The past few days of clear weather have finally coaxed some of the local varieties of lavender into bloom. Today was a real scorcher (for us) topping out at 29 degrees. It was a perfect chance to test out the new air conditioners that we just installed in all top floor apartment bedrooms.

Anyway enough with the chat and on with the flowers! Here is an update from the Kitanomine lavender park, just around the corner.

As usual, Farm Tomita is the place to be when it comes to lavender. It’s just 15 minutes from here but I still somehow haven’t managed to get out myself. Fortunately Farm Tomita has a webcam.

Hello blog readers, just thought you might want to know that the Furano Shizen Juku Ecological Interpretation Park English website is now fully online. You can see details of their programs here:

http://furano-shizenjuku.yosanet.com/english.html

I had the opportunity to tour the park and be one of the first participants in the “forest restoration” project a few years ago. The goal of the program is to return an old golf course to a natural forested state, paying special attention to the natural growth patterns of trees in this climate. Compared to square grid “reforestation”, the results of this “forest restoration” are astounding, and it is hoped that this technique will result in more advanced ecological restoration techniques, that can even be used to add natural green space in the middle of cities.

Forest Restoration Project

In Furano, the snow continues to melt from the peaks, leaving the beautiful mottled patterns known as zan-setsu (lingering snow). The sakura (cherry blossom) season has come and gone, leaving us in anticipation of the next flower season.

Although not actually a type of cherry, shiba-zakura (literally “grass cherry”) is a small pink flower that grows wild this time of year. You can see a light pink tinge to the ski hill, and hikers will be delighted to find patches of pink and white shiba-zakura up the hill.

Another great day trip to make from Furano is to Takinoue, which is famous throughout Japan for its fields of shiba-zakura. It’s about 2.5 hours to reach there from here, but easy to incorporate a number of interesting stops along the way (For example, Asahiyama Zoo, followed by Sounkyo Valley, then Takinoue Park will make for a full-day tour.) I haven’t had a chance to visit yet this year, but I’ll pull some photos from the archives.

As the melt continues a number of spring activities are starting up, with rafting being especially popular (but a little chilly - don’t worry, they have dry suits!) due to high river levels. Jed, our Niseko manager from this winter, is working with the Alpine rafting team and sent through these pictures the other day. As you can see by the smiles, this is a lot of fun for all ages!

Spring season is also ideal for horseback riding, and mountain biking will be kicking into gear as well. Furano is primarily an agricultural community, and there are a wide of agricultural activities such as butter making and farm experience that you can try as well. We’ll keep you informed as the season progresses.

Did you know that you too, like the three little pigs of legend, can build a house out of bales of straw? (Visitors to the area can see a small example of this form of eco-architecture inside Furano’s Alpine Visitor Center.)

Toby, our Niseko Manager from last season, is going to attempt to build his new house in Higashikawa (near Asahi-dake) using this method. He’ll be hosting a straw bale architecture workshop on August 1-3, in collaboration with Stefan Bell, who is not only an expert in the field of building with straw, earth plaster and other materials, but also a professional juggler. This has the makings of an environmental, educational, and entertaining event — contact Toby through his blog if you’re interested in attending!

It’s an overnight miracle, as the +20 daytime temps over the last week have at last coaxed the delicate cherry blossoms (sakura 桜) from their buds. It also happens to be the last day of the ski hill operation. Your dedicated blog boy has escaped from the front desk and gotten some shots from the top! The hill in the very center of the photo below is Asahi ga Oka Park. You can see the little pink puffs of all the cherry trees doing their magic.

Snow and Sakura, Together At Last! (Click for bigger)

Thanks to the kind liftie who snapped this one of me at Downhill #2. You can see quite the contrast between winter and spring! [EDIT: No, that is not a codpiece, I lashed my cap to my belt to keep it from blowing away. Thank you to those who inquired.]

Half Way Down Furano on the Last Day

The park next to our Furano Chalet is also filled with cherry trees. Simon is on site, we’ll see how he does!

SWEET UPDATE: Check out these sakura photos from around Furano.

