It's almost that time of year again.
Later this week, marks the start of our 14th annual ski and snowboard trip. Our group missed two years because of the pandemic and so, technically, this should be the 16th annual, but who's counting? This is a trip that happens every year like clockwork and, this year, we're checking off a big mountain destination that has been on many/most of our bucket lists: Hokkaido, Japan. If you read my recent post called "The Secrets of the greatest snow on earth," you might remember that Hokkaido is one of the snowiest places on the planet. Every January, there is a 90% probability that the island will get at least 100 inches of snow!
Before Hokkaido, we're also going to be spending a handful of days in Tokyo. The first and only time I've been to Japan was back in undergrad, over 20 years ago. I'm really excited to see how the city has evolved, and to see it with fresh eyes. I was in the early days of studying architecture back then, and just starting to understand my obsession with cities. So I'm sure that I'll have a much different appreciation this time around. Neat B is also coming to experience Japan's legendary powder and she's never been to Asia before. So I'm equally excited to see Japan anew through her eyes.
This past weekend we started making our travel list. Generally, our approach is to list the things we absolutely want to see and do, including noteworthy architecture, and then let the rest happen organically. Often some of the best travel experiences are the ones you didn't plan. I also have a friend from graduate school that now runs his own practice in Tokyo: Kenta Fukunishi Architecture Office. Our group is going to lean on him to show us what's hot in contemporary Japanese architecture. My buddies and I haven't seen him since 2009.
I'm also hoping that some of you will have recommendations for Tokyo and/or Hokkaido, which is why I'm blogging about this trip a little early. Tokyo is obviously massive. It's the largest metro area in the world. And so more than most places, it demands curation. We're not even going to make a dent over the course of a few days there. If any of you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below or shoot me an email at brandon dot donnelly at globizen dot com.
In terms of what you can expect here on the blog, expect photos and expect to see me measuring the width of impossibly narrow streets. I'll also be sharing a lot of content to our Globizen Instagram account, so make sure you follow us there. As always, this blog will get updated every morning -- though I'm sure I'll screw up the time zones on the way there and not know what day it is. And as always, I'll have my Fujifjilm camera on me. It's also my goal on this trip to capture more videos. It's something I love to do, but never have seem to make time for. Let's change that.
Here's to the 14th annual!
For the last 16 years, I have been going on an annual ski and snowboard trip with some of my closest friends from Penn and from Toronto. Two years ago we went to Park City. Last year we went to Les 3 Vallées. And this winter we'll be going to Hokkaido, which has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I enjoy doing a lot of different sports, but nothing comes close to snowboarding for me. It's my first love. There's just something about being in the mountains. So I look forward to our "annual" all year.
Because of this, I have long had the goal of building a house and short-term rental in the mountains. Firstly, I felt that there weren't a lot of design-focused options in many mountain towns. You know, something clean and minimal. And secondly, I wanted a place that could embody and share our love of the mountains with others. As many of you know, this resulted in Parkview Mountain House. Globizen partnered with two regulars on the trip and we created what we refer to as a "creative retreat."
Here are a few photos of the house:
It's almost that time of year again.
Later this week, marks the start of our 14th annual ski and snowboard trip. Our group missed two years because of the pandemic and so, technically, this should be the 16th annual, but who's counting? This is a trip that happens every year like clockwork and, this year, we're checking off a big mountain destination that has been on many/most of our bucket lists: Hokkaido, Japan. If you read my recent post called "The Secrets of the greatest snow on earth," you might remember that Hokkaido is one of the snowiest places on the planet. Every January, there is a 90% probability that the island will get at least 100 inches of snow!
Before Hokkaido, we're also going to be spending a handful of days in Tokyo. The first and only time I've been to Japan was back in undergrad, over 20 years ago. I'm really excited to see how the city has evolved, and to see it with fresh eyes. I was in the early days of studying architecture back then, and just starting to understand my obsession with cities. So I'm sure that I'll have a much different appreciation this time around. Neat B is also coming to experience Japan's legendary powder and she's never been to Asia before. So I'm equally excited to see Japan anew through her eyes.
