No amount of running can get you on the 07:20 bus for Sapporo Kokusai when you’re still on the subway train at 07:20. Luckily there was a second bus at 08:20. I stopped by 7-11 for bevvies and second breakfast, and went over to the bus terminal to wait for the next bus. Considering how late I was, the wait wasn’t long. There was ongoing tunnel repairs along the Jouzankei route, so the early season bus was running out toward Otaru on the Sasson expressway, then heading up the back way from Asarigawa onsen. Onze was pumping out their base with snow making machines, but only had one run operational. Asarigawa ski area looked pretty good on top, but was mostly grass toward the base. This route seemed quicker than the Jouzankei route, and if I didn’t already know how close the Sapporo area snow areas were to each other, seeing them along the way would really drive this home.
There were a fair number of cars at Kokusai, but with only two buses, the population was fairly limited. It was 4C at the base when I arrived, but it was -3C at the top. The downhill course side of the gelande was closed due to hard conditions and insufficient snow cover. I made one full run down to the base,and decided immediately that Iwould avoid doing this again if possible. From about the merge, the ground conditions got knee-jarringly hard. For most of the day I satisfied myself by sessioning the upper half by hitting the slow double chair. There were unfortunately no interesting terrain features, or things to jib. The sidecountry was unridable since the base was still too thin to cover a lot of the streams and little trees to a point were the off-piste was negotiable.
After noon, as the JMA had predicted, the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped. There was a light flurry at the top, but only enough to make it pretty – not enough to even hope to hide the tracks of the day. I took a break for lunch, then went back up. I got a big edge nick while heading down since a tree root jib Ihit was in fact comprised of tree root and jagged rocks. Oh well – “early season conditions”… Having exhausted most of the options up at the top, and not wanting to ride the krunk down at the bottom, Idecided to call it a day. The last run down was almost unbearable. The afternoon cold snap hardened the slushy bottom into icy rough that nearly shook my teeth loose on the way to the bottom. I managed to clean up, pack up, and make it to the bus stop in time for the early bus back. Time to finish this Sapporo Classic beer and go find some dinner…
0 Responses to “Hot Tuesday”