evergrn

that's awesome. Hope you had a blast!
How are they handling the gondola? If you're a party of 1, do you get one all to yourself?
Also, are the gaijin employees back again this season? Wondering what happened to them with all the immigration effects of the pandemic.

5khours

It was very nice thanks.

If you want a gondola to yourself, they will accommodate. Foreign employees are gone....as are all the foreign skiers except me and one or two others. I’ll probably head back up tomorrow.

evergrn

Really miss the skiing in Jpn. 5k you have a good life.
90min on bullet train, eat bento doze off, voila you're right at the mountain.

Today I went to a local mountain here in America. 90min drive, left at crack of dawn but parking already mostly full.
Parking's an ice rink with puddles. Geared up in my car, walked 5+ min up to the lift.
Was raining at the bottom of the mountain, snowing at the top.
Groomed terrain was mix of concrete and slush. Terrible groom job.
Ungroomed runs were knee-high slush.
Was so bad I had to call it a day after a dozen runs. My quads are shot.
I've skiied in mediocre condition in Niigata, but it always skis well even in Honshu.
Jpn's mountains are small with too many slow lifts and inexplicable lift/course layout. On the other hand, the grooming, lift attendants, efficiency of rentals and gear shop, et al, are so much better.

5khours

Went back to Gala today. Snowing hard with big flakes but very little wind. Lots of powder. No crowds or waits. Most chairs going up were singles or empty. They've now had 3.5 meters of snow in the last week. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I'll probably go up again. I ended up buy a JR rail pass yesterday. The entire staff in JR Tokyo Travel Service Center wanted to wait on me. They said they hadn't sold a single JR rail pass in over 3 months. They wouldn't believe I was here on a short term visit status. I think 5 or 6 people checked my passport before they sold me the pass.

BTW - I've never bought a JR rail pass before. They are very reasonable and really convenient.

SNA_Flyer

Jealous... So far California has been like Japan last season - no yuki. Hope this changes soon. Normally I'd be doing my annual trip to Niseko in February, but can't this season for obvious reasons. Had the Park Hyatt booked and was excited to try it out.

5khours

How was the PH?

yyznomad

I miss my Nagano trips. Some nice pow at Happo One
anyone going this season?

5khours

Happoone is great but a bit of a hike. Anybody been to Togakushi?

yyznomad

It is a bit of hike, but worth it.

Another place I'd love to try is any resort in Hokkaido... never been that north yet.

SNA_Flyer

Don't know. Was booked for Feb and am canceling due to Covid.

evergrn

Could've sworn I read somewhere that PH Niseko had deflagged, but they do show up on Hyatt app. Maybe rebranding is pending, but I can't find that info anywhere. (was I dreaming?)
Pre-covid, both Tribute (Starwood) Kiroro and Westin Rusutsu seemed to be ~2/3 foreign guests if not more.
I've not stayed at PH Niseko, but I'd imagine the % of foreign clientele there would've been even higher. Wonder how they're doing.

hailstorm

I think you're thinking of the former Hyatt House Niseko.

5khours

Went up to Gala again yesterday. Shinkansen mostly empty, but wore an N95 respirator anyways. No crowds. Snowy and cold, great skiing. Hard to believe that such good skiing is so convenient to a big city. Happy New Year to all.

evergrn

oops that must be it then. I must've misread or misremembered whatever I read.
I've been to Niseko quite a few times now but didn't even know there was a Hyatt House there.

evergrn

Where I live in America, it's crappy snow, not so easy to get to and lift lines are long (5-15min).
Nonetheless I've been going every few days because nothing else to do.
When you go, you just ski Gala or do you go to the 2 adjoining mountains?