modern_messiah
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Posts posted by modern_messiah
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Rub it in why don't ya?
I've still got exactly 7 weeks to the day.
SEVEN WEEKS.
Argh...
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35 here in Brisbane...going from that to -10 in Hakuba will be a massive shock to say the least!
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I'll be in Hakuba from Feb 21 to March the 8th. We're staying near Happo-One but have a 10 Day 7 Mountain pass - not really useful as you only seem to be staying a small while.
I'm not an area expert but from what I can gather (This will be my first trip to Japan) Hakuba is a 4 hour Bullet train ride plus a short bus trip. Or something like that. Tonnes of resorts to chose from and definitely some snowboarding friendly areas to boot.
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I'm going to Hakuba in late feb, so I hope to see a lot more forecasts for snow!
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I do a lot of image stabilization using Adobe After Effects....absolutely brilliant results though it depends heavily what's in your shot. Helmet cam videos of your run won't really work, but if you do what I do and film some one else you can simply use them as the reference for the stabilization.
Kinda expensive software though and you need to know what your doing.
Scratch that.
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I'm going to have to stop watching this thread I think. I'm gong mental with the predictions lol. In fact I might come back on January the 1st and hopefully all I will read about is the above average snow falls all over Japan.
But until then and for the sake of my own sanity I bid this topic good bye!!!
PS. I guarantee I'll be back every damn day....
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Actually that post was very helpful. Any savings made by waiting would surley be negated by the poor exchange rate...
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All so negative lol.
It could be worse - like 32 degree's and not a cloud in the sky. Now THATS bad skiing weather. (Welcome to Australia)
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I don't have a head cam or anything but I am a keen (but amateur) videographer and I would say there's no real tips other than what you've stated yourself!
I'd say your riding style and how you hold your head has a great deal to do with the way you need to position your camera. You can't really change that either because depending on how long you've been boarding for it may be more difficult than you think.
When it comes to mountain biking I can see why its a different story - your looking where your going and your head can remain relatively straight while your at it. The problem with snowboarding is that you ride sideways. Now even though your head is twisted to help you look forward, your head will not actually go the full 90 degrees and point to where your going - your eyes will compensate for the last 20 odd degrees.
So mounting your camera straight on wont work, but in theory finding what angle you head rests at while riding, and compensating for that with the positioning of your camera, would produce the best results...
Really hit and miss but if you go for what I've suggested (which is really just a re-has of what you said lol) you should get most of your video looking really good.
Cheers!
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Originally Posted By: Go NativeAt least in Hakuba you've got all that Japanese culture to enjoy!
I know nothing about Hakuba yet (just paid my trip off on Saturday!) but we did want to get a feel for Japan as well as the snowboarding. 2 months is soooo long! -
God I hope it picks up
I'm going to Hakuba in Late February and it will be my first time to the snow ever. I'd be bummed to go all that way and not get a decent go of things. That been said its early days and apparently its not normally good until January anyway.
Then again I am a nub when it comes to anything related to the snow (at the moment anyway...If my level of 'excited-ness' is anything to by snowboarding may become my new hobby despite living in sunny Queensland!)
Just sucks looking at the webcams everyday and the depth reports and seeing no massive change.
EDIT: Just bothered reading the data on the place. Seems the best snowfall historically is January and February anyway. Cool!
Also, I'm new to this site (about a month now) and everyday I discover some new feature or another page to extract more information from. It's awesome! Top effort lol.
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Whoa this thread exploded in the space of a day...
Neck warmers and thermals are not expensive, just the specific stuff (jacket, pants, goggles and gloves...and I have gloves already)
I've pretty planned on buying a thinner/medium insulated water proof jacket and supplimenting it with synthetic thermals. I'll just wear a thin jumper or something if its really cold. Same goes for the pants. Basically its easier to warm up more I figure...
Having been born in South Africa, and then living in Brisbane for the better part of 19 years I do feel the cold a fair bit. However I still like the idea of layered wear because if I get too hot I sweat alot and that would suck as well. I'm in a no win situation basically.
We would buy our gear in Japan if it was cheaper but I'm one of those people that likes to be prepaired and rocking up in Hakuba without any gear on a ski trip disagrees with me so badly its not funny lol.
I've been into snowbiz here in Brisbane about 3 times already and every time I spend about an hour mucking about with jackets and pants. No idea what I'm going to do when I actually have the cash to blow!
Hopefully the guy down the Gold Coast can really help me. So much easier in person.
EDIT: and we're not rich....but saving $100 a week for one year is not too difficult by my standards lol.
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not yet lol. Sadly as much as I can afford to go out and get the goods right this second, I'm waiting until I can confirm whether or not we are able to get the goods duty free at the customs booth here at Brisbane Airport. If so I have to wait till the 21st of January before I can purchase it all.
It's a pain in the bum to save a little under 10% of the goods but then again on $1000 worth of gear its $100 or so. At the end of the day I might leave my camera gear for duty free and just get my snow gear now. At least that way the wait will seem less painful!
Theres no pint in rushing it but that said Snowbiz are having a big sale at the moment....
I promise the day I get it all I'll let ya know. I'll want to tell somebody lol.
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My brother went on a ski trip for school. He loved it and said it was fairly easy to learn. As I feel I am better than my brother in everyway I need to learn and beat him. lol.
Also mainly cause I'm a skateboarder and windsurfer and I've never tried snowboarding...it looks like a shed load of fun!
