Graduation is this weekend so Friday was a free day at the college. My colleague/ski buddy/friend from the Miyagi Zao trip suggested we head up to Urabandai Nekoma (裏磐梯猫魔). We both are huge fans of Nekoma and were excited to ski its beech (椈, ぶな) forest with 280cm of snow underneath. Rain early in the week was our only worry and we hoped that the upper mountain would be free from crust. Arriving in Kitashiobara (北塩原村) there was obvious melt since my last visit in January; we tried to remain hopeful.
Temperatures around the Nekoma parking lot were cold and the trees high up in the resort were still frosted with snow and ice. Snow around the lot was however hard and crusted. Unsure of the conditions and needing to return home early we opted for 4-hour lift tickets at 2800円 a piece. First, we took up the Guni 1 (雄国第１リフト) triple chair as it had been closed on my previous visit. From there we skied down the “powder” course (パウダーグレンデ) towards the Nekoma 1 (猫魔第1リフト) chair. The quotation marks were meant to indicate my dismay at Mother Nature for the lack of powder. Forest on either side of the piste had rain crust making control difficult.
Forest off the Nekoma 1 chair was crusted similarly so we headed over to the Maruyama 2 (丸山第2リフト) chair. My co-worker showed me a nice little tree run to the left side that deposited us back in the parking lot near the lift. Again the snow was crusted, but it was a nice ride amongst the trees which would be amazing with fresh powder. Vines admittedly unnerved me in this area. There was just something strange, even alien, as they seemed to fall from the sky.
Pulling myself back together, it was time to reciprocate by showing my tree run on the right side of the Maruyama 2 lift. Despite visiting Nekoma many times, my friend had never ventured into this area. The snow was again crusty, but we had widely spaced trees and even found a natural half-pipe. He really like the area so we spent the rest of the day here cruising through the trees. It wasn’t much compared to fresh powder; however, our legs became accustom to turning on crust and we had a lot of fun. That said, anyone wanting to visit Nekoma should probably wait until the crust gets covered up during the next snowfall. This includes backcountry as the crust went all the way up to the ridge. With any new snow pay attention to this layer as it was forming large facets.
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- Great spacing
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- Frosted
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- Who’s got two thumbs and loves Nekoma…this guy!!
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- 猫バス (Cat Bus) group picture
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- Why’s this cat happy? He’s full.
