badmigraine
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Posts posted by badmigraine
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I wanted Uemura Aiko to medal. She is just so cute!
Wish I could console her with a plate of my famous "rigatoni alla puttanesca", a hitherto-unknown but spectacular Cab Sauv from Chile, and for dessert a shot of espresso over vanilla Haagen-Dagz. I'm sure those tired legs of hers could do with some personal attention and a hot-oil massage.
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It's a comedy about a group of friends who snowboard. I haven't yet heard whether the comedy is any good, but the boarding is supposed to be authentic and fun to watch.
You can check out the trailer by going to www.apple.com, clicking on "QuickTime" then "Movie Trailers".
If you don't have broadband, then go to one of the broadband cafes, treat yourself to a big steaming double mocha, and commence to a-watchin.
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Oh, forgot to mention: I put Palmer PowerLinks under the bindings of both those boards, and it's like riding on a Jack the Ripper board...
Those things WORK!! Edges bite and gnash and snarl...don't even need to sharpen them anymore.
Who could ask for anything more, except another flask of cherry schnapps.
Picked up a half-liter unbreakable Lexan flask at Hands and am thinking a bit of red wine on the lifts might be rather civilized.
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Regular stance...30 degrees front, 21 in back.
I've got a surfy Burton Supermodel (163cm) for that pow-pow, and a Salomon 555 (156cm) for slashing up everything else!
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That's great news, Jinja! Maybe the Prince is wising up.
Thanks for the update.
How do you like the hills at Furano? They had a world cup downhill course or something that was interesting, as I recall.
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What about the alpine boarders...the racers I mean? This is just the halfpipe crew!
In the future, I expect snowboard moguls, nordic-style snowboard, snowboard jumping and even snowboard biathlon will be included.
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Thanks, someone who knows...
I'd already booked in at Hirafu Chalet and your assessment of it is spot on, a great place for those who want to ride the mountain early and hard.
FYI, when I was there last year we also willingly separated our burnable and non-burnable garbage...and when somebody made too much noise after hours, a grumpy sleepy person who was aiming to get up early for first tracks would sometimes pop down and ask us to keep it down a bit.
What you wrote about Snowave is intriguing indeed. It sounds all good to me in terms of Action. Maybe Mogski and I will collar some of the Hirafu Chalet Lads, then wander over to Snowave with some beers and chips to do our party action and get out and see the world a bit.
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Wish I could say I've had personal experience with Olympic athletes, but I haven't...yet!!
But over the last 20+ years of being a sports fan, I have seen about a dozen general references by Olympians in interviews to the casual sex that goes on in the Olympic Villages.
Think about it.
These are fit young healthy competitive people, thrown together in a great international sporting event, an electric environment, with all the stress and tension of years of preparation leading up to their events, and then several days of relaxing and celebrating the aftermath...
They are often housed in college dorms or similar places, with small private rooms, and they are on their own a lot with their athlete-only cafeterias and facilities. They mix. They mingle. They have assignations...
Come on. What do YOU think happens? This is not a bible-study gathering we are talking about here.
In the old cold war days I saw a couple of interviews with US track and field guys who said they'd been up to some shenanigans with some female Soviet athletes, involving simple subterfuges to elude the mother-hen attentions of this or that battle-axe of a team chaperone the USSR had posted over their chicken coop.
I saw some interviews with the Nagano snowboarders, from Europe and North America, and they got up to some drinking and shenanigans. One guy was disqualified for breaking a hotel switchboard with a flying ashtray, another guy was busted but not prosecuted for puffing a joint he got from a local guy in a bar, and so on.
What do YOU think these people are up to? Not all of them, not all the time or blatantly, but we are talking about THOUSANDS of young fit bodies in close living quarters, and I sure would like to be there offering foot and gluteal massages to female speed skaters and figure skaters.
I saw there are 120,000 unsold hotel beds in Salt Lake City. Tourists are staying away for whatever reason...think it's going to be too crowded, too many security delays, no boozing in Mormon country, whatever.