This past weekend we started making our travel list. Generally, our approach is to list the things we absolutely want to see and do, including noteworthy architecture, and then let the rest happen organically. Often some of the best travel experiences are the ones you didn't plan. I also have a friend from graduate school that now runs his own practice in Tokyo: Kenta Fukunishi Architecture Office. Our group is going to lean on him to show us what's hot in contemporary Japanese architecture. My buddies and I haven't seen him since 2009.
I'm also hoping that some of you will have recommendations for Tokyo and/or Hokkaido, which is why I'm blogging about this trip a little early. Tokyo is obviously massive. It's the largest metro area in the world. And so more than most places, it demands curation. We're not even going to make a dent over the course of a few days there. If any of you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below or shoot me an email at brandon dot donnelly at globizen dot com.
In terms of what you can expect here on the blog, expect photos and expect to see me measuring the width of impossibly narrow streets. I'll also be sharing a lot of content to our Globizen Instagram account, so make sure you follow us there. As always, this blog will get updated every morning -- though I'm sure I'll screw up the time zones on the way there and not know what day it is. And as always, I'll have my Fujifjilm camera on me. It's also my goal on this trip to capture more videos. It's something I love to do, but never have seem to make time for. Let's change that.
Here's to the 14th annual!
For the last 16 years, I have been going on an annual ski and snowboard trip with some of my closest friends from Penn and from Toronto. Two years ago we went to Park City. Last year we went to Les 3 Vallées. And this winter we'll be going to Hokkaido, which has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I enjoy doing a lot of different sports, but nothing comes close to snowboarding for me. It's my first love. There's just something about being in the mountains. So I look forward to our "annual" all year.
Because of this, I have long had the goal of building a house and short-term rental in the mountains. Firstly, I felt that there weren't a lot of design-focused options in many mountain towns. You know, something clean and minimal. And secondly, I wanted a place that could embody and share our love of the mountains with others. As many of you know, this resulted in Parkview Mountain House. Globizen partnered with two regulars on the trip and we created what we refer to as a "creative retreat."
Here are a few photos of the house:
I've been reading this book before bed over the last few days. It's about the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, but more broadly it's about how snow works, why and where in the world epic storms happen, how not to get killed in avalanches, and how global warming is impacting our climate. It's written by Jim Steenburgh, who is professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah and author of the blog Wasatch Weather Weenies. And I'm finding it really fascinating, even if there are limits to how granular I want to get on the science behind stellar dendrite snowflakes.
One of the main questions he answers is, of course, the title of the book: Why is the powder skiing and snowboarding so good in Utah? Is it in fact, the greatest snow on earth? (The State of Utah started using this very successful slogan in 1962 and it made its way onto license plates starting in 1985). It turns out that there's lots of science to support this claim, particularly when it comes to the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons on the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. This is where you'll find resorts like Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, and Solitude.
Little Cottonwood Canyon has one of the most dramatic snowfall contrasts in the world. At its entrance in the valley, the average annual snowfall is about 100 inches. But drive 7 or so miles into the canyon to Snowbird (which during a snowstorm can be super treacherous), and the average annual snowfall increases to over 500 inches. Generally speaking, the average annual snowfall in the canyon increases by about 100 inches per 1,000 feet of elevation gain.
One of the reasons for this is that the terrain surrounding the Cottonwoods is both high and broad, which means that it is exposed to storm flows coming from nearly any direction. During "stable storms", this can also create a blocking front, where storms get caught on the windward side and continue to dump in one place, instead of passing over the mountain. This is one of the reasons why there's this saying: "It doesn't need a reason to snow in Little Cottonwood Canyon; it needs a reason to stop."
Another very snowy place in the world is Japan's Hokkaido Island. In fact, Jim argues that if there's any place that could give Utah a run for its money with the claim of the greatest snow on earth, it's here. Based on historical data, Hokkaido Island has a 90% chance of at least 100 inches of snow in the month of January. This is a lot more than Utah, though snowfall falls off more quickly outside of the peak months.
So statistically, if you want the highest probability of powder snow during the month of January, Hokkaido is the place for you. It also happens to be where we're going for our annual ski and snowboard trip this year. I'll be sure to report back and confirm whether this is true or not.
The last chapter in the book is on climate change and he starts by stating the obvious: global warming is real. The climate of the Wasatch Mountains today is demonstrably warmer than it was when they were mining silver in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the late 19th century. That is bad news for skiing and snowboarding, and already in the Western US, declines in the average snowpack below elevations of 8,000 feet have been observed.
