Thursday, February 09, 2017

Magical first day skiing at Asahidake

Japan ski trip 2017 day 1.  We got to Asahidake after noon and walked up to the lift station.  Lots of nice snow but the bus driver said it was not a good snow year here!  A fast ride up the gondola then we had a couple of really nice runs in calf deep fresh snow.



Dave then said lets go for the summit so we skied up past the dramatic venting fumeroles up the right hand ridge.  It was firm and icy and sometimes steep but there was a ski trail of sorts and snow shoe tracks.  I was wishing I had my ski crampons at times.

The visibility was average but Dave was determined to push on.  A man on a mission!

We summited about 15 minutes before sunset to get a fantastic view in the cold.  We then followed a nice ski trail down the ridge then dropped into the central gully for a magical descent down the Jigoku-dani  Valley.  We were the last ones down the hill.

We met some Italian ski tourers at the bottom and had a brief chat then skied down the road back to the hotel.  Ramen for dinner (not meals available as we had not booked them) and then a wonderful soak in the onsen.

This was one of my best ski days and summits ever!























GPS log
From my Garmin Epix, I don't think our uphill route is logged as I used the Ski/Board activity

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice summit for your first day - highest on Hokkaido.

Unknown said...

Nice summit for your first day - highest on Hokkaido.

Anonymous said...

Looks awesome Peter.
I tried to call you a week ago to catch up but looks like we will have plenty to discuss on your return.
Paul Radford