Visitors to Furano in Jan and Feb will be glad to hear that the Saturday Night Live Cultural Performances are back! Here is the schedule:

23rd Jan: Poetry & Calligraphy, Hyottoko Dance, Japanese Folk Tales

6th Feb: Shakuhachi (Flute) and Guitar, Shishimai (Lion Dance), Traditional Dance

13 Feb: Traditional Dance, Koto (Japanese Harp), Heso Odori (Belly Button Dance)

20 Feb: Traditional Dance, Poetry & Calligraphy, Yosakoi Dance

27 Feb: Traditional Music, Traditional Dance, Japanese Folk Tales

This year the cultural performances will be held inside the Kitanomine Gondola terminal, just across the street from Fresh Powder! Hope to see you there…

The next morning: we are reminded of Furano’s characteristic blue sky mornings. Pretty hard to resist hiking up. Kei from Furano Snow School is talking a walk to look at the accumulation by the top of the quad station.

The 10 cm is sticking to the hill, showing that earth temperatures have reached freezing.

This goes under the “only in Japan” department.

The "Segway Ski" enables skiing on flat dry surfaces like concrete.

This fancy set of kicks features auto-balancing technology similar to the Segway. Hopefully they will have it perfected by May in time for the snow melt!

Check out Engaget’s article on the technology at work.

This just in from our friends at Kuro-Dake… things are looking good for their plans to open on Nov 6, once again aiming to be Japan’s first ski lift in operation for the season. They are reporting 40 cm accumulation at their base with temperatures locked below freezing at the base station (1100 m ASL). This picture from their staff says it all:

Kuro-dake Base Station, 2 Nov 2009: 40 cm!

The news you powder hounds have been waiting for! All Hallow’s Eve has become bitterly cold, with the mercury at -2 C and dropping. At 5:00 pm we saw the first specks of white and within 20 minutes later it is coming down non-stop.

Update - check the photo gallery below for daily updates.

Stani, living in Furano’s sister city of Schladming, Austria just sent these amazing photos of an early snow season. They have over 120 snow guns at Schladming but it looks like they only needed a few of them to complete this picture…

Check out the discussion and more amazing photos on ski.com.au.

While I was playing around at the zoo, it seems that most of Furano City, including the ski hill area, is now up on google streets. Based on the decoration it looks like the photos were taken over a year ago, but you can still get a really good idea of how close we are to the ski hill (simply rotate the camera 180 degrees!)

I have overlaid our google map of the area, check it out! Just click any of the locations shown on the index to the left. The system will automatically jump to the nearest available viewpoint. You can see exactly where our apartments and Chalet are located, and even take a virtual stroll around the block!

Note: The photo data of this area is over a year old, many signs and storefronts have changed. For example our apartments’ sign has been redone in stainless steel.

This is either really cool or really scary, depending how you look at it. You may have heard of Google Streets, the search engine giant’s somewhat controversial program to provide photo-realistic virtual representation of the world’s streets. They have just added a few local areas including Asahiyama Zoo. You can’t actually go inside the main exhibits, but I was able to get this view of the rhino exhibit.

Maybe because I am in Japan, but I could not get the English interface to come up. In case you are stuck in Japanese:

1. Yellow lines are mapped roads and trails, click the white arrows to move along them
2. Top left controls free zoom and angle
3. Drag the little guy on the bottom right map to move around. When you drag, the available areas are shown in blue outline.
4. Move the mouse over the picture to see other angles available.
5. Click and drag on the picture to freely change the angle 360 degrees. (Each point on the map is actually a full 360-degree panorama!)

大きな地図で見る

If you can’t see the map above, click here to open in a new window.

Just over a month until the slopes are scheduled to open, and the locals are getting stoked! The new Daisuke Sasaki powder video, “End of the Line“, (trailer on their site) will hold a promotional showing in Furano at the Kitanomine Gondola Terminal (just across the street from us) on October 24th. The showing is free, doors open at 5:30 pm. There is a party with the crew at 8:30 pm, 1000 yen includes your first drink.

