Morino Lodge » backcountry

February 23rd – Hakuba Backcountry North faces still good!

Matt — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:31:41 +0000

A nice touring hike today despite mixed resort conditions. Hiked up the first peak and then dropped into a nice north facing sheltered chute then up the next peak and down through perfectly spaced trees.

Conditions were great in the chute as no sun had got in there!

Not so good conditions on the 2nd lower descent but the views made up for it.

Looking back at the chute on the first peak

The view over to the happo north faces

The rare sunny February conditions look set to continue so get out there and enjoy them!

January 21st – Dreamy powder bluebird days

Matt — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:22:45 +0000

A winter of consistent cold dry powder continues. Friday was one of those dreamy days, when the sun comes out after days of snow!

A great day in the Hakuba BC from Dan Cockburn on Vimeo.

Happo March 31st – Clockwork seasons.

Matt — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:25:35 +0000

I couldn’t make it out today but Eric, our trusty Wadano lodge manager and faceless being (he’s very shy on the internet) took the camera out and did some easy lines off the back of Happo.It looks like spring kicked in from this afternoon and it will be sunny t-shirt days of park riding and corn backcountry lines until the end of the season in May.

Yari seen through Eric's skis

Eric in the upper bowl

Faceless being in the upper bowl

Lines from the day

March 12th. A Little Slice of Heaven!

Jen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:27:26 +0000

Craig tears it up in the trees.

The view from Tsugaike resort's long and cruisy groomers.

The boys get pumped for another lap of powdery bliss.

Backcountry in our backyard. I Love it!

Yes, there is still powder left to be had out there, and we were happy to go find it… everywhere! Round 2 of winter has been an absolute blast. Can’t wait til the skies unleash once again.

Gifts from the Snow Gods

Jen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:42:54 +0000

Keigo opts for the more adventurous route...via river!

It’s been snowing hard here in Hakuba, and the Morino crew all got on the slopes early to enjoy some fresh lines. The 25 new centimeters came in a little heavy, but still heaps of fun to ride! Keigo and I took a detour that had us crossing a river a few times and trudging through thigh-deep snow for ages. Well, knee-deep snow to you non-midget types. I suppose you have to sweat a little for your powder every once in a while. Whatever it takes to keep the powder gods happy!

In the meantime, those dieties of frozen vapour have us all looking skyward and returning those smiles. The snow is still coming down steadily, only lighter and fluffier now. Another fresh 30 or 40 by tomorrow morning? Fingers crossed. I’m glad to see this season still has some goodies in store for us powder hounds. Woo hoo!!!

A superior day in the Backcountry!

Jen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:45:18 +0000

February 23rd... blue skies and plenty of good snow to be had. What a day to be out!

An awesome view of the terrain above.

Kucho takes a kip before riding.

Eric and Craig check out the snow and the view of the valley below.

Eric rips it up in some fantastic snow. Well worth the hike!

Goryu Backcountry Jan 28th

Matt — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:56:22 +0000

North faces still have perfect power conditions from top to bottom as we found out today behind Goryu.

Goryu Backcountry Jan 28th

Matt — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:03:54 +0000

North faces still have perfect power conditions from top to bottom as we found out today behind Goryu.

Korenge – High Alpine touring – January 6th

Matt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:20:42 +0000

A high alpine assault of KoRenge (2760m) didn’t disappoint! A beautiful morning saw a group of locals. plus Bill from Alaska and Hans from Norway hiking out from the top of Tsugaike to their target the top of Ko-renge.

The plan was to get up quickly following windblown ridge lines and descend south to SaruKura but a combination of early season unfitness, soft snow (not much wind during the last snowfall) and setting off 40 minutes later than planned meant we had to curtail the trip slightly.

We ended up dropping off the corniced north east ridge of Korenge. The first bowl started over 50 degress but mellowed out below into a wide open bowl followed by perfect powder down to the flats of Shizenin below. Heres a pic of the drop in below.

And some video of dropping in the same place.

Mat on Korenge from steep deep japan on Vimeo.

Matt on Korenge

All in all a pretty Sick day!

December 8th at Happo

Matt — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:30:27 +0000

Eric, our new manager at Wadano lodge took a hike off the top of Happo today to check up on the conditions. About 2cm of snow in the valley had translated into knee deep above 2000m.

Looking over from the first cairn to Tengu on the main ridge.

Looking on towards the ridge up to Happo Ike.

Conditions in the resort aren’t stellar yet. The mild (but very nice!) weather of last week softened the snow which was then refrozen over the weekend with only 10cm or so fresh on top. The forecast for this week is for mild conditions again and possibly more snow at the weekend again.