SerreChe

Very unlucky. Only 200 or so cases of her disease have been recorded in the world in the past 20 years. You have to feel for her and the kids.

Bummer for the thumb Sanno. Hope it heals quickly. Wonder what those guys on the pic are laughing about. I hope they are not talking about the guy who busted his hand on the first few turns of the day

This poor lady has a very rare disease. She is suffering immensely and asking for the right to die. It is some kind of sinus tumour that is growing and compressing her tissue/eyes/etc... http://www.ledauphine.com/societe-defigu...z?article=15153 In french, but with a pic of the debilitating impact of her disease. She has 3 kids... Another one of these stories that puts things into perspective.

She is not gone yet. I wish her the best fighting spirit possible and hope she wrestles that disease into submission/remission. Thoughts go out to her. Puts other things/minute troubles we have into perspective.

Absolutely horrible. Condoleances to all concerned. Another pin-dick with an inferiority complex who thought he could make-up for it by driving fast and furious. A lot of those in Japan and elsewhere. I wish they would take their dick out of the tail-pipe and think about people around them when they drive like this. I hope the guy gets tagged with max sentence available.

I recently saw that there had been a lawsuit versus a snowboard manufacturer with regards to their bindings after a snowboarder died in a tree well on mount bachelor. It was argued that releaseable binding could have saved the person. The manufacturer was found not guilty.

Thanks guys, always a pleasure to share. Pint, were you on the course? What is your first name? Sorry, trying to put faces behind SJ handles.

Ok, managed to do it with XnView. Not sure if very visible though...

I overlayed a Japanese 1/25000 GSI topo map with a 50m DEM (digital elevation model) using a software called Kashmir3D and pretty much did a screen print saved as JPG then did the airbrush for our route in photoshop. You can buy the GSI maps and the DEM in some book shops such as Kinokuniya. The software is for free over the net. I actually discovered Kashmir3D and its capabilities thanks to Tsondaboy a while ago. He also helped me to give me some tips how to use it. There is a whole thread dedicated to it in the BC section of SJ if you are interested. It is really cool stuff. I was

For those interested. Enjoy.

Any other pics from people in the group?

Sorry Soub, could not help it ;-).

Back home, local kids all the up to high school have the season pass for free.

Good work as always Gentlemen. Nice pics, nice lines. Sadly, 20 degrees in Tokyo today...

There have been a lot of glide cracks forming to the ground recently. Some of them have been completly covered by snow drifting over them and are now completly invisible. Some areas are a minefield waiting for the unwary. So if you head out in the BC especially on south facing slopes please be careful. I saw that Minakami Now on SJ warned about the same thing and it is very pertinent at this time of the year.

Astronauts are now required to take the RAC & ARAC. This is an article from CNN on the topic. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/03/03/mars.avalanche.ap/index.html

Was thinking the same about this picture. Beautiful pic, well done Soub. Zao looks flat though...

No wonder you looked tired on sunday!

Too bad I am not in the same area as you. I love exploring new areas as well, carefully looking at topos and all available info. With the proper equipment and planning there should not be any problems even though we should always expect the unexpected. Must be nice to have done your RAC there. Knowing how little we know is the first step towards wisdom. ;-)

Actually in french, Ratrac is the word people use to refer to a groomer. I assume it is because it was the first one to market. Kind of like Frigo became the accepted word for fridge.

Onsen, Niiiiiice one Tsonda. How long u staying in Yuzawa? I do not think many people went wild at night. The days were quite long and busy. I headed to sleep early. zzzzzzz

Great pics. It's good to have some info about that neck of the woods as it is rather sparse. Looks like there are some interesting steepish sections. JourneyMan, did you do your RAC in Hokkaido?

Understood Mike. From FT's pic looks like mostly tree skiing.

Oh IC, thanks for the info Mike. La Grave has 2150m of lift served vert. The BC routes w/ the most vert have around 2600m there. So not quite the same , but still, the entire asahidake area sounds very very interesting.

Quattro, I have never been to Niseko, I actually mostly tour in Niigata. I love Hakuba's terrain but it is a bit far for me and do not go there often. Niseko looks like an awsome place snow-wise but I have some reservations about the terrain and certain types of people (minority) who ride there. I have been putting my sights on the Asahidake area for a while, so Kurodake sounds very interesting. I used to ride La Grave as a kid as it was very close to my hometown, so I would love to find something similar in Japan. Where have you been skiing/riding this season Quattro?