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I think the travel company organised our stuff through has arranged for transfers (in some cases free) to some of the other resorts. Hopefully anyway. I might double check it...
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Hi all,
I was just doing some general reading before and discovered that where we are staying (The Wind Jacket Lodge) is located nearest to Happo-One. I wandered over to the resort reviews and read that Happo-One is Skier friendly...much more so than Snow Boarding.
Now this does not overly concern me as I am a beginner however some of my party are not. Having never been to Japan before I can't really suggest which of the surrounding resorts are better for boarding. We have a 10 day 7 parks pass (or what ever it's called).
I don't exactly plan on staying as a beginner for very long either (I'm fairly good at board sports...or rather have been so far, I'm hoping Snowboarding is not the exception) and would thus like somewhere board focussed.
Any suggestions? It would be greatly appreciated. If it matters we will be there from the 21st of February to the 9th of March, 2009.
Regards,
- Matt
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Cool....this looks very promising. Lots of snowboarding, and what seems like a decent social atmosphere to keep us entertained after hours.
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Originally Posted By: MamabearI get blobs, but I am going for COMPACT.
I bought a new camera for trip mid year because I had a nasty fall with my thicker camera in my top left hand pocket. The fall itself was run of the mill n00b splat, but the camera slamming into my boob was not.
It hurt.
I also had ongoing problems that required invasive tests and treatments. So to avoid that in the future, I got the lowest profile camera I could find. It is only an 8 megapixel thing, but the shots are good enough for my purposes and I am unlikely to do damage if I fall on it.
Had not trouble with this one in the snow, but the previous thicker one ocassionally got too cold and shut itself off. After a short while in the jacket warming up it came back.
Ever considered an "in-between" camera? Like Super-zoom compacts. I'm not trying to sell them or anything (might seem like it lol) but the TZ-15 I’ve got takes much better pictures than a classic compact but is built round a compact's case. Obviously it’s not DSLR quality but it is a smaller camera that still takes great shots. That been said it’s not on the small side of compacts and seen as you mentioned the first camera was in your top pocket I'm assuming it was still a compact...might be best to ignore everything I just said!
Also seen a this is my thread I might hi-jack it a little (although it’s wandering about like a drunk at the moment anyway) and ask about Dakine gear. I use Dakine Harness’ and gloves for windsurfing and from my experience they are the best out there – never failed me. Hell they keep me hooked in tight even when I go flying over the sail…is their snow gear any good as well? Just curious as my pre-trip shopping list is getting bigger by the day. I'm thinking of investing in a hardshell backpack to carry my camera's around in, but I don't want anything intrusive. I might have to get my Jacket first and see what that offers. -
Originally Posted By: scouserOriginally Posted By: thursdayI was in pubs in England when I was like 13.
In the beer garden round the back on the swings, right?
lol...so witty.
And where not really in hakuba for the ladies lol. Though you never know who we'll run into? My Japanese is coming along nicely as well. By the time I leave I plan to have the conversational skills of a toddler
We're just going to go with the flow and whatever happens, happens. -
Ah sweet. Looking very good for the purchase of my Panasonic TZ-15 now
I might try and find a silicon case for it just...in case lol.I never really intended on carrying out and about all the time. I just couldn't find any details on its operating temps so I figured I'd ask and see if people's gear just died cause of the weather or not.
So far I have no qualms what-so-ever.
PS. And you will defnitely see alot of any photos I take on here somewhere thats for sure. Provided I stop Snowboarding enough to take some
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Having read through these responses it has occurred to me that we may not have many troubles with getting him into bars legally, we just cant buy him alcohol legally.
Is this correct? Because if so I can safely say we have no qualms with dragging him around with us while we're out and about....
Also I read on the Australian Government's Traveler's Guide website that the legal age for consent and drinking in Japan is 20. I'm not really the kinda guy who likes to test our own laws let alone foreign ones as well.
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Hi all,
I'll be traveling to Hakuba in February 2009 and it will be my first time in the snow. I am a keen amateur photographer/filmographer (is that a word?) and will obviously taking many pictures along with video while on the slopes.
My question is from people's personal experience how does 'normal' equipment hold up on the snow? The reason I ask is obviously cost related. I have some gear now but will be upgrading before I leave and I don't really want to fork out the cash for a shock/water proof camera when a normal of the self consumer grade camera will do the trick.
How do these devices handle the cold? Does the snow effect them much or only when it melts and water gets everywhere?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not filming HD quality video and putting together a hollywood grade film, but I do put a lot of time into my work and I want it to look as good as I expect.
I will be filming while riding at some point as well so there is a good chance it may end up in the snow with me.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
- Matt
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All asians look the same...all caucasians look the same. Gotta love it. I find it hilarious!
He looks like his brother who is 23. If worse comes to worse they can swap passports for a night lol.
Just kidding...or am I? right now im more concerned that after the first few days on the slopes I'll be too dead to walk let alone drink myself into bed.
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lol....some sound advice it seems. I realsie its not like I wasn't drinking at 17. Its more "not getting in trouble with the law". It's abd enough if you get caught supplying minors with grog here in Oz, I'd hate to do it over seas!
We'll play it by ear and see where we can/cannot go with it all.
OMG Just under 3 weeks....
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Just 3 more sleeps in Oz!! razz
That's just mean...
My girlfriend is actually looking forward to me leaving now because I won't shut up about it. I've been watching that new Travis Rice DVD (Thats it, Thats all) on loop for the last week and a half. I've never been snowboarding before but at the same time I've never been so excited in all my life.
Ah good times are a given.