
How to clear a path through 60 feet of snow, Japanese style (2017) - sohkamyung
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/snow-canyon-japan
======
freetime2
> As temperatures rise, snowfall across the west side of Japan should
> decrease, Kawase reported, in a November 2013 study published in the Journal
> of Geophysical Research. But the decrease will be much more pronounced at
> lower elevations, such as Toyama, where much of the city’s snow falls with
> temperatures near the freezing mark. A few degrees warmer here will make a
> big difference. Higher elevations will likely continue to have exceptionally
> snowy winters, at least in the short term. Still, the culture of Japan’s
> Snow Country may already be changing.

> “I remember when I was in high school there was a lot more snow,” says
> Tanikawa, who is now 50. “In the morning snow fell and it would fall all day
> while we were at school. When I came back home there would be 40 to 50
> centimeters of snow to clear. My children,” Tanikawa adds, “have not had
> that experience.”

I live on the west coast of Japan at the foot of the mountains, and it's
striking how much snowfall is decreasing in recent years. The last two years
have been record setting due to lack of snowfall. The local municipal ski
resort didn't open at all this past winter, and for the annual snow festival
in February they had to truck in some snow from somewhere else.

Since temperatures here tend to hover just around freezing in the winter, a
small temperature difference can mean the difference between rain or 50 cm of
snow. Year-to-year differences are becoming more variable, too. Three years
ago we were buried in so much snow that the city had to send in a team with
heavy duty snow machines to dig us out (typically neighborhoods here are self-
sufficient in terms of snow removal). We had about 2 meters piled up in our
yard. But these past two years it was mostly just rain.

On the one hand, it's very convenient to not have to deal with so much snow in
the winter. And the mountains nearby still receive plenty of snow for skiing
and other recreation. But it does feel like a part of what makes this area
special is vanishing. And I'm sad that my kids won't be able to experience it
to the same degree.

~~~
tlear
Japan has massive variability in snow amounts depending on area in same year.
This is because vast majority of snow is from lake effect of Siberian highs
passing over Sea of Japan and hitting mountains. Depends on exact angle
different places get different amount, micro climate is king.

Last year in Nozawa was late, January was bad. But actual total amounts were
far from bad. Year before was an amazing year in Hakuba and Nozawa. I was
skiing powder in April, knee deep. My Ski app shows I skied 15 powder days
that season.

Charmant Hiuchi had also late year but huge dumps in March.

Truth is that many of the Japanese resorts Under report their snowfall, most
customers are Japanese and intermediate/beginners they do not want to wake up
to a knee deep on piste snow. So you get them reporting 10cm where it is more
like 30.

During ski bubble a ton of resorts were built that should not have been.
Really really bad spots. They are mostly dead by now, but there are still some
chugging along, they always had crap snow, but because normal wait time for
lift at good resorts was measured in hours back then people built them and
made some money.

One more fun fact the warmer the sea is the better the lake effect. Places
like Hakuba might get more snow at higher elevation then before as sea warms
up. All their snow is from blow over from 3k peaks that have temperatures more
in -20 range so small warmup will do nothing to them.

------
malikolivier
Driving through these roads just after they open around March/April is a
blast. If you look enough, you can find places where you can actually climb on
the snow walls and ski/hike on the snow slopes yourself. You may see a few
trees whose apex is slightly protruding from the snow. It really feels like
walking on the forest's canopy.

Apart from the road mentioned in this article, which I believe is the Tateyama
Kurobe Alpine Route, you have the Shibu-touge (渋峠) road, which crosses the
mountains between the Nagano and Gunma prefectures [1].

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route does not allow private traffic on it year-
round: it is a bus/taxi-only road. So if you are driving on your own, Shibu-
touge is a great alternative. Route 299 going through the Yatsugatake (八ヶ岳)
mountains is another alternative [2], although less fun in my opinion.

[1]
[https://goo.gl/maps/YbsoEgvih4oG3xvX9](https://goo.gl/maps/YbsoEgvih4oG3xvX9)

[2]
[https://goo.gl/maps/nJB26wo6YzPVcawH9](https://goo.gl/maps/nJB26wo6YzPVcawH9)

------
ternaryoperator
This article refers to "Mt. Tateyama" This is a slight misnaming. The suffix
-yama in Japanese means "Mount." Hence, Mt. Fuji is called Fujiyama. And
Tateyama is correctly called Mt. Tate in English, as seen by the article about
it in Wikipedia[1] or Tateyama, but not Mt. Tateyama.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tate)

~~~
aikinai
Interestingly, the redundancy isn’t always incorrect. Maybe it is for
mountains? But many rivers in Japan have official English names that include
“kawa.”

