jblesener
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Posts posted by jblesener
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It looks like it has enough little naughty areas and the bit about teh girls under the lift suggest at least a moderate policy to rope ducking.
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.
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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, you can get a little tool to sharpen up the edges (of the scraper) rather than getting a new one. I find it also helps to flip the scraper edges while waxing every 10 passes or so, then sharpen after you hit all the edges.
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I recently bought a house for 13 million yen for a 120 square foot 8 year old house.
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.
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Will try to make it out for a couple of hours as well, look for the tall American in jeans.
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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%.
Alpha Resort Tomamu (Hokkaido)
Alts Bandai Resort (Fukushima)
Arai Spa & Resort (Nigata)
Hakuba Cortina (Nagano)
Hakuba Goryo (Nagano)
Hakuba Happo-One (Nagano)
Naeba Resort (Nigata)
Niseko Annupuri (Hokkaido)
Niseko Hanazono (Hokkaido)
Niseko Higashiyama (Hokkaido)
Niseko Hirafu (Hokkaido)
Tenjin Daira (Gunma)
Tsugaike-Kogen (Nagano)
Tsugaike-Shizenen Ropeway (Nagano)
Mountain rescue/fire & rescue bases
Avalanche Control Team Nagano
Gakunan Nakano City Fire & Rescue
Gakuhoku Liyama City Fire & Rescue
Hakuba Kita Alps Fire & Rescue
Hakuba Sotaikyo Mountain Rescue
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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)
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14-ML-20678-ML-
Moved to Trip Reports section
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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 higher parts of Akakura Kanko for most of the day to take advantage of the better snow and steeper slopes. No pics as visibility was too low and I was too busy getting after it!
Monday:
It continued to pour down in the morning but cleared up later in the afternoon, along with the crowds. It seems like everyone took an early train out so it was almost like having the resort to ourselves after lunch. The snow off piste was ridiculously deep in many spots; I tried to clear a low angle bit with some speed but just ended up tunneling back for 20 minutes.
Pros:
Lots of snow.
Something for every level of rider.
Cool little town, very walkable.
Not very crowded.
Cons:
Lots of walking/skating, from the top of lifts, between Onsen/Kanko, between lifts. The mitigating factor here was that almost none of it was uphill.
One of the most confusing lift/trail layouts I've ever seen.
Accomodation:
I don't remember the name, it was a pension about 5 minutes walk from the Akakura Onsen base at skiers left. Dinner was pretty good there, it was a combo of nabe, sashimi, tempura/kareage. Breakfast was ok if you like the Japanese style, grumble grumble. The rotenburo was a bit of an adventure; it required a walk across the (snow-covered) street and parking lot to a little shed without electricity, flashlight required at night.
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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.
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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 angle stuff but at 165 it's already a hassle fitting the board into most gondolas. As I ride goofy, it's also a pain keeping my board out of everyone's way on quad/triple lifts.
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Yep, Muikabochi is right, it's just below the top of Mitsumata.
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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.
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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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Greetings from a fellow Texan,
I like the Yuzawa area as there is a lot of resorts in a pretty small area and it's convenient from Tokyo.
Kagura, Centleisure Maiko, and Joetsu Kokusai are all good picks but Kagura has the altitude advantage to keep the snow fresher. There is one or two spots at Kagura where the courses are left ungroomed and moguls are allowed to form, but they're easily avoided.
Does anybody know where I can find a shop in Tokyo that sells gopros and mounts?
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
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.