Ski mags always report the little-known truth that the best uncrowded slopes ever to be had at world-famous mountain resorts are...ta-ta-ta-tum!...during the Olympics. Skiers/boarders stay away in droves, figuring it will be totally crowded. Guess what? It is NOT. I saw a BBS post that skier visits to SLC are down a reported 45% this year. That's a LOT.
Well, the point is, we could all still go to SLC and hang out trying to ride up the lift with the cute Japanese moguler as she hits the pow-pow on her day off...meet the Italian ski team and get drunk on Cinzano and sing "Funiculi, Funicula" at midnight to shrinking terrified clumps of Mormons...we could ride the untracked Cottonwood Canyon powder, hoist our tankards then our petards in Park City, and weasel our way into the skin-tight lycra bodysuits of the most awesomely proportioned speed skaters to find out what lies beneath...
Fantastic!
I recant my earlier criticism of the Olympics.
I LOVE the Olympics!!
Now if I could only convince my boss to give me 3 weeks off.
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I've stayed at two different Prince hotels in Hokkaido: the one in Furano, and one at Niseko (the Higashiyama Prince Hotel, which is listed in SJG's accomodations section).
The one in Furano, though much more modern, bright, clean and, well, great-looking, was run in a manner reminiscent of the one at Naeba, which I described in my earlier post.
The one in Niseko was great, and I highly recommend it, if you have the money. Read on.
I am much chastened by the realization that a Dick Shagwell-type post can do a lot of damage, so here are some details.
FURANO PRINCE HOTEL
I have recycled this Furano Prince review from one that I wrote in 1997 ago on a different site. I haven't been back to Furano since then (there are better places to spend money), so it could have changed for the better in the interim...has anyone been there recently? Do tell.
As for Furano resort itself, as a ski hill, I was disappointed. The snow quality was fine--Hokkaido after all--but many things there were backward, inconvenient, vaguely hostile (left me feeling vaguely like I was imposing upon them somehow by skiing at their resort) and often user-unfriendly.
I purchased an all-area ski pass, only to find out that just under half of the major chairs were closed, for no understandable reason, in spite of the glorious, sunny weather and fresh powder snow. This was not posted clearly. There was no discount and the ticket window clerk merely smirked wanly at me when I protested, in a "you-must-be-joking-sir" kind of way. Silly me. Full price, for less than half the hill? Thank you sir, may I please have another? WHACK!
The runs were alright, though lacking in consistently challenging terrain. There is dreadful, piped-in J-Pop and other fluffy, offensive music which detracts from the natural beauty of the place. Though the intermediate slopes and bunny slopes were rather too well-populated as on any weekend, nearer the top of the mountain there were fewer people and that made the trip worthwhile. I found plenty of places where I could play and amuse myself.
The Prince Hotel, located at the bottom of one of the slopes, was, simply put, a haven of fascist anti-ski sentiment. Quite bizarre indeed for a hotel which owes its very existence to skiers.
"Don't put your skis here, don't lean your snowboard against the lockers, don't come in here with ski boots on, you must check your skis at the entrance", "registered hotel guests only in here" and so on.
There scuttling troops of green, monkey-suited bellhops dourly enforced these inexplicable regulations. Don't stay at the Prince Hotel, they don't want you there.
Why on earth you'd have this sort of thing in a hotel at the base of a ski resort, at which all guests are ski guests, mystifies me.
Being a well-paid expat in those days, I simply checked out and moved to a brand-new hotel nearby called the Orica Hotel.
It's only 15 shuttle-bus minutes away from Furano resort, and it was great, one of the finest ski hotels I've ever stayed in (keep in mind that until I moved to Japan, I quite sensibly stayed in cheapo motels and roadside Motel 6's, to save cash). The staff and facilities are fantastic, highly recommended. No need to patronize that awful Prince Hotel there.
