Tenjin Banked Slalom - Mar 2&3

The Tenjin Banked Slalom is one of the top races in Snow Country, drawing pro-riders from all over the globe. The course is designed for maximum thrills and spills, and whether racing or watching, it is a fantastic event.

The event runs all weekend and you can expect as much fun and action off the slopes as on it, as the racers and organisers go as hard in the evening as they do on the snow.

There are lots of prizes up for grabs and a long list of big name sponsors. We'll be there cheering behind the fences and marvelling at the high speed crashes, of which you can guarantee there will be many.

For more details on the event, entering (if you dare) or some photos of the action, check out the Tenjin Banked Slalom homepage or click through to their Facebook page.

Snow Country Wildlife II

Another great photo of the Japanese kamoshika on the Tanigawadake Tenjindaira blog.

A few days without snow recently and as you head up the lifts in various places you can see plenty of animal tracks around. More snow on the way as the next front moves in so these tracks will be covered up again shortly, but a good reminder that we are not the only ones in the mountains. I wonder how the local wildlife cope with the big snowfalls we are having at the moment?

Doai Station - deep underground

Snow Country is home to some pretty unusual tourist attractions. One of the most noteworthy though is its famous station - Doai. All things train related are pretty popular around here, especially the steam engine that comes to Minakami. If you carry further on up the Joetsu Line from Minakami to Echigo-Yuzawa you will soon reach Doai Station. Should you come from the other direction, it is your ordinary JR station, situated at the base of Mount Tanigawa. However, heading north the line actually goes deep under the mountain and that is where you will find the station. Getting off the train you will have to negotiate 462 steps to get back up to the surface.

It's an incredible feat of engineering and plenty of people come to have a look at it. It is fantastically cool in summer but once you walk all the way up or down, it'll soon warm you up.

Stood at the top of the stairs you have a great view down into the depths.

Many keen hikers who are coming up from the capital to tackle Mount Tanigawa (to tick it off their list of the 100 Famous Peaks) have to start their ordeal from the bottom of these stairs - a pretty good way to get warmed up for the hike ahead.

If you don't fancy the climb up the stairs, stay on the train and it will take you out of Gunma prefecture and into Niigata prefecture through the Shimizu Tunnel. This is the tunnel mentioned at the start of Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country with the memorable sentence about the train coming out of the tunnel and the protagonist finding himself in Snow Country.