Metabo Oyaji

So how was it, Mick? I tuned just in time to see them wave good-bye to Gassan on the bus.

They don't seem to be doing anything with these "funboards" that they couldn't do with a regular board, except for some of the park tricks. Plus flirting with groin pull.

Thanks, folks. A bit of a photo-bomb, and Rock-Hand's photos were probably nicer with clearer blue skies, but I tried to make up for it in sheer volume. Some people walked over and up to the base of the T-lift, not much of a hike really. But most didn't bother, I'd say, and just cruised down and around from the top of the chair lift. There were no lift lines, but the place seemed pretty peppy, really. Restaurant was full at lunch time, for example. It is sufficiently spread out, though, that people can really get away from each other pretty easily. The more one looked, t

All in all, a very pleasant day. Couldn't have asked for better weather, or more complete snow coverage. The vibe of the place is very relaxed, with people playing all over the place. A mecca for lovers of the snow. No attitude, no show-offs, just people enjoying themselves on the mountainside. Will definitely go back some time.

I watched one family hit one of the mogul courses, both parents and a little kid (6-7 years old?). All experts. Put me completely to shame. (Not that that takes much.) There is a spot under the lift where one can cross over to a tree'd section on the other side. Didn't try it myself, but it comes out below the base building, so have to hike up a bit to get back to the lift if one goes there.

The chair lift gets shortened mid-season, as the snow melts. I think that means that the wheel arms get lowered to the lower flange in this picture:

The sky to the south was hazy, to the north clear.

The T-lift cost extra money in addition to the afternoon ticket, and I did not try it. But one could cut across from the top of the chair to access much of the face of the Ubagatake area, where some mogul courses and open faces were available. To get to there, one has to cross a cornice/snow cliff from the underside. Some ropes are set up around the cliff edge, but more as a warning than as any kind of restriction. Proceed at own risk, nobody will stop you. Ropes set up to indicate, Do Not Enter! -- Unless You Feel Like It: Note the spallation snow-boulders dotting the

It was bright, sunny and warm, probably upper teens? But the cool snow made for nice natural air conditioning, so very comfortable. No sweating, no jacket needed, until the last couple runs of the day when it started cooling off. At the top of the lift is a rest house, with vending machines and toilets in it. To skier's right of the lift is the main valley course, with treed areas to the left, and the flanks of Ubagatake on the right. The snow in the center of the valley was a bit on the soft side for my tastes, though the kid enjoyed it quite a bit. To the sides the snow was a bit ha

Tuesday was a holiday, weather forecast looked reasonable for Gassan, so we made the early morning road trip, planning to get afternoon tickets (11:30-16:30). The drive up was relatively uncrowded for a holiday, and we got to the parking lot around 10:30. 500 yen parking fee, which goes towards conservation efforts, and in return for which one gets a Gassan sticker, which went straight onto the kid's snowboard. The map near the parking lot shows the layout. One pair lift on the right, with some T-bars (really rope-tows with detachable T handles) to the left, on Ubagatake. Tha

Seems to have been on-again, off-again for several years. Difficult maintenance? Not popular enough to be worth the effort?

It seems to have been open at some point in 2012.

Ok, how about a dog-related one: A woman was riding on a bus, with her toy poodle in her lap. A man was sitting across the aisle from her, smoking a cigar. The woman glowered at him, and asked him to put out his cigar. He refused. She asked the bus driver to do something about it, but he refused to get involved. Getting furious, she grabbed the cigar out of the man's mouth, and threw it out the window of the bus. The man, in return, grabbed her poodle, and threw IT out the window of the bus! Pulling the emergency stop, she screamed and ran to the door. As soon as the bus stop

An eccentric man hired another to build him a house, with two conditions: He had to build it in one week, and using exactly 1,000 bricks, no more, no less. He would pay 1 million dollars if the pile of 1,000 bricks that he would supply was completely used up, with no other bricks added. Otherwise, he would pay nothing. The house builder figured, hey, easy money, this guy is even supplying the building materials. Deal! And so he labored day after day, painstakingly putting the house together. At the end of the week, with 5 minutes to go before the deadline, he finished up, and whil

Fantastic. Beautiful.

Brie at Tengendai:

Do it!! Then tell us all about it ;-) Will take that idea under advisement, MR.

What the heck is that for, Rollerball??

About 7%. Not really moanworthy, but a bit surprising, as my understanding was that they would generally go down over time, as depreciation kicked in. Apparently not. Or not any more.

People are slowly going back, from what I understand. Ultraman says "come on down!" at Adatara Service Area today: (Actually, what he really says is something that sounds like "Get!", when one purchases something from one of the surrounding vending machines.)

Brie. Gassan.

A Harrier Hybrid would certainly be nice, though I think I'd prefer a fuel economy hybrid to a performance hybrid... Would the Prius Alpha be able to carry skis inside? I looked in the back of one once, and it seemed just barely possible, maybe. Hmm, yeah, actually I think I could fit skis in there: You need to fold down the rear seat and put your ski bag on the left. I have to do that when I take my skis to the airport to catch the plane for the winter wonderland on the island of Japan. You drive a Prius Alpha, WV?

The Alpha is the station wagon version? If you drop one of the seats, I guess you'd get em in the regular hatch one too. We've got one but we stopped using it in winter because we live on a hill with a hairpin at the top. The Prius is a great car but is only 2WD. Apparently the next one will come in a 4wd version. It'll be out late this year or 2015. I think there's also 4wd version of the Fit hybrid, which I guess Honda could build as a Freed, because the engine and chassis are the same. Ah, would definitely want to wait for the 4WD version. But it would be nice if skis could be stowed

I'm really surprised to hear that, GN.