NISEKO HIGASHIYAMA PRINCE HOTEL
I've been here twice, with a different girlfriend each time. In those days I had a much bigger paycheck and could afford to squire the ladies around the archipelago in style.
Both times I went on a package deal, cost me about 80,000 including airfare from Haneda, bus from Chitose to the hotel, 3 nights of accommodations, 2 all-you-can-graze breakfasts, and 2 days of Niseko Higashiyama lift ticket action.
Here, in order, are the greatest things about this hotel:
1.
It is run like a ski hotel, and there are skis all over the place inside, and the hotel staff approves.
2.
The Higashiyama gondola base is CONNECTED TO THE HOTEL.
So after you bloat and gorge on scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes, orange juice, toast and coffee, then have another go round for a Japanese brekka of grilled salmon, natto, rice, soup, more coffee, a bit more scrambled eggs with toast and jam, another cup of coffee, then stuff some fruit and bread into your jacket pocket for onlsope "lunch", all you have to do is waddle your lumbering carcass, probably while leaking gas at both ends, over to the locker room to retrieve your skis/board, then climb into the gondola for a scenic ride to the top where the howling winds and virgin powder fields shyly await your appearance.
3.
Lots of nice food and a few shops, and a great onsen/rotenburo combo where you can sit in the hot bath outside watching the fat flakes melt into a fish pond. Where are the fish? Huddled against the rotenburo wall, enjoying the warm water overspill. Hello boys! Nice to share the warmth with you.
4.
Convenience, convenience, convenience, and up at Niseko no less. You can buy an all-mountain passport, and then ride the Annupuri and Hirafu lifts too--they all connect at the top.
Highly recommended if you have the cash.
If ya don't have the cash, stay at the Hirafu Chalet (check the SJG accommodations guide), you get everything you need and more, for cheap. A great place. See you there in about 2 weeks.
So there you have it. Prince is bad, but not all over.
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I've a mind to lay in a supply of my favorite beers, instead of paying a prince's ransom for them one by one at various fine establishments around town and on the mountaintops.
Short of installing a tap for draft Kilkenney, lately I have been craving Red Hook Ale, Sam Adams...or maybe even "Brooklyn Lager" would scratch the itch.
This Red Hook Ale, which I never drank in the US but have enjoyed over here, is a fine little brew good enough for daily swilling and also functions as a pleasant conversation starter (as in "Hey, bartender, give me another one").
I feel it must be available more cheaply by the case from some place like Costco or what have you.
And that brings me to my question:
Is there a place like Costco somewhere in Tokyo, where I can go to get cases of my favorite comestibles and beau rivages? Costco is all the way out in Chiba and I am not lugging a case or two of beer back from there.
Please educate me! Where do the low-budget alcoholics get their fix in Tokyo?
[This message has been edited by badmigraine (edited 05 February 2002).]
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That sure would explain why most of the runs and the general mindset seems to cater mostly to the level of the typical family or OL.
There are places and there are places. You don't find a lot of these dabblers at, say, Niseko or Hakkouda, from the sound of it.
I suppose the demographic would show that these families, OLs and couple-type day trippers or weekenders may be the cornerstone of the snowsport market here in Japan.
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I guess I forgot to mention it but it came to me last night as I lay in bed.
The Olympic Village is a hotbed of sexual activity.
It could be the hormone treatments given to female swimmers and weightlifters, or it could be the gooey warm tension of being among all those finely-tuned bodies and having little dorm rooms like back in school days...
I for one would love to be the drooling, submissive toy of certain female speed or ice skaters (what overwhelmingly awesome thighs and buttocks! And those skintight catsuits..!), massaging their poor tired legs and posteriors in the name of athletic achievement and performance enhancement.
And I sure would like to hang out and party with the Alberto Tombas and the snowboard halfpipe crew.
