A Snowboarder’s Checklist DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE

My first year snowboarding, I didn’t really know what to take with me, and found that I was carting all sorts of junk along that I didn’t use, and the things I did need, I didn’t have. So being something of a control freak anyway, I started a checklist on my Palm digital assistant. It started out as one screen’s worth of items, but I was shocked by how quickly it grew. The checklist developed categories and sub-categories, and soon I was scrolling for several screens before I had all my kit together.

So having put so much effort into this thing, I’m going to share it with you. For the swarms of new snowboarders I expect to see on the slopes this year, I trust these tips will be invaluable (although you should not bring along a red helmet with you). Those with more experience may enjoy comparing what they like to take, and perhaps have a good sneer at what a lot of crap Ocean11 seems to need.

Finally, this may all seem a bit remote and even irrelevant while not all the resorts are open, but I’m assured by the Chairman of the Board’s shaman friend that meditating on the minutiae of snowboarding out of season delights the snow gods and encourages them to deliver a mighty dose early in November. However, that doesn’t mean you should neglect to perform the snow dance.

Enough waffle, let’s look at the practical aspects. A good way to organize the checklist is according to groups of what goes where. Snowboardwear (to coin a phrase) comes with abundant space for stowing things and this is how we will make our list.　

Jacket
This can be stuffed with all sorts of necessities and goodies. Mine has a little padded pocket that claims to be an “anti-shock inside pocket for CD or MD player”. This is where the PocketPC goes.

PocketPC
Bearer of the digital Checklist, maps, some music, and emergency phone numbers.
   

Camera
Cameras are good to have for recording various acts of snowboarding derring-do and the beautiful scenery. But digital cameras don’t perform very well in cold weather. Their batteries get cold and they tend to shut down just when you’re trying to capture your mate’s perfect rodeo flip and subsequent painful crash landing. Plus they don’t respond well to wetness. I’ll be taking a disposable camera from now on.

Pass holder
The simpler the better. Goes in a pocket to be found easily when you’ve bought your pass. Don’t go for one of the fancy purse types you hang round your neck - they’re a hazard.

Survival kit
A small torch, a whistle, and a compass. Probably not necessary, but they’re light and you can get everything from a 100 yen shop. I’m hoping my mouth won’t be too stuffed with snow to blow the whistle…

Cigar holder and windproof gas lighter
For those times when you fancy a smoke on the hill. I still remember my sorrow on finding that I had reduced a pack of fine Philippine cigarillos to shreds of tobacco in a wipeout. My pockets still bear the traces. Put them in a tin!

Neck warmer/face mask
Stuff it in a pocket in case you need it. It was so hot last year, I gave up taking it. But it’s still on the List.

Mitts
Actually, just the liners, with the padding ripped out. I get hot hands.

Snacks
Strictly speaking, these don’t need to be prepared in advance as you can usually get something on the way, or even on the hill. But if you’re choosy snacks should also be on your checklist. Besides, there’s something wonderful about getting absolutely everything ready the night before a trip, and going to bed thinking, “Tomorrow there will be no dicking about - I’m going snowboarding.”

Snickers and string cheese are good to have in your pockets. Something in every pocket is nice. When I served with my great nation’s armed forces, a berk of a Training Major decided to give the troops some worldly advice.
“A soldier must be organized - his life depends on it. He should know what he has in each pocket - Mr. Walters, what have you got in your left breast pocket?”
“A Mars bar, Sir.”
“I see. What about in that pocket there?”
“A Mars bar, Sir.” (Titters from the troops)
“Her-hmmm. And what is in your trouser pockets?”
“Mars bars, Sir.”
The major got very angry, but when I emptied out my pockets, he found I was not actually taking the piss. A snowboarder will similarly benefit from happy pockets.
   

  
Hip flask
From the health and safety standpoint, alcohol has no place on a cold, snowy mountain. However, tradition must also be paid its due. Take a hip flask with a non-detachable lid - fumbling a stopper with gloves on and dropping it in the snow is all too likely. Fill it with good cherry brandy or something similarly sweet and strong. A smaller one will dent less easily in falls, and you might not invalidate your insurance so entirely.
   

