White World Oze Iwakura Tree Run Paradise!

White World Oze Iwakura, what a place! I have lived in Gunma for 5 winters now and this is the first time I have gone to this wonderful ski resort. I can't believe I didn't go earlier! In the town of Katashina between Mt. Hotaka and Oze National Park lies a hidden gem off the international radar. The ski resort encompasses a fairly large area but has only 16 courses leaving a lot of area open for people who want to venture into the trees. I have written a review of Iwakura on the main site for all types of riders so in this report I will be focusing on the ridding I did over my last two trips. I was so engulfed in the boarding that I didn't take many of the pictures I was meaning to take! Lucky for us all Muikabochi did a great job capturing the beauty of Iwakura on his recent thread.

http://www.snowjapan...-february-2014/

My first trip to Oze Iwakura was on Febuary 9th, 2014. It was after a heavy snow but not the snowpacalypse we had the following weekend. The drive up was beautiful and faster than I was expecting. Iwakura has a large parking lot which was already 15% full at 8:15 a.m despite the expressways being closed. I caught a shuttle bus to the ticket counter and then headed for the gondola. The gondola seems to be very popular and doesn't have any place for snowboards and my 163 barley fits! After a tight but scenic ride up the gondola I rode down the side of course 15 getting a feel for the pow. It definitely passed the test and left me hungry for more! after riding two lifts to get to the top of course 16 on the back side of the hill I rode the tree line on the right side of the course (when facing downhill). Later in the day people even rode under the lift. It was a sunny morning but by the time I got my camera out it had clouded over a bit.

Here are a couple lines coming down under the lift.




What I rode for my first run down this lift was between the lift and the course. It was a nice run through well spaced trees but left me wanting something a bit longer as you have to go back to the course about half way down.



I liked this fantasy natural rail beside the lift. Didn't get around to hitting it though



After this run I moved over to the forest between run 16 and 15 which is best accessed from the lift beside run 16. I started by dipping in only a little but later dropped into the valley below which is fast on the drop in followed by a natural pipe and a semi technical exit. On my first trip there was a fallen tree blocking the bottom of the valley which could be ridden over but could also have created problems if someone hit it wrong. The second time I went, which was after the snowpacalypse, this tree just looked like a big bump in the valley. Always be careful when ridding off-piste

Over the next 3 or 4 hours I hit this valley from many angles. I even started traversing to the next smaller valley over to see some new lines. The whole area was great and always lead back to the bottom of the lift! over 90% of the vertical between top and bottom can be ridden in the trees with no walking out!

This was the best picture I got of the bottom of this valley. The exit is just visible at the bottom of the picture. The white face you can see at the top was also ridable but was ice the first time I went and had some exposed rocks the second. I mostly used it as a traverse line to get to the next valley over which you can kind of make out on the middle left side of the picture.



From the top of the lift you head over towards the gondola and the lift which accesses run 10 and 15 here is what you see.



This is a pic of the entrance point. Things open up after that for most of the runs.



Here is a view of the forest and my traverse line from the lift beside the gondola which accesses run 10 and 15. Things were tight in spots but the drops were good.



I rode these trees until about 1:30 when hunger started to compete with my drive to snowboard more. I decided to head for a restaurant. On the way back I decided to ride down the 40 degree slope that drops back towards the bottom of the resort. Coming from the back side you have to walk (much longer than I was expecting) to get there. Seeing the run already carved up pretty good I decided to hit the trees just beside the run.

Here is my drop in. It is pretty steep but the trees are well spaced. Later in the day this run scared me a bit. I was going too fast for my tired legs and almost hit a tree! Be very careful. The drop in is really fast and if you don't cut out quick enough you come to a cliff. Dipping too far in also seems to lead to a difficult to get out of valley.



After lunch I hit all the runs mentioned before while taking pictures. It was a really good day!

I went back to Iwakura on Febuary 23rd, 2014 for another go. I hadn't brought my snowshoes with me the previous trip and there were some places I wanted to try but was worried about the ride out. I made it to the parking lot around 8:30 and it was already filling up quickly. I caught the shuttle bus to the front of the resort and decided to head for the 40 degree wall. There was a forest run between course 7 and 5 which I really wanted to try and equiped with my snowshoes on my back, I was ready to give it a go. It turned out to be one of the best forest runs I have ever ridden!

Depending on the angle you hit it anywhere between 85% and 97% of the vertical of the lift can be ridden in the trees! Probably around 750 meters to a kilometer of trees on each run. I spent my whole morning dropping in from different spots. There are three small upper valleys which pour into one at the bottom just below the lift. There were long open stretches, natural jumps, beautiful trees and the snow was great! The ride out also wasn't a problem. I hit this forest maybe 10 times before breaking for lunch and every line was unique

This picture taken by Muikabochi sums up my morning. I had wanted to get a good picture of it but got a little tired and forgot that I hadn't! Thanks for covering for me Muika The forest I rode all morning is between the two runs on the left of the picture. The lift runs just beside the run on the right and you can drop into the forest along the top of course number 5. I started towards the left and worked my way towards the lift as the morning progressed. In this picture you can also see the steep tree line I hit on the previous day which is to the right of the course in the middle of the picture. This area has more dangerous aspects (small cliffs and difficult valleys) than the area to the left of the course. A beautiful shot which sums up one of the best mornings of snowboarding I have ever had!




After lunch I decided to try the backcountry run which is accessed by walking up the ridgline above course 16. There are some closed course which I saw people riding on my previous visit which looked like fun.

Here is a shot of Mt. Shirane and Maranuma Kogen from the beginning of the hiking course.



Walking up the ridgline I was surprised to find the path already well packed by previous climbers. I wasn't surprised other people were climbing but more by how well packed the snow was. The mystery soon was solved as I saw a group of maybe 12 people walking up the ridgeline. They turned out to be a backcountry tour group that was surprised to see me and at my level of Japanese. The tour guides were also really nice! I highly recomend doing a tour in this area.

This is a shot of a tree still covered with the snow from the giant storm the previous week.



I climbed a little higher than this and got some shots of the surrounding mountains.

These fantasy lines were getting me exited. To bad they don't go anywhere easy to get out of...........



Here's one with Tokura in it.



This was my drop point.




The evergreens didn't last long. It was mostly like the trees pictured early in this thread. An amazing BC line though. A long drop through a beautiful forest and into a magestic valley that was amazingly silent. Towards the bottom the valley started to get a bit dangerous looking so I decided it was time to walk out over a small hill. I later saw the BC tour group emerge from the forest above me. They seem to know how to avoid the walk out I really wish I had taken some pics while walking out can't really think why I didn't........ Maybe I was a little worried I had ridden too far

After that I rode the trees I had ridden the previous day and then being completely exhausted, called it a day. One of the best days of boarding I have ever had