I'd just want to be sure to keeping up my end of things in order to improve international relations on a personal level in the private Olympic Village dorm room of some Scandinavian cross-country skier or the Korean women's speed skating team, when that pro-primadonna US hockey team gets thrashed again by a bunch of blue-eyed Slavic kids and then goes on a testosterone rampage smashing walls, chairs and windows like they did in Nagano.
Now that I think about it, the whole bit sounds exactly like college, except with no studying or books...oh, wait a minute, that is EXACTLY like college was for me.
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I don't know whether the last group is the smallest, as I think I see more of them on the slopes than I do OLs, but that last group is most certainly the group with the least amount of cash.
OLs are usually rolling in spendable money, and might go on those expensive Prince package tours, as would the young couples.
The families probably go to the big resorts, but stay in cheaper accommodations.
The young dude set often drives up in the middle of the night, sleeps in the car or a free tako-beya in the lodge, then eats cup ramen and boards all day without dropping much cash in the restaurants or shops.
Catering to that crowd of young dudes probably sells lift tickets, but not concessions etc.
It would be better for the resorts if they just installed powerful magnets under the snow on the front slopes.
These strong magnets would gradually pull down the zippers on jacket and pant pockets. Then the next tumble or fall would spill out all the money and valuables into the snow, to be lost until springtime when a couple of resort oyaji could go through a few packs of Mild Sevens while sweeping the spring grass with metal detectors and "raking" in the dough.
These "slush funds" could be used to increase profit margins or upgrade lifts and courses.
An added benefit could be that magnetism reputedly has healing properties, so nobody would complain.
All in all a very "attractive" idea.
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Thank you Sir, may I please have another!
[whack!]
Thank you Sir, may I please have another!
[whack]
Thank you Sir, may I please...
etc. etc.
From a movie, but reminds me of the good times when I was dating this Colombian-Japanese dominatrix in L.A.
What on earth am I doing over here?
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A patroller at Kiroro once told me not to ride in a roped-off area under a lift.
When I asked why, he said "it's dangerous because of the lift poles..."
All around us were other lifts with poles aplenty and no roped-off areas around them. Some small stands of trees to, not roped off.
I guess maybe they just ran out of rope.
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I grok all these comments about the Olympics.
Myself, I have mixed feelings. I always want the Olympics to be something they never end up being.
On the one hand, I love sports and I love watching sports and I love a chance to see top-level international competition in sports you never get to see on TV otherwise--biathlon (Guns! Skis!), fencing, table-tennis, etc.
On the other hand, there is the proto-fascistic element. And--because for most of us what we call "the Olympics" is not really the Olympics, it is Television Coverage of the Olympics--there is the childishly overbearingly nationalistic perspective that forces you to either watch everything you never wanted to know about a particular country's person or team (while amazing athletes are setting world records in other events and matchups off camera), or simply not watch at all.
The best Olympics for me were the 1976 summer games in Montreal. I was living in Detroit and we could get the Canadian TV coverage.
What a stroke of genius the Canadians had! They were so proud and happy to have and run the Olympics that they just turned on all the cameras CBC had, pointed them at all the events, all the time, and strung it together using almost zero studio/interview downtime. The daily broadcasts began in the early morning and rolled constantly on right through to the wee hours...day after day after day of that hot green summer until it was all done.
This put on your home TV screen a kind of Warholian cinema verite that was gloriously satisfying.
We saw meaningless water polo matches between third-world countries that hadn't a wet dream of making it past the elimination rounds. We saw prelims, quarter- and semi-finals in team handball, we saw race-walking, we saw the Blutos stalking and puffing and roaring with testosterone in the back room of the men's weightlifting competition...we followed a South American through the pentathlon as he made a rummy go of it, riding, fencing boxing and cross-country running his way into oblivion. There was the Japanese gymnast who'd known his knee was broken from the day before, but still stuck his giant landing with a grimace and got the silver medal... There was Teofilo Stevenson, the great Cuban boxer, there was Edwin Moses in the 400-meter hurdles...
