anything

so far I've used Rakuten several times to find & buy stuff. My set purchased last year (line pollards opus) were for the same price as online in USA, from websports.co.jp (well, maybe slightly more). But the shipping made it cheaper, plus they were offering a deal on bindings and brakes at the same time. Off the top of my head, about the equivalent of $700US. short for some, but 185 was long enough for me. i admit its pretty long for a Japanese store to stock, but they had many other longer skis also at comparable prices, so theyre obviously catering to westerners.

skis in niseko are very expensive, and renting is quite expensive too. in any case, they cater to the tourists, so they usually dont have the good stuff in stock but i have found that buying skis online from Tokyo to be just as cheap as when I was living in USA

im a real fan of my zeal goggles. they automatically adjust to the light conditions - "photochromic" takes a few minutes to change (so suddenly entering dense trees can be a challenge), but means theyre my go-to goggles weather its sunny, overcast or blizzardy. and depending on the lighting, sometimes even ok for night skiing. they only thing they don't change to very well is ultra low light conditions. eg, 3pm in the shadow of the mountain.

lol ill have to find an excuse to use that one

talk about confusing! at least it looks like I might be able to hire some skis to test out a few options. effectively adds 10-20% to the cost of a pair of skis tho

details are here: http://www.jal.co.jp/yokosojapan/ I assume most booking systems take them into account. including domestic transfers on the international booking has always seemed heaps cheaper than normally available.

line is one of the brands im especially interested in. mr pollard really seems to know his stuff. hope I don't have to wait until march tho ive tried looking at a heap of resort's calendars, but no useful information yet perhaps each tent is a bit of a travelling group of demo staff with implied permission to setup shop at each location. they just arrive whenever they get around to it.

Does anyone know details on ski demo days in Niseko this year? I'm talking about the type of demo days where a ski/board brand sets up a tent and you simply swap your skis for a few hours and have a play. I usually test and buy skis this way when in the US, but this season I'm in Japan instead. In the market for something fatter than my current skis (105mm), but I've yet to ski a rocker, so want to test them out first. Last year I saw a few Burton snowboard huts on two occasions in March, but never got the chance to catch a ski brand running one. Perhaps its something that doesn't

lol, that might change if you try to run uphill to the gondola

im keen to try those 3 fingered gloves they seem seem a pretty new idea (well to me theyre new anyway) these things: http://hestragloves.com/en/gloves/alpine-pro/xcr-3-finger/ for me mitts are way too hot sometimes gloves are way too cold perhaps 3 figered gloves will be just right? i wonder if Goldylocks skis or boards

Thought I'd point out that anywhere you choose in the Hirafu village will be fine. There an awesome free bus service that runs every couple of minutes.

woah, nice huge underarm vents. i wish mine weren't so useless. pity about the colors tho mr traffic light

recommend not using 100% go pro footage in your stuff tho, it gets boring really quickly. and don't forget the "5 second rule" either a single 25minute video of a single ski run is very dull, your friends say its nice cause they're trying to be polite. 5 minutes worth of "best of" 5 second clips will keep people interested

does that mean i'm not invited to dinner?

snowboarders seem to constantly be putting their hands on the ground they probably need lots warmer and heavier duty gloves. the more air space would be loads warmer.

at the frequency niseko lift's tear my ski pants, i'd get new ones and be happy to have a spare