Furano Golden Week 2009 Scenery

If we’re lucky, the sakura season will last about 2 weeks, but the delicate blossoms are often destroyed by high winds or heavy rains. If you’re in the area it’s worth a trip to check out Asahigaoka Park (near the Sorachi River) or the Highway 38 Jukai Pass (southeast from Furano towards Obihiro.) There are over 1000 cherry trees at each location.

Check out some of these shots on Chuck’s blog. Cycling is a great way to experience the blossoms up close and get great exercise.

Hokkaido culture fact: Our “Hana-mi” (cherry-blossom viewing party) is normally BBQ + beers. Apparently in the rest of Japan they have some other kind of crazy tradition?

Yesterday was another beaut, with amazing clear skies promting even lazy slackers like Jed and I to hike to the top of the Kitanomine Quad station. Here is the view we were rewarded with:

View of Tokachi / Taisetsuzan mountain range from Kitanomine 300 m ASL.

Once the sun dipped below the horizon the temperature dropped like a rock and Jed slightly regretted being out in a T-shirt!

Once the sun goes down the temps drop like a rock...

Kitanomine has mostly melted away, having been untended for an entire month. But you can see the results of the dedicated grooming — that stuff takes forever to melt, even with daytime highs reaching 20 above.

The other side is still skiable to the bottom, and they have a “one coin” (500 yen) ropeway ticket offer for the remainder of the season. You can ride down, or just go up for sightseeing and catch the ropeway back. For the truly foolish you could also take the panorama lift to the top and try to hike Nishi-dake.

Not long until the mountain trails will start to clear up. We’re going to hook up with Chuck of Hokkaido Powder Guides / MTB Hokkaido and try to bring you the early season scoop. Stay tuned… in the meanwhile check out Chuck’s Blog for some shots of biking through the Sakura!

Living in a ski resort year-round makes one into quite the snow snob. Some of our staff can only be tempted outdoors by the very best conditions — either waist-deep February fluff, or the amazing crowd-free blue-sky spring skiing we see in late March to early April.

Today is one such day, no winds and crystal-clear skies offering an amazing view from the top of the Ropeway. If you can get out on a weekday, the complete absence of people on the slopes only helps to further reinforce the delusion that we actually own the ski resort.

Spring skiing is open until the end of the “Golden Week” holiday in early May, in both Furano and Niseko.

The Warren Smith Ski Academy has a full report of their tour of Hokkaido, including Niseko, Furano, and Kamui areas. Check out Warren Smith’s blog here.

Warren Smith Neck-deep in Furano

 One interesting tidbit we discovered is that most of the sculptures are built by soldiers from the Japanese Self-Defense Force. Guess it’s a little PR stint for them, and keeps those guys busy. Interesting videos showed the collection and transport of the snow from somewhere outside Sapporo, then making really big mounds, packing it down, then start sculpting away.

The sculptures themselves are amazing. They’re cool. They’re really big, with remarkable detail, and it’s fun to see them. Another area just a few blocks away had ice sculptures, much smaller than the mammoth snow projects, but nonetheless quite interesting. Some had fish frozen into the sculpture. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

The food stalls were plentiful and delicious. Spirits were high, and I’d rate the day as an A+. Next year we’re going to visit the Asahikawa Snow Festival, just an hour away, which features the largest snow sculpture in the world.

Next year’s dates for the Sapporo Snow Festival are 5-11 February, 2010. Sapporo is easily accessed from either our Niseko or Furano locations by bus or train. Travel time, one way, is approximately 2.5 hours, so you can either make a day trip out of it during your stay, or plan it either before or after your stay at Fresh Powder.

Snow Castle

The weekend of the 6th and 7th saw the ski hill filled with visitors from near and afar as Furano hosted its 21st Ski Festival. Events included a kid’s obstacle course, horse-drawn sleigh rides, a big air contest, taiko drum and brass band performances, and of course a big fireworks show to end the night.

The festival lived up to its name, with a huge storm moving in during the final hours. Near white-out conditions and high winds did little to diminish the festivalgoers’ enthusiasm!

For some people, the highlight of the event was the food and drink stalls. Nothing beats a steaming hot cup of sake or mulled wine on a freezing night. The booths also served amazake, a sweet drink made from rice, which is very popular throughout the winter season in Japan.

Sampling mulled wine and hot sake at the Furano Ski Festival

Please see our Furano Ski Festival Photo Album here!