Lip balm
Forget this, and sipping from your hip flask is going to hurt.

Toothbrush
For cleaning up after each Snickers. I get funny looks pulling a toothbrush out of my cool black cargo pants, but oral hygiene has its place on the mountain too.

Handkerchief and tissues
For wiping goggles (and staunching blood from nosebleeds. Nothing more funny than seeing a row of people who have all gone off the same wind-lip and who all now have nosebleeds.)

Lock
A good thing to have. Japan maybe ‘safety country’, but people do nick stuff all the same. Also, you can try locking your snowboard to a fixed object and to the snowboard belonging to that cutie you saw going into the restaurant earlier. She’ll be waiting for you when you’ve finished your lunch.

Wallet
On a chain, with enough money for the day, and coupons.

Coupons
These can be coaxed out of your Japanese friends who read the local newspaper. Or you may get them from SJ (luckeeee!) Big savings here, if you remember to take them on the day.

Spare binding parts
Binding bits for when your bindings break. These may be available for sale at some resorts, although getting them will certainly involve some walking and maybe even some humiliating riding of lifts in the wrong direction.

When a friend’s binding popped its nuts at Miyoko on our way to the top of the mountain, he was very pleased to find that they sold a range of binding accessories at the top of the lift, a very thoughtful touch. But as we had left him believing that he was going to trek all the way back to the car park, we didn’t see him again till the late afternoon. We finally bumped into him in the woods - he was wild-eyed and raving incoherently about “the most unbelievable run ever, we gotta go there now, man!” A few nuts and straps in his pockets would have meant we could have ridden together all day.

Helmet
Nothing feels better than getting all kitted up and then inserting your head into a bright red, full-face helmet. Indestructible! (yeah, right) Helmets need to be looked after carefully in transit. They have a habit of rolling out the back of well-stuffed cars when you open the hatchback. This probably also applies to the luggage racks of trains too, but I wouldn’t know about that. Smashing onto the tarmac chips them and eventually weakens their integrity, so a holder is useful. I use a plastic box.

Goggles

Boots (both of them)
This seems obvious, but for my first trip out last season, we arrived at Nozawa all hot for the action and got kitted up. I put my first boot on and rummaged around in the back of the car for a while, increasingly frantically. Then I turned to the joker in what’s commonly called my ‘crew’ and, lightening up considerably said, “OK Kim, give me my other boot.”
“I haven’t got it Rod,” he says.
“Time’s a-wasting Kim,” says I, “Where did you put it?”
“Rod, - I - haven’t - got - your - other - boot - you - dick,” says he, and nor had he. Looking under the car three or four times, as my hopes of a day’s snowboarding faded, didn’t help at all.
Fortunately the rental shop had big sizes and I was able to rent, although the boots gave me blisters and cost money. When I pulled into my car park at the end of a blissful day, there was my other boot standing all alone in the car headlights.
Remember that your checklist has to be checked whenever kit gets moved around.

Carry bag
A rucksack or what Americans like to call a ‘fanny pack’ (titter, don’t they know what that really means?) Actually this isn’t on the list, and I’ve been loath to use one as I imagine they promote odd patches of sweat, and snag on trees. But for holding extra and cast-off clothes, they might have their place (although I note that Shaun Palmer and Jake Carpenter don’t generally use them).

Snowboarding insurance.
Something to prepare way in advance of hitting a tree. That way, if you bust your ankle and your board, you might not exactly be laughing, but you’ll be glad to have paid up your 5,000 yen. If it’s just your old board you wreck, you might actually have a discreet chortle.

Screwdrivers
After buying a rather expensive ‘snowboarder’s screwdriver set’, I found that it was heavy and the heads of the screwdrivers were not really big enough, so that I often stripped the tops of my bolts. As I don’t do any playing about with binding positions anyway, I invested in the biggest damn screwdriver I could find in the 100 yen shop, and this stays in my car. It does a great job of tightening everything up just before I head for the mountain.

Spray-on wax
Definitely optional this. If you don’t have a car, it’s probably not worth the bother.

Spare goggles

Onsen kit

Dry underclothes

And that’s pretty much it. Have we forgotten anything?

Oh Christ! My board!