I’d also like to bring your attention to Sweetgrass’ “Signatures”. In addition to the extremely authentic locations including Moiwa, the film exceptionally captures the magnificence and beauty of Hokkaido’s winter, and is more about appreciation and emotion than the usual video motif of “who can plow the most pow”. Here is the trailer (HD available)!

Many of you probably know Asahidake as a back country destination. The highest mountain on the island of Hokkaido, it features a single cable car from 1150 m to 1600 m. To give you some idea of the snow quality at that height, take the best snow from the top bowls of Niseko and Furano and put that at the lift base. Sure enough they had an amazing story of their own to match our Typhoon report - 10 cm of ACCUMULATION at the base on the morning of the 11th.

Christmas in October?

This picture is from Asahidake Onsen, at the BASE. Of the ski runs. In early October. You can see the news with video feed through the link below.

Doshin News - 10 cm Accumulation at Asahidake Onsen, Oct 11

What’s the best way to get autumn photos and exercise at the same time? Hiking of course. There is a super easy and rewarding hike right outside our front door - the Kitanomine Ski Hill. In anticipation of the November snows, the main runs are cleared and cut, making it a very easy 20 minute walk to the top of the quad lift. That boosts us from the 250 m lift base to about 500 m ASL, offering amazing views of the autumn leaves, farmland of the Furano valley, and Tokachidake mountain range. Hope you enjoy the results.

If you’re feeling frisky and have more than a 30 minute lunch break to do your photography, it’s about another 60 minutes hike to the top of the Kitanomine Gondola.

Bitterly cold rain swept through the Furano valley yesterday evening, and this morning rain clouds lifted to reveal snow on Nishi-dake. The snow line is now just over 1000 m, which means that the next flakes to fall are likely to land on the upper ski slopes. I was hoping to get up with the Furano Mountaineering Club and hike the traverse to Nishi-dake’s peak next weekend, but it looks like the climb may be called off due to early winter. You can see last year’s hike here.

The view from our front steps this morning. From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

Clouds are stubbornly sticking to the Tokachi range, Taisetsuzan seems to be getting even more snow! You can also check our weather page for a live webcam of the ski hill, just in case we get a surprise dump at ground level here.

Snowfalls on the moutains are very early this year, hopefully we have a great start to the Furano ski season in store.

As promised, photos of the early snow! Here is the Tokachi mountain range, a popular back country destination including Mt Tokachidake, Mt Asahidake, and Mt Kurodake.

Tokachi Mountain Range - From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

First snows on Mt Ashibetsu - From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

As evening temperatures dip into the low single digits, the mountains are bursting with reds, oranges, and yellows. The elusive “yuki-mushi”, or “snow bugs”, considered to be harbingers of the first snows, have already been sited at ground level.

The nearby highest peaks of Asahidake (Hokkaido’s highest) and Tokachidake (home of the highest drivable point on the island) have received their first dustings of snow weeks ago, but Typhoon #18 has given us something even better. We don’t get many typhoons up here in Hokkaido and I’ve always wondered what would happen if one of those warm, wet masses of air passed through our chilly autumn skies. Yesterday morning we had a brief break in the cloud and I was able to witness the result: snow covering the upper third of nearby Mt. Ashibetsu-dake. Ashibetsu is 1600 some meters, and our ski hill on Nishi-dake is just over 1000 meters, so I would estimate the snow line is only about 200 m above the upper slopes. Not bad for the second week of October!!

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo and the rest of the typhoon effect has resulted in heavy cloud cover today. Will update you shortly. In the meanwhile, here are some shots of the autumn foliage I got last week. Click the photo for more!

From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

Great news for international visitors to the Furano ski resort: Furano finally gets its dedicated English-language snowsport school, Furano Snow School. Best of all, the school will be located in the Kitanomine Gondola Terminal, just 30 m from our front door.

Repeat visitors to Furano will find many of their favorite English-speaking instructors such as Kei and Meg putting their skills to full use in English-only lessons. Furano Snow School also offers the resort’s first and only dedicated English group lessons. These are a great and economical way to improve your technique and make new friends on the way.

