Mt. Shinden Backcountry
My first venture into local backcountry for the ‘22 - ‘23 season was at a nearby mountain in Niigata. My friends and I made the drive out to Mt. Shinden (新田山) in the city of Itoigawa in Niigata prefecture. The hike was a total of around four hours due to it also being an exploratory hike. It had rained the day before, so the snow quality was not great - it wasn’t the fluffy powder Japan is known for. But as long as it wasn’t east coast ice I was used to growing up in the US, I was happy. Unfortunately, a lot of the mountain was tracked out as some snowmobiles made their way up as we were unpacking the car which made some areas tricky to navigate. Overall, I was very happy with my first experience snowboarding outside of resort courses.
A little video while snowshoeing up the mountain.