I just looked on Wikipedia and see there are two Arakawas (at least); one is
the Arakawa River and one is the Ara River.

~~~
rootsudo
And 川 can be gawa or kawa
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_River)

~~~
aikinai
> The words Akigawa River sound a bit odd, as kawa and gawa, 川, are Japanese
> words for river,[7][8] so Aki River makes more sense, or simply Akigawa,
> perhaps Akikawa.

Wow, this is the most unprofessional copy I’ve seen on Wikipedia! Maybe
someone meant to write this on the talk page and accidentally posted in the
article? I guess it’s so small potatoes, there’s no editor watching closely.

Anyway, from a Japanese perspective “gawa” isn’t really different. It’s just a
voiced consonant shift to better flow with the preceding sound. There’s a word
for it, but can’t remember it off the top of my head.

~~~
taejo
> There’s a word for it, but can’t remember it off the top of my head.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku)

~~~
aikinai
That's it. Thanks!

------
romanoderoma
We do the same in Italy, this is a picture of Gran Sasso before the "Giro
d'Italia", the most important bike race in Italy (the Italian Tour de France)

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/BvqlYZ8WP7Z_bC4J6q3D...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/BvqlYZ8WP7Z_bC4J6q3DlbBuemDBEKJm4PJeLkI2UqFqQ88mkuvS9YVgeZqj27czRf4kODt_glBeCEZUV-A9hT9_kJm71YObvAQjRFHvwBPFW4zqvH1-l1d3s-YfUOn7QbAbelg3lkP4DBuL6CfFzpmS3geTRMDU)

~~~
dgellow
I cannot open your link, I get a 403 Forbidden

~~~
romanoderoma
Sorry

Try this one

[http://www.neveappennino.it/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/Simon...](http://www.neveappennino.it/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/Simone.jpg)

------
rland
I wonder if this inspired Frappe Snowland in Mario Kart 64:
[https://youtu.be/QIG46_eRiNo?t=82](https://youtu.be/QIG46_eRiNo?t=82)

~~~
TheSpiciestDev
I'm there with ya - one of the images in the article had me immediately think
of that part of the level.

------
speedgoose
60 feet of snow is about 18 meters and one banana.

------
inasio
The road to the Mount Baker ski resort looks pretty similar often in winter.
If I remember correctly they get around 20 meters of snow every (the list a
world record of 29 meters of snow during 98-99)

~~~
RandallBrown
Washington and Japan seem to get pretty similar amounts of snow. The North
Cascades highway usually doesn't open until sometime in late April or May
because of how much snow that area of the state gets. Pictures of it look just
like this highway in Japan.

------
dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891344)

------
tomlagier
Article took quite a while to get to the point - TL;DR is a series of
bulldozers, backhoes, and large rotary snowplows.

~~~
tgsovlerkhgsel
From the title, I expected something more non-standard, like some massive
purpose-built contraption.

------
jerzyt
I once drove from Sacramento to Sugar Bowl ski resort on the I80. Actually I
ended in Sugar Bowl, because it was before GPS and all signs along I80 were
buried in snow.

------
protomyth
_“Originally, removing the snow was just to be able to bring people and
supplies to the Tateyama Kokusai Hotel,” says Tanikawa, “but then we realized
that we have something fairly exceptional, and why not bring people to see the
walls.”_

Got to love the idea of taking a huge, but cool, expense and turning it into
an attraction.

------
tus88
I once caught a bus up a mountain in Northern Japan in Spring to go on a
hike... And faced a wall of snow like that at the trailhead. Thankfully there
was a volcanic onsen open nearby so I did that instead.

------
throwaway0a5e
TL;DR one storm at a time using commercially available truck mounted blowers
and dirt moving equipment.

------
pettycashstash2
Quite amazing

