Japan

One cool thing about Hakuba is that many of the biggest, most aethetic lines are clearly visible from town. Every sunny morning, one can scan the surrounding terrain for signs of instability for the day ahead. While doing this, we usually dream about making turns on many of these lines. Shakushi's Southeast face, and its spines catch the eye very quickly, though the right opportunity to get on this face has eluded us for years. In late March, an opportunity finally presented itself.

It's safe to say there's been no shortage of media coming from Japan this winter. Unless you've been living under a rock, someone, somewhere has told you just how good it is in the land of the rising sun. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I enjoy skiing deep powder in the trees, but it doesn't get me as excited as adventures in bigger mountains.

The Snowstrike VT from Uvex is a high-tech innovation on the ski goggles market. One of the lenses uses electrical impulses to change not only the color, but also the intensity of the darkening of the goggles. This enables you to adjust the goggles to the current light conditions at lightning speed or let the goggles determine the light intensity themselves using the automatic mode.

A few weeks have passed since my last report from Japan. The weather and snow conditions in Hakuba, Japan, so far in winter 2014/15 are very similar to a convenience store. In such a store, there are so many things that are just as colorful, varied and contradictory as the snow and weather conditions in the past few weeks... Here is my subjective impression of the Hakuba's snow convenience store in winter 2014/15 ...

This year I'm back in Japan for another three months to enjoy JaPow to the full. I arrived in Hakuba on December 13th, which is rather early for skiing in Japan. The snowy season usually doesn't start until January, although it often snows properly around mid-December and the season begins.

The last 12 days of my Japan powder trip offered almost the entire spectrum on my freeride day rating scale: From a solid 9 out of a possible 10 points down to 2. Fortunately, I spent this day in the cozy lodge writing this report. I will stay in Hakuba for a few more days and conclude my photo reportage with this 8th part. At the moment, the conditions are simply howling or just good enough to do one or two descents a day, but I'd rather leave the camera at home.

After an extremely mixed start to February, the snow situation soon got much better and we were able to experience numerous perfect days. Even though the snow wasn't always at its best and the wind was particularly strong this year, we still got our money's worth. When it storms, almost all ski resorts are often affected and there is only an alternative program left.

Step by step, it got better again and the gloomy rainy days of early February were quickly forgotten. A little fresh snow fell from time to time, albeit not in the usual quantities. In between, the weather was sunny and very warm for a short time - and with it came an increased risk of avalanches.

Before the big rain, I had a few more great days in the backcountry. Although I had to mount the skins a bit more than I would have liked, the compensation in the form of excellent descents was very okay.

Lots of sun, lots of fresh snow and great adventures in the backcountry. In part 4 of Patrick Fux's powder report from Hakuba and the surrounding area, you can see that even in the powder paradise of Hakuba, the sun can shine in high winter, only to soon give way to the next snow clouds.

Powder, trouble with the ski troll, sun (a rather rare guest in the permanent snowfall paradise) and even more powder. In the third part of Patrick Fux's Japan sequel report, Japan nevertheless shows its classic winter side: lots of fresh snow!

In the second part of Patrick Fux's photo reportage, we Alpine freeriders learn that periods of poor snow conditions are by no means a purely European problem. Quite the opposite. But seek and ye shall find is also true in Japan and so there are also some great shots to enjoy in this part. To be continued!