Amazingly everyone managed to get up. It was an extremely early transfer and pretty much everyone slept on the transfer bus to Sapporo airport. It was pretty hectic with 40+ people all checking in with ski bags at the same time. Once again a quick domestic flight to Tokyo and then the onward flight to London Heathrow. Some of the group had added on a few days stay in Tokyo. Brave!
Once in Heathrow, we said our goodbyes to the group and then we headed over to meet the team at Academy sponsor, Swiss International Airlines and then boarded the Swiss flight to Geneva. A very tired ending to a great trip. We’re all really looking forward to next year already. Roll on February 2012!!
Not many people turned up to breakfast this morning and not many made it up the mountain despite it being an amazing day of fresh powder.Warren and Melody headed up into the sacred trees over the back of Furano. The light was gorgeous and they took the opportunity to do some photography on this final day. They dropped line after line and got into some deep areas.
They were spoilt for choice and spent the whole day skiing in the trees. There were moments when Warren was completely submerged in the snow making some nice turns for the camera. They both enjoyed the powder and had a satisfied hike out at the end whilst taking some scenic pics, knowing they’d got the best out of the snow and were ending on a high note.
It was an early dinner and the last Sushi and Sapporo beer. Amazingly everyone had an early dinner and went to bed early - even Jules who has managed to go out every night of the trip!! She didn’t go back to her room without making some new friends though!!
Today was the last day for everyone with their coaches. And access to the off limits areas.Once again Etori and the guides were accompanying the groups.At the top of the mountain the patrol stood and made sure nobody followed us as we went under the fence where there are signs everywhere saying ‘Keep out’ or ‘Danger – Off limits’.
Once in, we trekked about 15 minutes into the forest and over to some steeper tree lines. The new powder was of course untracked due to it being off limits and therefore nobody else skiing there. It was in this same area that the groups skied three years ago when the Academy made history by being the first ever people to be granted exclusive permission to take groups into the sacred trees whilst being accompanied by the Furano ski patrol.
The respect gained over the past three years was truly shown today when they allowded Warren to take his group into the off limits area without the local guides. This was a great honor for Warren and he guided the Academy groups into some awesome areas on the last coaching day of the trip.
At the end of the day we celebrated in the Ice bar located at the new Prince Furano hotel. Hot Sake and Smirnoff Ice were going down well and in fact we emptied the bar! Warren and the team made a short speech thanking the group for an awesome trip and just as they finished a Japanese film TV crew turned up to film the group. Apparently news had got to them of this large group of British skiers who were on a special powder ski trip. So we are waiting to hear which TV channel we ended up on!
The night progressedand we moved on to the hotel bar once we had emptied the Ice bar of alcohol. our guide Etori joined us and after his third drink (including a Chartreuse) he passed out in the bar. Poor Eto wasn’t prepared for a night out with UK skiers! The party kicked off and went on well into the early hours.
Today was a free day for everyone.Etori drove some of the group to a small resort about an hour or so away called Kamui.On the way there, they passed through a few local towns and also a tiny ski resort which was dominated by a huge Japanese Buddhist statue, the ‘Kannon’ which towers over the piste.
Kamui is a tiny private resort owned by ski legend Takaya Maeda who is actually the father of one of the patrol who takes us off limits in Furano.He is well into his 60’s and still ski’s the deep powder in his resort every day.
Others in the group took the time to take a walk down Ningle Terrace which is a short walk from the hotel.Ningle terrace is a gorgeous walk through the trees with several small chalet style craft shops.Melody has bought a tiny handmade silver snowflake necklace there each time she has been in Furano, and dropped by to visit the lady who makes them.She proudly posed for a photo remembering the first time she appeared on our blog in 2009.
At the end of Ningle Terrace is ‘Soh’s Bar’ which on many posters advertising it, says it is for ‘Miserable Smokers’!It has beautiful big windows behind the bar which show off spot lit Silver Birch trees in the dark outside.The bar is very cozy and serves some interesting Japanese cocktails!A few of those were consumed before getting some shut eye for the next day’s coaching.
We got up and ate a massive breakfast in the buffet restaurant.Fuel for the day.Nobody is going hungry on this trip – that’s for sure!We met with Etori at the back of the hotel on the piste.Etori is a Japanese freeskier who has been working with us on the backcountry skiing since we started coming to Japan.Initially we headed up as one big group at the top and did a warm up run together on the piste.We stopped at the Kantomine Gondola to do a warm up and then headed up the gondola to get into the forbidden trees.
At the top, we met the piste patrol who were going to be our guides for the day accompanying us off piste in the trees.They didn’t speak any English, but we did understand Canon and Nikon! Warren and Etori ran through a safety check and made sure everyone’s transceivers were switched on and working.Once completed we all headed off as a group to the same area through the gates and in the trees.We split up slightly, but for the first run, we stayed together in the same area.
It was gorgeous being surrounded by all the Silver Birch trees and quite nice knowing that we wouldn’t see anyone else up there apart from our group.There was a lot of laughter and banter going on!It was a real cozy and intimate feel with the tree cover and the acoustics you get in a forest.Melody got herself in position to film trying generously not to put in fresh tracks in the snow, and stayed high.Then Rob and Tom’s groups dropped in first choosing fresh lines.
The ski out through the woods required little tight turns all for a good 15 minutes and came out by the Katomine swift lift.Then straight back up to do the next route which started right at the top of the Ohkabe.The groups randomly stopped for lunch when they felt the need.
It was a privilege to be able to access the no go zones.On the last run the patrol opened premium run for Tom & Rob’s groups.They did two laps in tight trees and steep gulley’s with lots of drops.The second time, they went across a little further and put in some fresh lines.Premium zone was just opened for us, and then the sky opened and it was just brilliant.Jules said it was the best day skiing she ever had.