Great stuff, and for a kid like me it was fascinating to see a world full of colors and people and things I'd never imagined.
Compare that to the US or Japanese TV coverage, and you'd think the Olympics was only for 5-10 people or teams from that country...and nothing else worth talking about. What utterly insular, idiotic coverage, all jingoistic commercial-hype propaganda, not worth watching at all.
Hmph.
I've got SkyPerfect TV. Does anybody know whether there is some balanced, decent coverage available on THAT?
I doubt it.
I do love winter sports. I sure would like to see a bit of top-level mogul skiing, a bit of ski jumping, some snowboard racing (forget about the pipe), and maybe nurse a hangover over 10,000m speed skating or Nordic skiing.
And I don't care if any of the above are Olympic or not, except to the extent that if they are beamed into my little rabbit-hutch apartment directly from Salt Lake City, then I can at least hope to get a glimpse of the snow conditions in Cottonwood Canyon and then wish that Mogski and I were up there with our flasks and sunblock and powder togs.
Oh, er, by the way, perhaps I just mis-wrote...just like I said on the double-standard thread, riding powder is bad. There is no powder in Utah. Forget about it. Take my word for it and just go and have a beer. You deserve it, and you look a bit tired. Go on! Forget I even brought it up.
[This message has been edited by badmigraine (edited 04 February 2002).]
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Closing the gondolas and lower quads early on Sunday for no good reason (it had begun to snow a bit--terrible!!) had me pig-biting mad.
Having closed runs such as mogul hills and boardercross courses where you actually have to pay 100 yen to ride it one time is gouging of the worst sort...what's next, 100 yen for "reserved seats" on the lift?
Blank hostility and lack of facilities for day trippers...had to walk a half-mile at the end of the day, lugging giant board cases through puddles, mud and dirty slush, just to get to the bus back to Echigo Yuzawa Station...prices are high, slopes very crowded...
That aside, the top of the mountain at Naeba is great and we've had good snow up there every time. A bit hairy actually! NICE.
But no thanks to the Prince Hotel management. And I echo Mogski's condemnation of the new gondala connecting Naeba with Tashiro.
What for?
It's beyond me. What, did they have legions of people arriving at Naeba, taking a look around, then saying "You know, what this place really needs is a link to Tashiro!"
Instead of that giant white elephant, how about 2-3 shorter lifts to access some of the expert terrain lying fallow around and atop the resort? That would have been great!
Perhaps the answer has to do with a kind of giant storybook picture I saw hanging in one of the cavernous hallways of this or that part of the Prince Hotel building there: "Future of Prince Hotel Naeba!" it proclaimed, and there was an architect's rendering of what the next phase of development would be.
Looks like the gondola may just be some step in a giant development plan intended to bring in a buttload more people to the same crowded slopes, while charging them even more money to stay in a shiny new hotel with shiny new restaurants and shiny uniforms and carpeted hallways with signs saying "No ski boots allowed here" and "No snowboards allowed here" and "No skis allowed here".
Well, leave them to it. As others have said, this resort is one of those purpose-built to separate the average salaryman or upper-middle-class disposable-income set from their money.
Seems to work.
They even got some of mine, yesterday.
Forget about the Prince Hotels. They do the same bizarre, hostile gig up in Hokkaido too.
As for Naeba, go there on a weekday after a big dump, spend a lot of time on the top part of the mountain, and stay in a cheap pension nearby. You'll be glad you did.
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You shouldn't go under the ropes. What do you think they are put there for?
And riding powder is BAD!
Please be more considerate of environmental and cultural issues. We are guests in this land and we should strive to follow the rules.
I know of no good powder stashes and in fact I have it on good authority that there actually AREN'T any.
This year's weather was execrable...most resorts acknowledge a severe lack of accumulated snow, so you'll ruin your bases with deep scratches and core shots from all the poorly-covered rocks and roots littering these so-called powder stashes.
