Dunga

It will struggle to get anything out of this system other than a touch of rain. Wind was cold enough but the temps were only -0.5. Hopefully this weekend delivers.

Grand Hirafu: 30 (+) Rusutsu: 5 (-)

Did Falls ever open up the terrain - I think its mt mckay, skiers left of the ruins looking up the hill- heard rumours years ago? The closest thing they have done is to take "backcountry" tours out there with Steve lee. I believe there were plans to put a gondola in there to open up more terrain, but I believe that falls may have given that terrain back to the government recently in exchange for more cross country skiing...

Grand Hirafu: 29(+) Rusutsu: 6 (-)

I haven had that happen to either of my attack banana or pickle. (*Thought, I must invest in something other than Mervin)

Really? I haven had any problems like that on my Mervin boards. Got any photos of how they peeled?

This year because of the limited terrain open I have steered clear of hotham. Any resort that has bottlenecks for lifts are no fun. Falls has been good although the terrain is not all that challenging. Some really beautiful sections through trees at falls, plus their lift system does not bottle everyone into one place. Up at falls for the next two weekends, then hotham mid August. Hopefully by them they have the orchard open which frees up a lot of the congestion.

Kiroro: 11 Niseko Annupuri: 1 (-) Niseko Grand Hirafu: 14 (+) Rusutsu: 9

Very worried about this rain. It's supposed to heat up this week too!!

First thing every trip should be that you have a buddy, and you discuss the risks as a group. Simple works method statements or risk assessments should be done for each days skiing/riding back country. It sounds silly comparing a days adventure to working on a construction site, but it's well worth the 5 minutes it takes to address the risks.

The powers that be at falls claim that there was 60cms over the weekend. My Honda jazz agrees... Took 2 hours to dig the car out of the top overnight car park. Have a photo but don't know how to post it from my phone. It was a fun way to start off the season even if the were slow to open terrain. There were nice little powder stashes all through the gumtrees... Reminds me why I ski in Australia. The gumtree runs are so beautiful and fun.

I've eaten all of them. Kangaroo is a very lean meat and can not be over cooked. Medium-rare at most, and generally the rarer the better. Crockadile is like fish mixed with chicken. It's really good when lightly fried tempura style. Some Mexican places are serving it here now. The cut of camel I have had was a bit more like wagu, not too bad. Emu I can't remember but I think it was just like a gamier style of chicken. Nothing really to write home about.

47 29 (+) Goryu 24 (-)

Hakuba 47 22 (-) Cortina 2 (+) Goryu 29

I've been using "hop shop go" and they are super reliable. They only take 3-4 days to get here and they use DHL which is way better than FedEx. The cost for shipping the board, some 3L AK pants and some new goggles was about $90 to Melbourne. I don't think I will use them again though as I just had a bad experience trying to get some skis here for my friend. They wouldn't repack the skis to a smaller box and that doubled the cost. Not happy. That said generally they have been really good.

We are heading up to falls next weekend. Best case scenario it dumps a meter of snow, worst case we spend the weekend drinking muscat. Either way it will be good to get up in the mountains.

I think it was salty peaks online US store, they had a snap sale at one point where it was 35% off. Now they only have 20% off.

I just picked up a hovercraft for an insanely cheap price, 2013 160 new $250, and are super keen to try it out. Unfortunately I don't think it will be taken out of its case this year in oz the way things are going. 2014 January Japan seems to be the most likely time. I tried to get a quiver killer with my attack banana but found out this year that when you have around a meter of fresh pow that no matter how far you set it back, it is not going to like pow that much and duck dive for cover. Not fun face planting most of the day.

I'm supprised that they haven't tried to sell the chairs and gates to somewhere like happo or somewhere nearby for spares. They look like they could be still in reasonable nick.

Epic take down. Camera rolled for a fair way!

Cyclists who make their daily commute a race to and from work, and therefore end up riding around everyone in the car lane. So dangerous.

Hakuba 47: 17 (-) Hakuba Cortina: 12 (+) Hakuba Goryu: 20 I find both 47 and goryu boring after half a day. I'm not a park rat (47) and I'm not into the bottom section of goryu.

None of the resorts in southern NZ have set up lifts from the bottom of the mountain to the base of the resort. It's only a few years back that the put up barriers so you don't drive off the cliff, and some resorts still have dirt roads!

Need to start doing snow dances here in oz, looking bleak out there...

How long does it take to climb it?