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jblesener

SnowJapan Member
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About jblesener

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    SJ'er with 10+ posts
  1. Haven't been to any of these but try http://gopro-nippon.com/dealer/index.html. Don't bother with Kanda. I think ICI Sports sells some Contour stuff but that's all I've seen. I couldn't get the handlebar mount in time before my last trip and ended up bodging something out of misc parts from the hardware store the night before.
  2. I've never been hassled by patrol at Maiko but a couple weeks back a ski school geezer yelled at me and a friend from the lift. We were poaching the natural half pipe under the B lift. This was more of a 5cm day rather than a 50cm day so he must've been mad we weren't mastering the VW beetle sized moguls on the Gungun course.
  3. Waxes for colder conditions are harder than waxes for warmer conditions. Apparently the colder snow crystals are much harder/sharper and can scrape wax off much faster. I always use the plain white all temp wax. If you're regularly waxing, I think you're already ahead of the curve; I'll leave the flourinated graphite-injected 2 degree temperature range waxes to the pros. If I get some gunk like pine resin or just plain dirt in my base, I prefer to hotscrape rather than use wax remover/base cleaner. Just do a hot wax and scrape it off while molten. If you use a plexiglas scraper, yo
  4. I think you got ripped man, this guy got his 120 square feet for 24000 USD I was looking at helmets this season and couldn't believe the price difference between here and the US. Smith Vantage is 27000-30000JPY online/retail here and 100-165USD on Amazon. The weird thing about this is there doesn't seem to be any restriction on having them shipped here. There does seem to be a 5-10% tariff (couldn't really figure out the total) on helmets/hats but that only accounts for a bit of the difference.
  5. Will try to make it out for a couple of hours as well, look for the tall American in jeans.
  6. I've always viewed RECCO as something aimed at inbounds slides only, where patrol can be notified quickly and the victims unlikely to be wearing transceivers. Apparently the inventor created after helping search for victims in an inbounds slide. I would think if you got buried off-piste without the right equipment and a partner (also with equipment) to perform a rescue, RECCO would be more of a body recovery tool than anything else. Here's the list of resorts in Japan that use RECCO equipment. Looks like the big international destinations are covered but it's far from 100%. Alph
  7. norcal, When you get the tower pitcher there, there are two sizes. Halfway up is 2L (2000JPY), all the way up (no foam I suppose) is 4L (4000JPY). Saitaman, looks like I had almost the exact same lunch as you when I went there a few weeks back (cheese fondue, onion rings, tower pitcher)
  8. Saturday: Took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano, local train to Myoko Kogen, and a taxi to the pension in Akakura Onsen because we didn't want to wait for the bus (2300 JPY if you're wondering). It was warm and sunny when we got there. We got to see the peak for a bit before it clouded over, but I didn't take any pictures of it . We stayed on the Akakura Onsen side for this day. Sunday: It started to get colder, causing the sun-softened snow lower down to ice up in the morning. This was made up for by the fact that it was now dumping new snow. We made our way up to the high
  9. I liked the soup curry at Ren (in the Hilton at the bottom of Niseko Village). There is a decent yakiniku place a short walk from the Annupuri base, I think it's called Mokumokutei. If you get any time in Sapporo, check out the Sapporo Beer Garden for Ghengis Khan (grilled lamb) or the Kirin Beer Garden for snow crab, shabu-shabu style.
  10. Another data point for bigger guys (185cm, 90 kilos here), I've a cambered 09/10 Custom 165 Wide and ride a 23" stance width. I think the waist width on this is a bit more than 26cm. The reference points are at -.4" and with another 1" back it's controllable in boot to thigh deep powder, with some more room to go back if you need it. Low angle powder is still going to get you buried unless you're carrying enough speed. If the piste is chopped up and you're bombing down it, you're going to get bounced around but it can be handled. It would be nice to get a longer board for the low an
  11. Went yesterday, was a bluebird day with some nice powder stashes to be had. It was crowded in the parking lots but not too bad on the slopes.
  12. If you have a double lens goggle and it's still fogging on you, try dressing down with less layers or thinner layers. There is a balance to be struck between freezing on the lifts and fogging on the slopes. You can also try opening up the neck zipper on your jacket/adjusting any neck gaiters a bit so they're not channeling warm humid air straight onto your face.
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