Australian Snowboarder Magazine 2009 #3 - Kiroro

Trip Date: 15 Feb 2009 - 20 Feb 2009
Destination: Kiroro
Crew:
▪ Quentin Robbins (NZL) - Snowboarder
▪ Mitch Allan (AUS) - Snowboarder
▪ Nate Johnstone (AUS) - Snowboarder
▪ Kieran McLaughlin (AUS) - Snowboarder
▪ Ryan Willmott (AUS) - Photographer/Editor
▪ Shinji Hirose (JPN) - Coordinator
Media: Australian Snowboarder Magazine - Trip video
Trip Organiser: IXSM TRAVEL
Related links of the article


 



MEMOIRS OF A

Gaijin
  
Text and Photos by Ryan Willmott


THE SECRET ABOUT JAPAN is well and truly out. With it now ranking as the number one destination for a northern hemisphere snow trip, the Aussie invasion is indeed in full force. While it’s almost guaranteed you’ll enjoy fresh turns on a trip to Japan, its also a given you’ll bump into many of your fellow counterparts. The real challenge now becomes escaping the label of an obnoxious beer swilling Aussie, a stereotype set by the hordes before you. The solution to the problem is to throw caution to the wind and venture into the unexplored and discover your own destination. It’s comforting to know that in a country like Japan this opportunity still exists.

Hokkaido's hidden secret

 
028
029



‘Gaijin’ is a traditional Japanese term used to describe a foreigner. Over time this phrase has com e to take on a more insulting and negative connotation by the local people. It’s hard to imagine a culture so respectful and welcoming to tourists would ever have anything bad to say about visitors to their shores. Immerse yourself in a snow town like Niseko or Hakuba and you’ll soon see why. Aussie snowboarders have forged themselves a reputation of late, taking on the stereotypical approach of “I’m on holiday, there is no law”, a persona that doesn’t sit well with the rule abiding Japanese. The invasion of the mainland area of Hakuba, the latest hotspot deemed the ‘new Niseko’ has many of the locals fuming over the behavior of the new arrivals. For a region that practically has a zero crime rate it’s not hard to pinpoint the source of recent unrest. Stories of local bars shutting their doors for winter to avoid having to deal with drunken Aussies intent on brawling and destruction are becoming more of a regular occurrence.
    To truly appreciate a trip to Japan one really needs to indulge themselves in the local culture and people. Distancing yourself from gaijin on the northern island of Hokkaido is fast becoming impossible as more and more people learn of its abundance of dry powder snowfall. Having already visited the region’s infiltrated resorts of Furano, Niseko-Hirafu and nearby Rusutsu it was time to investigate something new. I had heard good things about a resort named Tiene but our Japanese contact Shinji Hirose from IXSM Travel reluctantly informed us that the resort wasn’t too keen on hosting gaijin. Guess the Aussie
reputation had spread further than initially first thought.
    Shinji suggested we check out a resort called Kiroro located close by to the city of Sapporo. Having never heard of the destination I typed the name into google to see what I could learn. Apparently Kiroro is a famous Japanese girl duo that was all over the radio but disbanded their music careers once they both fell pregnant. While the situation sounded very routinely Japanese this wasn’t the sort of information I was looking for. Another quick search finally revealed what I was looking for.
    Kiroro is situated about 40kms west of Sapporo, close to the picturesque seaside town of Otaru. It lays claim to the deepest powder on the island of Hokkaido and is bolstered by a modern lift system that includes bubble chairs and gondolas, a necessary ingredient to fight the chill of a Hokkaido shred trip. Interestingly enough, Yamaha owns the resort and it’s largest hotel named Hotel Piano even has deluxe suites decked out with grand pianos. What better way to chill out after a days riding than to tickle the ole ivory, I was sold.
    Mid February and our group assembles in Sapporo’s New Chitose airport. Along for the ride is Mitch Allan, Nick Gregory and Kiwi legend Quinton Robbins. The always-reliable Shinji picks us up and off we head on our adventure. Much to my joy Shinji informs us we’ll be staying at the Hotel Piano, he gives me that ‘what the fuck?’ look though when I ask him if they’ll be a piano in our room.
    The Hotel Piano is by far one of the nicest hotels I have ever had the pleasure of staying at. Decked out in the finest glittering chandeliers it comes equipped with eight different restaurants to choose from. One can experience all sorts of cuisine from traditional Japanese, to sushi, to Italian and even a western styled buffet. The boys were licking their lips already.

030





 
031





Adorned by a uniquely architectured glass chapel Shinji informs us that Kiroro is also a famous wedding destination for the Japanese. Set alongside the beautiful Kiroro forest, the backdrop makes for the perfect wedding photo scenery. The term ‘white wedding’ took on a whole new meaning at Kiroro, but we didn’t come here to wed we were here to shred.
    Having arrived in darkness to the sight of snowfall I already had a good feeling about this place. Come morning and the flakes hadn’t stopped. The mountain was located a short couple of minutes away in the courtesy shuttle bus, so off we headed.
   Serviced by 8 chairlifts and a gondola, Kiroro is
 
actually a lot bigger than it first appears on a trail map. The lift systems open up three different faces to ride, all with varying degrees of steepness. We jumped straight onto the gondola and headed to the peak. Beneath us we instantly spotted mushrooms, rock drops, and an abundance of banks just waiting to be shredded. Once up top we strapped in as quickly as possible to escape the howling wind. Heading to the left we soon ventured into an untouched powder field flanked by a forest. Without muttering a word to each other we took to shredding the place to bits in some of the deepest driest pow I’ve ever come across in Japan. On my third turn I managed to face shot myself hard enough to send a sizeable ball of snow right into my mouth, down my throat, choking my airway. Nothing like a bit of literal frothing at the mouth. Needless to say that afternoon I went shopping for a facemask.
    With night riding on offer every night of the week, we headed back out as the snow hadn’t stopped falling all day. There is something really surreal about snowboarding at night in Japan. It’s so dead quiet and still you can almost hear the snowflakes as they touch the ground. Against the dark backdrop pow turns also look way cooler at night as the plumes of white paint the sky. A little bit better prepared for the cold this time around and with our tracks from the day already covered back in again it was smiles all round.