The good news is that there's yet to be a clear and consistent trend above 8,000 feet (at least according to Jim when he wrote the first edition of this book about a decade ago). So stay high up, my friends. If you're interested in this topic, or climate in general, I would highly recommend you check out Jim's book. Or at the very least, his blog. I'm going to take my copy of the book and leave it at Parkview Mountain House the next time I'm there so it's available to everyone who visits. It's fascinating stuff.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
Today, I'm super excited to announce that bookings are now open at PMH! If you'd like to book a stay, you can visit AvantStay's website (who is our hospitality manager) or you can book through Airbnb, if you prefer that. Because we've just gone live, all of the rates are at an introductory level while we build up our initial review base. So now is a good time to get something in the calendar this winter (or next summer which is also a really beautiful time). Neat B and I, and a few friends, will be there later this month and we can't wait.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
I've been reading this book before bed over the last few days. It's about the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, but more broadly it's about how snow works, why and where in the world epic storms happen, how not to get killed in avalanches, and how global warming is impacting our climate. It's written by Jim Steenburgh, who is professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah and author of the blog Wasatch Weather Weenies. And I'm finding it really fascinating, even if there are limits to how granular I want to get on the science behind stellar dendrite snowflakes.
One of the main questions he answers is, of course, the title of the book: Why is the powder skiing and snowboarding so good in Utah? Is it in fact, the greatest snow on earth? (The State of Utah started using this very successful slogan in 1962 and it made its way onto license plates starting in 1985). It turns out that there's lots of science to support this claim, particularly when it comes to the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons on the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. This is where you'll find resorts like Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, and Solitude.
Little Cottonwood Canyon has one of the most dramatic snowfall contrasts in the world. At its entrance in the valley, the average annual snowfall is about 100 inches. But drive 7 or so miles into the canyon to Snowbird (which during a snowstorm can be super treacherous), and the average annual snowfall increases to over 500 inches. Generally speaking, the average annual snowfall in the canyon increases by about 100 inches per 1,000 feet of elevation gain.
One of the reasons for this is that the terrain surrounding the Cottonwoods is both high and broad, which means that it is exposed to storm flows coming from nearly any direction. During "stable storms", this can also create a blocking front, where storms get caught on the windward side and continue to dump in one place, instead of passing over the mountain. This is one of the reasons why there's this saying: "It doesn't need a reason to snow in Little Cottonwood Canyon; it needs a reason to stop."
Another very snowy place in the world is Japan's Hokkaido Island. In fact, Jim argues that if there's any place that could give Utah a run for its money with the claim of the greatest snow on earth, it's here. Based on historical data, Hokkaido Island has a 90% chance of at least 100 inches of snow in the month of January. This is a lot more than Utah, though snowfall falls off more quickly outside of the peak months.
So statistically, if you want the highest probability of powder snow during the month of January, Hokkaido is the place for you. It also happens to be where we're going for our annual ski and snowboard trip this year. I'll be sure to report back and confirm whether this is true or not.
The last chapter in the book is on climate change and he starts by stating the obvious: global warming is real. The climate of the Wasatch Mountains today is demonstrably warmer than it was when they were mining silver in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the late 19th century. That is bad news for skiing and snowboarding, and already in the Western US, declines in the average snowpack below elevations of 8,000 feet have been observed.
The good news is that there's yet to be a clear and consistent trend above 8,000 feet (at least according to Jim when he wrote the first edition of this book about a decade ago). So stay high up, my friends. If you're interested in this topic, or climate in general, I would highly recommend you check out Jim's book. Or at the very least, his blog. I'm going to take my copy of the book and leave it at Parkview Mountain House the next time I'm there so it's available to everyone who visits. It's fascinating stuff.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
Today, I'm super excited to announce that bookings are now open at PMH! If you'd like to book a stay, you can visit AvantStay's website (who is our hospitality manager) or you can book through Airbnb, if you prefer that. Because we've just gone live, all of the rates are at an introductory level while we build up our initial review base. So now is a good time to get something in the calendar this winter (or next summer which is also a really beautiful time). Neat B and I, and a few friends, will be there later this month and we can't wait.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
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