Best to stay away, and keep to the groomed slopes!
This season, I have taken it upon myself to regularly patrol several roped-off and treed areas where powder was reputed to have been found (there was none), and I was utterly dismayed at what I found.
Every time I rode the lift to have a look and plan my next patrol, there were more and more tracks through these areas!
You people are very bad and wrong! Stop it.
As for SJG discussing this issue for several years, I can confirm this to be true.
Why in some of the tracked-out ostensible "pow-pow stashes" (what a joke--there are none! Take my word for it!) that I patrolled and investigated in the name of civic duty, I even found several "SJG" lapel pins, some frozen bits of HTML code, and even some soggy plans to install live web cams behind the grilles of groomers to give full nighttime onslope coverage of the next day's terrain. These SJG guys are apparently scheduling their discussion meetings in areas thought to be powder stashes!
Let's keep things simple.
Please leave those protected, roped-off areas alone, if not for the sake of small woodland creatures, then to protect the bases of your skis and boards from hidden raspy objects that could ruin both your season AND your budget.
On a slightly different topic: as for you marketers out there, you must be telepathic! Almost every weekend I look around at the slopes and think to myself, "you know, what this place really needs is more people!"
Thank you for offering to take care of that problem for me! However, I really cannot impose upon you this extra work. Please forget about it and go and buy yourself a beer. You really deserve it! Thank you!
[This message has been edited by badmigraine (edited 04 February 2002).]
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I'm not saying Japan is a dangerous country, just pointing out that it is not the perfectly safe, honest, crime-free haven many love to think it is.
Aside from my personal experiences, there are so many unreported crimes here that you can't really believe the crime statistics.
And, as Ocean11 correctly pointed out, what about all the white-collar crime, political corruption, yakuza/politician/bank shady activities?
My company, a major Japanese manufacturer, paid off corporate racketeers for decades until it was exposed a few years back, along with dozens of other major companies. I used to see the gangsters come up and talk to the head of our Gen. Affairs Dept.
Now don't think this is all over just because my company was on TV and some people were arrested. I heard the gangsters still periodically come around.
Other areas to consider under the rubric of "safety" are environmental considerations (this country is full of smokestacks burning rubbish and spewing out dioxin, filthy smoggy illegal oil mix in the trucks on the roads, lax standards for water and food (seen those articles about the poisons in the on-roof water tanks? The lax inspections left up to building owners?), groundwater and soil contamination, etc.
These problems are not specific to Japan, but in this country consumer activism, environmental litigation, government enforcement, special action committees and watchdog organizations are really quite weak and ineffectual.
Other countries also have these problems, some much worse, but it really is untrue to go around saying "what a safe country Japan is!", because that is not the reality.
It's just a country like any other and you have to watch yourself sometimes.
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Japan a really safe place?
Dream on.
Read the papers...leaving aside the Big Ones like the sarin gas attack on the subway, not a day goes by here when I don't see news about stabbings, slashings, fatal- or near-fatal baseball-bat bashings of homeless people...a couple of weeks ago a bomb went off in a park trashcan, blowing the arm and leg off a bystander. I saw a pic of the aftermath, him lying in the dirt in a sea of blood with smoke coming off his charred flesh...a very safe country.
Last summer there were stories every couple of days about yakuza shootings in Ginza...actually shooting in the streets crowded with innocent bystanders.
I regularly see fistfights on train platforms, where I used to live every Sunday at 3 a.m. a gang of 100 or more "boso-zoku" bikers would come roaring slowly by on the wrong side of the street, going about 8-10 kph...they all carry baseball bats and golf clubs and rev their engines.
I lived right next to the Omori Police Stn., and when I looked out the window the cop that stands in front of the station with a big stick in his hand was just standing there watching them go by.
A very safe country!!
As for theft, forget about it. There are as many thieves, shoplifters and pickpockets here as anywhere else.