Today was a day off to freeski and was appreciated by the majority after the full on days skiing yesterday.Some of the group took the opportunity to spend the day in the spa and the onsen.Others slept off their sore heads!Melody went up with some of the group to do some interviews and shoot a few turns.
This year the resort of Niseko are experimenting with a new idea.They have opened up one of the off limit areas to ticket holders.To buy the ticket you must sit through an off piste, avalanche and off limits lecture.Then you are given a bib which you must wear and can ski as much as you like in that area.Only ticket holders wearing bibs are allowed to go.Melody caught up with Ollie, John and Matthew who had been lapping the area the whole day, and shot some turns with them.
After skiing we jumped on the transfer busses for Furano.We got two big busses so that we could spread out and have two seats each.It was a 4 hour transfer, so we wanted to be comfortable!
The journey was quite spectacular.We got to soak up the scenery on the way and watched it turn from night to day, witnessing the sun set over the rolling hills covered in silver birch.We passed a few small towns on the way and even had some time by the ocean.We stopped at a quirky little service station and came across the most bizarre looking toys and they favourite hot coffee in a can.
We arrived in time for dinner in the New Prince Furano hotel.The buffet was amazing and Sushi and Sapporo beer seemed to be the choice of the day for most.
What a great day we had.We woke up to a lot of fresh snow and with clear heads (maybe slightly achy body’s!) the group had pretty much forgotten all about Valentine’s day and were more focused on the fresh powder.Someone did mutter ‘give me fresh powder over roses any day’.A lot of jokes being said about how ‘they’ would rather be here than in a swanky restaurant having a romantic dinner.Not allowed to mention names or they’ll get slaughtered!
The resort weren’t going to open G2 until 11am today because of the amount of snow.So the groups lapped G1 until it was opened and were the first people to arrive into G2. We got freshies all day.It started snowing really hard and dumped for the rest of the day – the tracks that were made were immediately covered up with new snow and we were able to ski fresh powder all day.It was a long day, probable the longest day’s skiing for the majority of the group and in fact the best day for many of us.
Most skied right through lunch and then stopped for a late short lunch to maximize the skiing.Then there was a last bit of freeskiing before heading down to Paddy Mc Gintys, the local Irish bar for a pint of Dutch courage for the night skiing.
The boys (Academy team) were ripping it up on the ridge just above Hirafu.You could make out the blue jackets under the floodlit trees; dropping cliffs, hitting pillows, jibbing trees (hitting trees!).Jon ‘Time bomb’ Wilson hit a tree apparently… his grin is imprinted on the bark.The clients said that the boys looked like ‘Legends’!
The group stayed in a bar in Hirafu in their ski kit after night skiing.They were buzzing after such a great day.Victory beers to celebrate lasting out 9am to 9pm skiing!!!
There were a few people a little worse for the wear this morning, after the massive night out last night!However, it didn’t take long for the cold air to freshen things up.Today it was all about the about the gates and the hiking.A few hiked up to the peak above Hirafu.It was quite windy and cold today, so unless you knew where to go, you may have experienced some wind affected choppy snow.However the Academy team are very used to the area and with their knowledge, the groups managed to find the areas with the nicest pockets of fresh snow.
It actually turned out to be a massive day of adventure today due to the search for things to ski out of the wind and the groups discovered some very nice areas.Strawberry fields proved popular today and it was sessioned a few times.It’s a great area – a steep open face of trees with pillows.It was really nice and everyone was raving about how they loved ‘japowder’ – a word being used quite a lot on this trip!
It was really nice to see the coaches coming back every night buzzing about how all the groups are improving so well.The boys are feeding off of the people learning and say that’s why they do it!!They are truly satisfied with the results. Well done everyone!
So today was the first coaching day.We all met after breakfast outside the hotel.Everyone was ready for it!We first headed over to Hirafu and had a quick warm up run before doing the ‘ski off’.It was a fast paced - high level ski off with a few funny moments that Warren threatened would end up on ‘You’ve been framed’.
The coaches spread themselves out at the bottom of the run and one by one the 43 skiers demonstrated their level of skiing before being directed to the appropriate group.The ability required for the Japan Powder Camps is from level 3-6 on the Academy’s level system shown on the Academy website.The split was even and each coach then took their group off to start the day.
There are three main areas In Niseko (Annupuri, Niseko Village, Grand Hirafu) with plenty of skiing to be done.There are 35 chair lifts and 3 gondolas in total going from the lowest point of 300m up to the highest point at 1309m with a vertical drop of 1009m.The lifts are open from 8.30am to 9pm making it possible to ski for 12 hours a day if you could actually physically do it!The ratio of beginner, intermediate and advanced runs is split pretty evenly, so there is plenty of variety for us to do on the camps.
We found some really nice pockets and covered a major part of the mountain finding fresh tracks all day. Amazingly there are nearly 50 of us (including the team) and we still managed to find fresh snow all day!
After the groups had managed to cover a good part of the mountain they came back pretty exhausted, but that didn’t stop them going on a big night out in Hirafu.Jaeger bombs unfortunately can even be found in Japan. Very naughty on only the first day of the Camps.Obviously not being worked hard enough.Roll on tomorrow when they will really regret that choice…
Today was a day for Niseko’s volcano, Mt Yoeti. It was ever changing and unusually visable throughout the whole day. Warren was lucky enough to have woken early and managed to get a photo of it at sunrise.
Today we had a gentle start to the Camps with a day for everyone to freeski and get the feel of the area and have a warm up. So it was pretty relaxed.
It’s not often that you have a completely clear day and are able to see Mt Yoeti so well. Today was one of those days. What a stunning view!So it was definitely a day for everyone to make the most of it and take loads of photos as the weather report says there is a storm on the way.
