About two hours north-west of Tamba is Hachibuse mountain. Sky Valley (SV) and Tohachi Hyperbowl (TH) are two separate ski slopes that are connected. Purchasing a ticket to either ski-jo will give access to both. There are also many other "resorts" on Hachibuse, Hachi-Kita / Hachi-Kogen being the most well-known, but, at this time, I only know SV / TH. From Tamba, a short stretch of highway (300Y) and then normal roads are used; though if you are good with a GPS, a series of non-main roads can be taken to bypass the traffic. Make sure to get to the slopes early to find parking (1000Y M-F / 1500Y S&S @ SV).
Sky Valley: SV hours of operation are 8am to 4pm, though lifts run usually up until 4:30pm. There are a variety of slopes (maybe 10 runs in total), a half-pipe, and a small terrain park (one box, one rail, and three jumps). With maybe 5-6 lifts, it takes three to get to the top-top. To go from the highest point back down to the very bottom might take 10-15 minutes without stopping. The only "difficult" runs are the two leading down from the top - these can be used to take refuge from the congestion of beginner boarders...
Tohachi Hyperbowl: TH hours of operation are normally the same as SV, though an early morning ticket, as well as night skiing is offered for extra (I am not sure of prices or times). TH is about the same size as SV, though, at a glance, it seems larger. In the upper-half, all of the wooded areas have since been cleared away and, I assume, the ski-jo gets its name from a large bowl-shaped concave that forms the area right below the very top (people that have been there, please use your imaginations...). Being so open, the upper runs seem not to be crowded, but the presence of the crowd is felt towards the very bottom, where the runs split off to reach the bottom-right and bottom-left lifts. In total, I think there are again 5-6 lifts and maybe 10 runs or so, which connect the top to bottom in about 10 minutes without stops. Though there is not a terrain park, there are many (more than SV) opportunities for jumps and off-course runs (just have to find them or make them yourself...). Last thing I want to note about TH, and probably the coolest, is that much of the upper-half of the area is not groomed. So, even though it is not Nagano, after a good snow, open areas of fresh powder are available.
Prices, and other info, can be seen on the main web pages here below:
Sky Valley http://www.skyvalley.jp/
Tohachi Hyperbowl http://www.tohachi.jp/
Overall, SV & TH are decent slopes and more than what I expected from Hyogo prefecture. Definitely more than what is available in Ohio, but not quite as large when compared to other ski resorts I have been to in Nagano, West Virginia, NY or Vermont. So far, I have been once in Jan. 2012 and twice in Feb., but I bought a one month pass for this month, so I expect to go every weekend here on out :)
Only in Japan
 |
| First-day out |
 |
| My new-old board |
No comments:
Post a Comment