Within three months of arriving here in 1995, I had someone steal about $500 cash from my locker on the 9th floor of this company's building. You can't get up to 9 without a visitor's card, and no visitor would ever go into the locker room, but when I reported the theft to my boss I was told "It must have been a foreigner..." (I was the only foreigner on that floor...what, did I steal my own money?)
I wanted to make a police report, but was told "Don't report this to the police, it makes the company look bad..."
So many crimes go unreported here for similar reasons.
I've lived here for 6 years, and in that time here's how many things I've had ripped off:
--2 locked bicycles
--1 bike almost stolen but I chased the kid away
--$500 from my company locker
--One MS Word 2000 CD from my company locker
--5-6 motorcycle winker lights
--2 motorcycle covers
--1 tent fly as I slept at a campsite
--2 motorcycle mirrors
--1 cell phone
--1 base guitar from my apartment
--$200 + Mag Lite from my tent at a mtn. party
Well that's about it.
To perspectivize this: I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and here is a list of the crimes I witnessed or suffered there:
--somebody stole some scissors from my school locker when I was 13
--A man with a gun ran by outside a shop when I was 21, with police in pursuit.
Now I ask you, what's all this BS about Japan being a "safe" country, no crime?
Ask my girlfriend how many times she's been molested on the train, someone stole all her panties from her balcony clothesline, and yes she was raped once too.
Great!!
A safe country!!
Lock 'em up, boys, this place is no different than anywhere else.
Except here, "it must have been a foreigner who did it".
Yeah right.
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I suppose if we broke it down by country/timezone the statistics would be less convincing, but on the assumption that most of you lot are here in Japan, it's obvious that this list is busiest during weekday working hours.
You lazy slugs!
Now, are we to conclude that the majority of posters is UNEMPLOYED, or gainfully employed but SLACKING OFF?
Which one are YOU?
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I guess nobody else is reading this thread or else we drove them away through sheer boredom.
I was waiting for someone to point out that train-riding oyaji also invented the tail grab, the front lipslide, edge grind, boneout, and the art of discreetly filming objects above the lens of the camera without disturbing the subject.
Now that I have done that, and there is no steam left in this thread, I am going back to that old beer thread to read the names of all those great brews and think about what is going to start up less than 2 hours from now...
Beer and brontosaurus burgers!
Gear selection and another weekend at Kandatsu!
In a disgusting brown etc. etc. etc.
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Do you mean the stalefish grab?
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Mogski, the "frontside grab" was invented near Tokyo, Japan and was first practised by Japanese salarymen riding the Inokashira-sen with schoolgirls out of Shibuya.
Nothing Special at All in Japan for Advanced Skiers/Boarders
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
That sounds great!
I was at Lake Louise in '98 and found a tree run kind of like what BigKahuna describes...
It was a narrow, slightly concave course (about 2-3 meters across) that snaked endlessly through the pine glades on either side of a frightfully steep, bumpy pitch.
At times it split into two or more branches that connected and reconnected at various points. There were small kickers, hummockss and duck-in curls around trees or big rocks, and all of the turns were banked quite high.
The hairpin turns were banked almost as high as halfpipe walls, and if you came around there at speed, you were like James Caan as Jon-a-than in Rollerball.
This being a treed area, the snow was softer and not icy. The air was fresh and full of oxygen, and you'd see the occasional hare or bluebird or squirrel as you slid through and around and up and down and romped and played your elfin flying games until your thighs were screaming in agony but you just COULD NOT STOP because it was too much fun.
I remember thinking "this is exactly like one of those impossible courses you see in the Playstation snowboarder games..."
On a weekday at Lake Louise that hill, way back up near the top of the resort and off to one side, was practically deserted...we never saw anyone else on that mysterious noodling course, and by the afternoon we had abandoned all caution and went zooming through there at speed like pre-teens on a giant waterslide, stopping only occasionally to catch our breath and make some yellow snow.
Now that's what I call getting your money's worth.