When the weather clears in can be a rare thing in but by mid February we caught a weather window and decided to drive a few hours over to a volcanic complex known as Myoko Kogen. Being on the coast Myoko may get some of the most snowfall in all of Japan and especially on the main island of Honshu. For days we could see it across the valley and finally decided to go check the crater and hopefully find some powder along the way.

The great thing about Japan is that they sell single lift tickets so with less than 10$ out of pocket we were riding a gondola and chair to just 500 feet below the summit at Suginohara Ski resort, one of 4 on or near the volcano.

After disembarking from the resort we were skinning up to the summit when we made it to a large gully. One group decided to skin right up through the gut but we chose to skin off through some trees finding relatively easy slopes all the way to the top.

Once on the ridge things got busy as numerous groups were arriving with different agendas while most people went left once on the top we went to the right to find that we had our own little chill spot to admire everything from Hakuba to the Sea of Japan.

After disembarking from the resort we were skinning up to the summit when we made it to a large gully. One group decided to skin right up through the gut but we chose to skin off through some trees finding relatively easy slopes all the way to the top.Once on the ridge things got busy as numerous groups were arriving with different agendas while most people went left once on the top we went to the right to find that we had our own little chill spot to admire everything from Hakuba to the Sea of Japan.

Inside of the crater there was another cone bulging out creating a new summit. We had hoped to ride into the crater but with warming conditions and numerous groups around we decided to head back down the way we came after taking a bit longer to soak in the views around and endless touring possibilities. 

After around an hour of taking in the views it was time to transition and ride down the face towards the lifts and our cars. We were worried that the sun affected the slopes we were going to ride so we dropped in not knowing what we would find.

Growing up in the Cascades I am used to heavy snow and this wasn’t it. While I admit it was a bit heavy than normal it was still great times in great conditions. Here there were 5 groups tracking the same lines on top but we had this whole open face to ourselves.

Before long we were in the last gully just above the lifts and happy that we had come to check it out with such easy access.

Once near the chair we made a traverse out to the far trees and  found almost 2000 feet of untracked snow riding down to a cross country trail and walking 5 minutes back to the chair. Here it had been 2 days since the last snow and all we had to do was traverse 2 minutes to find a valley of fresh, this concept is one of the many reasons I love Japan.