The private lesson program has also been fully overhauled to cater to overseas visitors. Among other things, the starting times are now flexible, allowing you to have the first shot at fresh powder with your coach or spend an hour or two warming up on your own first.

Meg leads the way for an anxious first time skiier using the "Magic Carpet" conveyor lift.

Last but not least, we are now able to offer discounts for multi-day private and group lessons. If you have already booked a stay at Fresh Powder, please contact us to reserve your lessons in advance. You may also contact Furano Snow School directly through their website for bookings.

From first-timers to experts looking to improve their enjoyment of Furano’s amazing slopes, the Furano Snow School is a great way to get the most out of your holiday.

Hello golfers!!

Now that the 80% of the audience reading this blog for ski information have left, here is a little secret. For all of September, the Furano Sorachi River Lavender no Mori Golf Course is running a “Twilight Special”. Start from 2:00 pm and enjoy the 18-hole North course for 2,000 yen, or the 9-hole South for just 1,400 yen. (These are weekday rates.)

This scenic riverfront course has to be the most beautiful I have ever seen at less than $30 USD for a full round, and Furano’s clear autumn skies make for an incredible sunsets. (Just don’t get stuck out after dark without a jacket, as it gets very cold very fast due to our continental climate.) They are just 15 minutes drive from here, so add in Fresh Powder’s multi-night discount rates and you have an attractive little golf getaway right there. For those looking to stretch their legs a little, there is also the Palmer-designed Furano Golf Course (25 minutes away), Orika Resort Golf Course (25 minutes), or Park Hills Shirogane Golf Course (1 hour).

Even the Sapporo Golf Club Wattsu Course (home of the Japan Golf Tour ANA Open, and hosted the 24th Japan Ladies’ Open) is not out of reach, at about 2 hours by expressway. Also makes a great last round on the way back to Sapporo Chitose Airport if you have a late flight.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s almost 2:00 pm…

For anyone interested in eco-construction, Toby will be running his final round of earth plaster construction workshops on weekends throughout September and October.

Here is a look at some of the completed straw walls that will be covered with three coats of plaster. The finished house is planned to include country-style amenities such as a sunroom, cafe space, and even a rotenburo (Japanese open-air bath).

Straw and Earth Plaster Eco-construction in Higashikawa, Hokkaido

To read more about the project and sign up, please see Toby’s blog.

Just in case you are wondering how we are doing for the purple stuff. Note this is taken in Kitanomine township, you will find varying conditions throughout the Furano area. A major factor is the specific variety of lavender that has been planted, blooming times range anywhere from late June clear through to September.

Some days it is rather hard to find a blogworthy topic. Today is not one such day.

Introducing Furano Parkside Chalet’s American-style BBQ. I will let the photos do the speaking.

FLAME ON! This unit has heavy cast-iron, adjustable diffusers for maximum grilling satisfaction.

Hiro is grillin' and chillin' Hokkaido style. Note the teppan on the left and the California grill on the right... two handed action for pros like Hiro only!

Bobby Flay wishes he could get onions as phat as in Furano. On the left hand side we have a big pile of Hokkaido's definitive summer dish, Genghis Khan lamb and veggies.

Dessert anyone? The cherry tree in our private garden is ripe for the picking (so to speak)

… on a bicycle, of course. (Contrary to popular belief, the slopes are “only” snow-covered for about 6 months of the year.) Mountain Biking is somewhat of a new sport to Furano, with a number of single-track courses being developed over the last two years. Most of the hack-and-slash has been done by local backcountry guide, Chuck Olbery. The work has paid off, as Chuck now has the admirable job of shredding slopes year-round.

There is a 10% discount promotion for Fresh Powder blog readers, so if you book in advance, please be sure to mention our blog to receive the discount. Click here to visit MTB Hokkaido.

A new beginners’ course is also being opened by the City’s international tourism development project, and will be located in the scenic hills near the Furano Wine Factory.

Here are a few pics courtesey of Chuck and the Hung family, some of this summer’s first to try the trails. Trails range from broken country to fully-paved downhill paths.