mitchpee

Originally Posted By: Mantas That's an interesting article from the Guardian GN. How can casualty estimates range from a around 6000 to nearly 1000 000 ? I guess they were quite happy to blame every single case of cancer in Western Europe for the next decade on Chernobyl. Somewhere in there we could put the figure 600 000 in for a bit of a reference. That's how many Iraqi civilians have been killed by coalition forces. I have been against the Iraq invasion from the beginning, however 600,000 is a very inaccurate number. There have been a significant amount of civilian casualties, wh

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Here's a short little video I made about my trip in Kyoto. Enjoy!

Well said David! It is important to consider the damage that has happened, but to also move on and rebuild. I think the Japanese have done that faster and more efficiently than anything I have seen. I no doubt will return to Japan for skiing at some point.

Originally Posted By: Go Native Mitch it was great to meet you. I'm really glad you enjoyed your time up here. With the Aussie dollar actually trading higher the US dollar at the moment I'm almost considering a trip to the US next winter. I'll let you know if I'm heading your way Please do! Then I can finally offer you some advice in where to go hahaha.

From my Blog: Even as I sit in LA writing this I can’t believe I am back in the US. It seems it was last week that I arrived to the Black Diamond Lodge and met the guys for the very first time. Although winter isn’t quite yet over for me, I know the inevitable end of top to bottom snow for the year is quickly approaching. I have been fortunate enough to see a vast amount of Japan. Not only was the domestic travel in Japan amazing, but it couldn’t have come at a more pivotal time for the country. It was surely different that I didn’t get to experience the bright lights and co

sounds awesome TB, looks like you lucked out. Nice!

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver I love the Golden Pavillion, well cool. Mitch great to hear you've enjoyed it over here, it'd be interesting to hear how you reckon the Niseko/Hokkaido area compares with your home area......willing to jump into the pot or diplomatically sit on the fence? You know, it's really tough. I love Japan, I really do. There are so many pros and cons that the two are almost incomparable. To be 100% honest, if I had my ideal life it would be being able to live in Japan and Utah simultaneously. I don't mind working 70+ hours in the summer to slack off a bit in t

Update: a Kyoto Story: So I got into Kyoto late last night (12PM) and barely had time to sleep. Woke up at 6 and crammed some breakfast into me. I got a bike right away and probably started around 8. I am working on a video I edited with some clips of my Kyoto trip but I am waiting for more footage. Here are some stereotypical pictures for now:

I do!

Been getting into the backcountry a lot via snowmobile and hiking. Here is a video of some of the pow. Some of these were yesterday (yes the snow is still that good). Thanks to Stu (sand) for the music. My time in Niseko has wound down and I am off to Kyoto tomorrow. It has been an awesome season and I have met a ton of great people, some of which are on this site. Magseven, Sand, Mamabear, TropicalPow, GoNative, Softlandings, SlipperyJim, are just a few who come to mind. All awesome people and I look forward to seeing them again. Found a picture from January that never g

Also, love every update Mike, nice work. Was at Kiroro today doing some touring should have dropped you a pm, but it was last minute. Glen is the man!

Originally Posted By: MikePow Originally Posted By: ippy i heard people giving a little bit of hype to kiroro as a kind of 'get away from the bogans' type place, while at niseko. But genuinely have no idea what the place is like. The pics seem to be just one part of it, whats the overall vibe of the place? how big is it? how is it usually january-february? etc etc. Mellow, quiet, lots of snow, to get the best go with someone who knows the resort. Or someone who has a snowmobile! Ippy if you tour at all go there on a sunny day and be blown away.

Yeah Stu! Looks awesome, glad you had a good time man

Originally Posted By: Mick Rich Yeah, crazy playing with snowboarders and board and binding-nibbling antics aside, it was a nice dog with a lovely temperament. & it looked healthy enough, so I'm sure it belongs to someone and just escaped for a day in the snow! The Annupuri ticket staff were on the case so I'm sure it'll be fine snowhuntress! Yeah no need to worry, the dog's antics are frequent. Pretty sure it starts the day off with a bowl of corn flakes and crack-cocaine

Originally Posted By: Tex HMM looks like the Canadian cage fighter/enforcers dog?!? I think... I believe it is, saw that dog in Goshiki once, it gets around!

Funny, I was at Kiroro the 17th too pretttttttty good I must say

Well today was a day all about adventure. The snow on Yotei wasn't the greatest, but overlooking the area of southern Hokkaido from a 360 panoramic view from a volcano is always pretty cool. All the guys that went up today were Montana locals and a really solid group of guys. Great day all around and enjoying this beer now Photos thanks to Ryan Krueger Here's a video of a secret spot with some great snow from last week! Enjoy!

Originally Posted By: Go Native What The Scum fails to mention for the sake of sensationalism and fearmongering is that 10 times normal background radiation levels are in no way harmful especially for the very short period that such levels were recorded. There's no time to be practical...The New York Times just stocked up with 200,000 extra newspapers, gotta get them off the shelves somehow!

I cannot believe some of the attitudes of Americans on this subject. On another skiing forum I post on there were a few posts saying this is payback for the Cove. Really disheartening to learn about such ignorance.

Originally Posted By: norcal Mitchpee - where did you get the info about donating? Just trying to get the wife to look it up for more info. Some people were also trying to say not to send clothes...but that doesn't sound right, lol. thanks! This was relayed to me by a few reliable Japanese friends and it seems to be legitimate. In response to all the negativity in the media I made a post to share with my American and European friends. Inside Japan: A Message to the Western World It seems as though the western world yet again is in a media frenzy to keep ratings up. The Japane

Originally Posted By: Go Native Originally Posted By: norcal I'm gonna go through all my clothes tonight & give what I dont need. Also gonna give away all the old baby clothes that dont fit my daughter. It sucks I cant be up there helping find people, instead I'm doing crappy work at my job. We've already got a few boxes full of clothes, blankets, etc but not sure where we can send them. We thought the defence base here was accepting stuff like this but we rang and they advised they aren't able to as they can't get it down to the affected areas. Anyone know where we can send such

Originally Posted By: RobBright Mitchpee, you would just be turned away. One of my friends in tokyo is in contact with the said organisations and all non-essential people are being turned away. Volunteers are needed and once announced where and when, I will pass the information on to sjd. All you would do right now is take up resources that the survivors need. If you re-read and thought about what I posted you would come to the conclusion that I said we were WAITING for when needed. Nowhere did I say I was hopping in the car right now and driving there. Just trying to see who may be

To anyone in Niseko: We are trying to rally some troops in the coming week. Once we figure out where help is needed a few of us are planning to offer our assitance wherever it will best be utilized. If anyone in the Niseko area is interested please say so and I will let you know what we are doing.

Niseko- The only time you have to wait is in the morning at the hirafu gondola and when the peak opens after a few days of new snow. Other than that no ques anywhere. Kurodake and Kiroro have been entirely empty.