We had so many different things happening this week. We had Bicycle Magazine come on Tue. and Wed. Their chief editor and Ai from Aloha Bike Trip came here to take lots of pictures and write about the Norikura MTB trails. We will be in the June issue, so please check it out.

On Wednesday afternoon, we had a meeting for the annual trail running event here in Norikura. Mr. Miura from Run-Walk Style, a running shop in Osaka, which runs the Run & Walk, 11th annual trail running event, and Mr. Tsuyoshi Kaburagi, a top trail runner in Japan, came to Norikura for the meeting about another possible trail running event starting this fall. After the meeting, I was was able to run with them and show our MTB trails to them as alternate trail running routes. I was in my red zone from the beginning while they were chatting behind me! It seemed like Mr. Kaburagi liked what he found on our Norikura Trails. He left with the words, “I will run one more lap.” and he was gone, back onto the trail.

We have also had so many people asking about NZ, although basically it is like this. Sorry for those who were “fooled.” It is interesting that we have had more responses about the NZ branch in May than from April.

Frisbee Golf at NORTHSTAR? Well, we mostly use this as one of our group and camp activities, but we do have a course from Start to #9! While we do have simple frisbees to throw around, maybe you’d better bring your own professional set for greater accuracy. A trip through the course could help you relax, or it may just bring out your competitive side. Who knows until you try!

It`s been one week since Golden Week and spring has sprung here in Norikura. Everything is in full bloom. We are now going full board and getting ready for the green season. Staff have been doing everything from road and mountain biking to hiking, slacklining to trail running. We truly enjoy our green season fun! Here, you can see Yamaken`s pink bike – which definitely makes us think of spring.

Norikura is a beautiful place to visit during this season, but you better come soon before rainy season begins. The Norikura Highland Bus is also available to enjoy spring backcountry until the end of June. From July, complete access to the top of Mt. Norikura will be available. Contact NORTHSTAR for more information about how to enjoy this spring – Norikura style.

It has been a good weather since yesterday and lots of people hike up to Mt. Norikura with Spring Ski Bus. It was raining around NORTHSTAR on Wed. 6th and Thu. 7th though it was snowing on 6th and raining on 7th above 2200m high. Because of that there were many point release avalanches on Fri. 8th. Spring snow is more stable than winter though you need to be careful.

I hiked up to Kengamine Peak (3026m) with one of our staff, Ruben yesterday and it was a great hike because of a good weather. We rode from the peak to tour course down to ski resort. The snow condition was heavy and it gave us a hard time to maintain the speed though there is enough lot of snow for having fun. We will be able to offer our backcountry tour by the end of this month.

This last week we had a great time with the Kirara Kamp here at NORTHSTAR. We had 2 sessions of 3 days with 5 days of park riding at Noirkura Spring Park. Plus we had mountain biking, Tyrollean Traverse, Rock Climbing and some other fun activities. Some kids could barely clear the kicker on the first day but they we sticking nice 180’s by the end of the camp. it was so great to see these kids’ grow and learn.

This was our first “snowboarding + alpha” camp. It is a pretty standard style for camps overseas and we hope to offer this style of kids camp more.

Yesterday and today we worked to finish the Norikura Spring Park which opens this Saturday (5/2) through Wednesday (5/6). We had some volunteers come yesterday to help build also and they were a big help. Today we pretty much finished building and were able to test out the items which include a 8m and 5m kicker, 5m street rail, 5m box, rainbow rail and 6m box. We hope you will come up and enjoy the beautiful weather and some spring park riding here in Norikura. ¥500 for a day or ¥1500 for a 5 day pass. If you have any questions you can check our our homepage or the Norikura Ski Area homepage.