yamabushi

From Aomori, driving pass Sendai, turning West at Lake Iwashiro around Fukushima towards the sea of Japan coast, and down to Nagano; what would be a good stop around that route? I like powder, not really impressed at all by groomed slopes. I'm hoping I can find something half way down to break the drive down into two days.

Is there good back country access there?

What's good for easy access to slack country? I'm gonna try to schedule two BC hikes and would like to find some easy to access terrain for the days in between. I don't care much for groomed slopes.

Howdy folks! My daughter and I are signing up for the AST level 1 training in Hakuba. We are planning on spending about a week; 2 1/2 days for the avalanche training, plus time to hit the mountains. I'm currently researching my options but if anybody cares to share their favorite bed and breakfast and Back/Slack-country spots, I'm all ears.

It really boggles the mind that stuff here is ubber expensive and that there isn't really a secondary market. I'm lucky, I have access to U.S. ebay because of Misawa Air Force base USPS post office. I guess I'll keep on using that. I'm also thinking about just putting up a sign on my windshield. Hakkoda is a very laidback sort of dojo It would be a great service to the community if the moderators would allow one thread at the begining of the season to help members sort their gear

I hope you don't think I was trying to circumvent the rules. Is the ban just for links? Can somebody just say the name? I mean we do see a lot of call Burton for this or check yahoo auctions for that and such.

Got me some stuff to unload and of course always there's stuff to buy. Is there any good english friendly place online to do that here in Japan?

Nope, wind was not a factor. I'm gone already, back in Honsu (Misawa-shi, Aomori-ken). I was wondering if somebody here would know. Love the place but without the gondola, making it to the top requires you to take a crappy and slow chairlift, traverse accross, take a quad, go low, take another chair, then another single chair lift to the top. By the time you make it your toes are ready to fall off.

As stated because unlike a seat belt, for me a helmet raises the likelihood I would take a tree to the chest or break an arm in four places. At the speeds I go through the trees the helmet will do little for me besides giving me a false sense of security that leads me to go faster and thus greater danger. Other people should always wear a helmet. It is a personal decision.

Yamabushi Have you been out yet wheres the footage? Been to Tomamu and Furano with the family! Got a half a decent clip through the trees but I need to find my groove before I can go at full speed. Tomorrow Saturday I’m going to pick up my Hakkoda season pass. I always have this irrational fear that while wearing the temporary pass I will hurt myself and finish my season right there.

I did two days on Tomamu (a few days apart) and both days the gondola was not operating. It wasn't because of wind, it wasn't because of snow (a series of chairlift trips can take you higher than the gondola), so basically I don't know what it was. I try to ask but my limited Japanese could not make sense of what the dude behind the counter was saying. Does anybody knows why? Oh God I love Tomamu on a powdery day. Oh God I hate it when the gondola is down.

Every time I wore a helmet I ended up hitting shit left and right. I'm a very aggressive rider; If I wear a helmet I tend to shrink the margin of error which puts me on even more risk on tree runs.

If you go with a tour company, they will hook you up with everything you need, for a price. I don't know of any outfit that would just rent you BC gear and see you on your way. As far as I know EPIRB is not even legal for use by the public. Some people have it as they would rather be alive to deal with pissed off authorities over this. Whatever you do, if you are not loaded for bear, don't go hunting for bear. Same thing applies to the backcountry.

I am ashamed to say that I have not been up to Hakkoda yet. You need at least 200cm of base before you can stay away from the marked courses, and being as retarded as I can be I tend to forget my own advice :\ I'll be there this Sunday to pick up my season pass Besides the obvious dangers (poles set a ten meters appart when visivility trops to 6 meters) you would enjoy the mountain a lot more if you find a local to show you around. If somebody from here is coming I would be happy to met up. I can always use an excuse to go.

A ski pole is your best friend in the world. Some people take longer to learn how to get up. With a pole they still learn (is a matter of controlling your center of gravity which they improve whether they are using a stick to help themselves) but they can use all that wasted energy to go wee! down the mountain.