There seems to be a lot of confusion about lift passes in Hakuba. Considering Hakuba has over 10 resorts in the valley, the "All-Mountain Pass" sure sounds like a good deal but actually, I never recommend it. One thing most people don't realize is that it needs to be used within a set number of days (this is written on the pass in Japanese only!). The 2 day pass must be used within 3 days, and the 3 day pass expires after 5. Although the All-Mountain pass includes all of the resorts in the Hakuba Valley, you can only use one resort a day. Furthermore, you still need to make your way to the ticket counter to exchange your All-Mountain pass for a day ticket at the resort of your choice and to top it all of you don't actually save all that much money. The Multi-Day passes from the resorts themselves provide better saving and more flexibility. So until the Hakuba Valley gets it together with interlinked resorts and passes, I say, leave the so called All-Mountain pass alone.

Some of the better deals to be had are:

A 3 day pass (non-consecutive) at Hakuba Goryu/Hakuba 47 is ¥12,000
              (NOTE: the 2 day pass is a 2 day consecutive ticket)
A 5 day weekday pass (any 5 weekdays) at Hakuba Goryu/Hakuba 47 is ¥16,500
A day pass with lunch and onsen (spa) at Cortina is 3500 yen with a coupon.
A day pass at Kashimayari is 3800 yen
A day pass at Sanosaka is 3800 yen
A day pass at Yanaba is 2500 yen
A Hakuba Alpen Resort Pass
(valid any days of the season at Happo, Iwatake & Tsugaike)
2 day is ¥8,600
3 day is ¥12,000
4 day is ¥15,600
5 day is ¥19,500
6 day is ¥23,400

If you are a beginner, you are better off not buying a day pass at all. Instead, there is a point pass (kaisuken) available that deducts points from your pass as you use the lifts. At Hakuba Goryu/Hakuba 47 a point pass with 11 points is ¥3800. Each lift is 1 point, while the gondola will deduct 2 points. Unlike day passes, the points do not expire at the end of the day, so if you only use a few points one day you can use the rest on any other day.  

Another amazing day in the backcountry! There is nothing like it! If you are fit enough to hike with pack, and are an advanced level skier or boarder, I highly recommend heading out into the backcountry to earn your turns.... with a qualified backcountry guide of course!!!! There are so many risks you may not be aware of. Knowledgable guides will be able to choose the terrain that suits your abilty so you can have your best day out ever! Moreover, you will need avalache saftey equipment to minimize the risks. I suggest you contact Evergreen Outdoor Center for more information about backcountry tours, avalanche awareness training, and equipment rentals. You will not regret it!

If you still have some energy left, or took a day off and are now itchin to get on the mountain, we highly recommend you check out Yanaba Snow Resort for a nye-tah (Japanese for night skiing). As you can see on the course map above, half the park is lit up as well as the "cross course line" off on the skiers left. A "nighter" is only ¥1500 and includes a drink. Good fun when you go with a bunch of friends, you are either shredding or watching your friends have a go while riding the lift.

To get to Yanaba Snow Resort from Lodge tabi-tabi walk to Kamishiro station (10 minutes) and take the 9 minute, 200 yen ride to Yanaba Ski Jo Mae Station (the resort has it's own train station!).

Kamishiro to Yanaba Ski Jo Mae evening train schedule
depart - arrive
16:36 - 16:45
18:15 - 18:24
19:27 - 19:36

Yanaba Ski Jo Mae to Kamishiro evening train schedule
depart - arrive
20:28 - 20:37
22:14 - 22:23

Start: 17:30
Finish: 21:20 (21:50 on Friday, Saturday, and day before a holiday)

During the 2011/12 season Jeremy Jones hooked up with Dave (aka Yeti) from Evergreen Outdoor Center to hike the hills in Hakuba, and do some serious shredding for the upcoming TGR film, Further.

Hakuba 47 and Hakuba Goryu early bird season pass is only 48,000 yen if you order it before October 31st. UPDATE: Hakuba Goryu/Hakuba 47 Early Bird Season Pass Deadline has been extended until November 15th!  Get yours now here!

Mountain lovers love Hakuba! Check out this freeride footage all flimed in the beautiful Hakuba Alps.

This makes me want to snowboard... now!

There is always powder somewhere..... so back on the road we went. It was a beautiful sunny day for a drive and the size of the snowbanks on the mountain roads looked very promising:

Had an great day on the mountain and even spotted an smokin' volcano:

As usual Yasu brought his best powder boards including my new yuki-ita, the one and only, Super Fabulous! "yuki" means snow and "ita" means board. There is currently a bit of an underground scene happening and more and more lovers of pow are unstrapping their bindings, dropping their factory made branded boards and switching to handmade, bindingless, planks perfect for a more natural surfer's high!

Today we met a lot of other like-minded snowsurfers from Toyama:

Yoroshiku!

Woke up at 5 and 8 of us were on the road by 6.

We drove for 2 hours through the Japanese countryside:

 and snowy mountain roads:

then found powder paradise:

Needless to say, we were pretty excited:

We showed our appreciation and worshipped the Goddess of snow by spreading her offerings around ... until we couldn't take anymore and partook in the ritual of bathing in thermal waters granted to us by mother earth.

We were then blessed with more offerings from the sea as we filled up on sushi:

Gochisosamadeshita!

Had a pretty lazy day. First the snowplow came and once I was paid up and able to get out of the driveway I dropped off 6 adrenaline seeking guests at Kashimayari Resort. Everyone was excited to hit some kickers, attempt the impossible, and fall into the safety of a giant airbag.

You can see what I am talking about here:

Spent the rest of the day organizing, working on our new website, teaching English to our staff, and will end the day with some yoga. There is a great online yoga site a fellow friend and snowboarder turned me onto a few years ago. They have enough streaming videos with different levels and kinds of yoga, health tips, and recipes to keep you blissing out forever. My guru? My method? My teacher? My yoga online.com!

Namaste,

a

Woke up to sunshine and got a call from K so got geared up and off we went, first to drop off a car and then to pick up J. It was really blustery at the top so we didn't hike for long, scoped our lines and down we went. Conditions were far from ideal. We dealt with windcrust, raincrust, chunky debris, and ice. Got in only a few nice turns in powder. Great views, a dose of vitamin D, and a good catch up with friends made it all worth it anyway.