit now when you can wait until snow season and have a ball doing it!?
3. Lorenさん – an hour of walking or 30 to 45 mins jog 3 to 4 times a week will do to get ready for the snow season!!! Im ready!!! Im excited to go on Snowboarding again!!!
4.  三浦さん – 滑りながら考える！
5. 平林さん – 私は、大丈夫！！私のスキーは８割レストハウスですから・・・

Congratulations!!

Tags: 41st-fire-festival-at-happo-one, 41st-happo-one-fire-festival, 41th-happo-fire-festival, event-happo-one-fire-festival, Exercises, exercises-in-the-snow, happo-fire-festival, happo-fire-festival-2011, happo-one-fire-festival, happo-one-fire-festival-2011, happooneoffpiste, information-on-happo-fire-festival, mount-hunter-tokyo, ski-trips-from-shinjuku-japan, Snow Season, snow-area-pictures-near-tokyo-2011-feb, snow-pass-from-tokyo, Snowboarding, tokyo-snows-pictures, where-to-stay-for-happoone-fire-festival

Due to the large amount of people who want to come on this trip we are now running a second bus! As there were already lots of people down on the waiting list there are now only 11 spaces left on this bus so if you are keen to come along for some great skiing / boarding and to experience the amazing Dosojin Fire Festival please sign up on the online form as soon as possible.

Great powder snow and a crazy fire festival – its going to be an awesome weekend trip – hope you can join us!

Tags: Fire Festival, fire-festival-december, japan-news-snow-nozawa, japan-snow-club-fire-festival, Nozawa Festival, Nozawa Fire, Nozawa Onsen, Nozawa Ski, Nozawa Snowboard, nozawa-dosojin-fire-festival-2011, nozawa-fire-festival-japan-tokyo-club, nozawa-fire-festival-snow-club, nozawa-news, nozawa-tokyo-bus, Powder Snow, Running, Skiing, snow-fire-festival-japan-snow-club, Waiting List, Weekend Trip