032






   We awoke the next morning to the sight of more snow and grey skies. Great for producing epic-riding conditions, not so great for trying to shoot photos though. Storms can sometimes last for a week in Hokkaido but the weather forecast was calling for periodic windows of sunlight over the next two days. The day previous we had scoped out a couple of natural features that we figured would make for some good shots. Today was going to be a cat and mouse game of trying to make sure we were
in the right place on the mountain at the right time when the clouds part. Shortly before lunch we spotted some patches of blue in the distance signaling our window of photo opportunity was on its way. We made it to our chosen feature and set up in record time. While Mitch and Quinton took to styling some straight airs off our log launcher the ever innovative Nick Gregory decided it was time to liven up the party and get all upside down on us. Surprisingly the sun hung around for longer than expected so we managed to sneak in some nice pow turn pics close by.
    By afternoon the weather had moved back in again and the snow returned. On our ride out we stumbled across a steep face that was perfectly set up for a step down jump over a cornice gap. Mitch being the consummate professional suggested we build ourselves a jump now so we had something ready to go should the light break again tomorrow. In no time a perfectly sized booter was constructed, now all we needed was the weather to cooperate again.
 
033
   



Gaijin
Daylight broke to reveal the familiar sight of snow, not that it was disappointing to see, it was to be expected really. Having not been on the island of Hokkaido for the past two years I was quickly reminded just how often it snows here. In total contrast to a trip to other Northern Hemisphere destinations, one doesn’t scour weather forecasts for when it’s going to snow but rather for when it’s going to stop. Again the daily outlook was calling for periodic windows of sunshine in the morning,
just how long this would last is another story in itself.
   Like the day previous, today’s goal was to make sure we were in the right place at the right time should the weather decide to cooperate.
   Thanks to our daily 7am wake up breakfast call our group was always ready to go come first lifts every morning.
   We hadn’t been at the resort more than a matter of minutes when the clouds started to part. Battle stations were called as we rushed to get to our jump zone. After a quick game of paper-scissors-rock Mitch had earned himself guinea pig status on the fresh jump landing. In true Mitch style he christened the jump with one of his trademark Terje methods. Nick backed it up with a smooth backside 180, both of them stoked on their jump building handiwork. The pace quickly stepped up as Mitch moved onto frontside 360s and Nick threw down a bunch of superhumanly spun backside 720s. Calmly watching on, Quinton had quietly been sussing out a natural hit close by to the action. After a quick pat down of the take off, Quinton gave me the thumbs up. Nick and Mitch took a time out on the jump to check out what Quinton was up to. Taking a little too much speed into his first hit Quinton floated for what seemed like minutes grabbing indy all the way. Like the cat he is Quinton managed to ride out despite touching down in the final millimeters of landing. Getting straight back on the horse, second time round and Quinton was styling his way through a shifty tail grab. The light had stayed with us all the way up til a well-deserved lunch break and true
  to form come afternoon it would be snowing again. With over 10 seasons around the Niseko area under his belt, Quinton is well known throughout the region. Turned out one such acquaintance was the bartender at the local resort watering hole who in turn put us in touch with some local sponsored skiers who agreed to show us some of their secret stashes. Early the next morning we met up with our newfound friends at the gondola. The weather had set in pretty heavily and with no sign of the sun making appearance it was decided today would be a day to shred rather than shoot. Once off the gondola we were taken to a secret valley we didn’t even know existed that was laden with plenty of fresh pow and mushrooms to pop off. These were some of the deepest and funniest turns I had ever experienced in Japan with the only negative being the long and grueling trail out which tightly wound its way through the trees back to the ski run. With the run basically covering the entire length of the mountain from the top of the gondola to the bottom it was a real leg burner. With the positives far outweighing the only negative we spent much of the day in this valley, leaving no flake untouched.
   Given we were set to leave Kiroro the next day, one last night shred was on the cards. Having discovered a whole new playground thanks to some local knowledge, we returned under the cover of darkness hoping to shoot a couple of stealth shots. While it had snowed all day, it wasn’t heavy enough to cover in our tracks. Maybe we had gone a little too hard
   in the daylight or perhaps it hadn’t snowed as heavily as first thought. Either way Mitch decided the pillows had plenty of life left in them and set about launching himself into the night. In the time we spent at Kiroro we only spotted a handful of gaijin. We were certainly the first foreign group of pro snowboarders to investigate the resort. The untouched Japanese snowboarding experience is alive and well at Kiroro, and the quality of snow definitely lives up to all expectations
To find out more about Kiroro visit their website on: www.kiroro.co.jp/english

To book yourself a stay there get in touch with Shinji at :
www.ixmtravel.com

Big thanks to Shinji and the staff of the Hotel Piano during our stay.

Check ourt our video of the trip on: www.snowboardermag.com.au
 
034


Australian Snowboarder Magazine 2009 - Issue #3 (P30-34)
BackHome

Product 1/5

AUS NZ Snowboarding Magazine 2007 #3 - TomamuPrevious
Return to the Product List
NextAustralian Snowboarder Magazine 2009 #2 - Nozawa & Shiga Kogen

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 15 August, 2009.
Your IP Address is: 54.226.5.29
Copyright © 2013 IxsmTravel.Com.
Parse Time: 2.577 - Number of Queries: 233 - Query Time: 0.16984215238953