Ocean11

They say that the Inuit language has some 40 different words for snow - which must be absolute crap. But we have a good few expressions ourselves. Here are the ones I know; Powder - soft, light, dry snow Crusty powder - same as above but with a hard bit on top Ice - hardened snow with an evil glint Hardpack - hardened snow without an evil glint Groomies - freshly groomed snow Corduroy - as above Sugar - icy flecks of snow Slush - melted snow Moguls - snow formed into perverse, unnatural, unappealing bumps Crud - not sure about this one, but probably covers a multitude

Didn't see a single one at Suginohara yesterday. I'm told they used to be all over the place...

cal, coupla reasons. Now that I'm unemployed for the time being, I have weekdays off. Wada Toge is really near to where I live, and we've been having more snow on the hills around here than Nozzle has been getting. Plus, it's a very cheap day out on a field where hardly anyone goes. SJG, actually a lot of the foreigners living in Suwa and Okaya go up there, and have been going for years. On Friday there were four gaijinskis out of maybe a total of twenty people there. NoFakie, 300 posts is a lot, but I was posting with the same handle last year. The

Put your board flat with the back edge against the hill and go down in a straight line flattening the moguls as you go. Have your friends form a line five or six across for maximum effect.

Smoking in the cafeteria, smoking on the gerende, smoking in the rest areas. Today my clothes got so fumigated at lunchtime that whenever I wiped out in the pow, a blast of smoky air would rise up from the front of my jacket and assault my nose. Pigs - annihilate them all. Why can't the resorts provide a few smoke-free areas?

Morning Musko the up n' coming all boy Japanese band.

Hi barok, I had the impression you were a Japan long timer. Not so? I agree with NoFakie - get started on the kanji as soon as you can, and look for texts that include reading. All romanized texts are a snare and delusion.

Of course not all of Nagano is that snowy. Hakuba, Omachi and Iiyama always seem to get a lot of snow, but the central parts don't get more than a couple of dumps a year. If you live in the central parts, you have to travel to get your fix - if you live on the edges, you can get your fix everyday, but you have to dig too.

Went to Wada Toge Kokuritsu Skijo today on the Venus Line above Shimosuwa, Nagano. I was told they have an ungroomed run, but it turned out to be groomed. However, there was another whole gelende, roped off and a short walk over a ridge (2 min max.) that was ungroomed. Mental. Getting stuck in Sleepy Hollow at the bottom was a pain, but with some walking out and tobogganing, we made a trail and could then ride out like human beings. There are a few other good tree and lift runs up there, but the place is very small scale. There's just one single-seat lift that is not very fast. A day pass cost

Messrs, crapperjohn, putz and onionz(unregistered) and other characterless dweebs who think they'd like to have a go; I always admire those ballsy kids who pop up on bulletin boards with some straightforward ad hominem. When you take the trouble to register and post relevant opinions, we'll see if they're worth sh!te - but I ha' me doots. cal, thanks for your kind words. I hope I keep you entertained.

sarge, there may be some good deals available here, but not if you need anything big. So if you're big overall, or have some big parts, buy in your own country.

thoroughbred, pissed off are you? What, you want to be able call badmigraine on what he says in a forum and not get called yourself? There are people talking about their experiences of crime in this country, and you just say pah to it all. Think that doesn't piss them off??

I try to get reductions - this weekend I'm off to Miyoko Suginohara as my colleague found a 2,000 yen per person coupon (covers four people) in the Shinano Mainichi newspaper. I don't mind paying full if I have to though.

I've seen them occasionally at Nozawa. Once when a skier hurt himself it took them the time I took to ride that run three times before they showed up with a snowbike and gurney. The other time was when I got stranded on a long flat stretch half way up the mountain at dusk. A young skipatroler appeared and hung around behind me while I variously jumped about like an SM bunny and did the boarder's doggy paddle. Finally I got sick of his presence as I made a fool of myself, so I addressed him thus; "Young man. If you're going to be creepy and hang about, at least make yourself useful. Push m

Kuma, please don't take anything I say on here personally. It's just a discussion. As for paying full price, I pay full price whenever I can't get my hands on a coupon, freebie or whatever. I don't go hassling people for their half used ticket, although I have been offered them for nothing. There's nothing wrong with asking though - although to those of you here who don't grasp the basic concepts of free enterprise, it might seem grossly improper. Those of you who put it all down to 'moaning foreigners' or who claim exemption from the realities of economics for the resorts are just showin

vi, I don't think it would be boring at all. I think it would be just great.

thoroughbread, you are a scream. This thread started out by somebody saying their companion had had a board stolen. And here you are saying "Let's face it Japan is a very safe country and the average person rarely encounters any crime." Except when they have their board stolen. And you also say "But saying Japan is just as dangerous as any other country is a completely false statement." Nobody has said that. Indeed, they have carefully not said that. Well, you can save money on a lock if you want, but I've got one...

This is very interesting indeed. Some of you people don't have the first clue about how businesses and marketing work. When you talk about foreigners only wanting to ride powder, you clearly haven't done any research. I've seen Japanese people riding powder. I've been followed by packs of Japanese who are looking for powder. As I mentioned on another thread, the local Nagano news reported that resorts note the numbers of people riding off-piste are increasing. They can't all be danz, badmigraine and me (and sometimes NoFakie). My colleagues who snowboard all say they're bored of ridi

"caught a buzz"? Now I wonder what that's slang for...

mogski, not at all surprised to hear that you are in marketing. So am I tangentially. I expect that many of these places are indeed hurting, and I think the reason lies in the relatively greater sophistication of Japanese consumers. In the bubble time, you could throw up any crappy attraction and people would go to it, and have their nostils surgically widened so the money could be pulled out of it in bigger volumes. Now, though, the successful attractions are highly branded and very sophisticated productions. Personally, I'd rather slip through luscious powder between nicely spaced

I saw him once. He moves awful quick.

In town there's a place called The Plaza or something like that, with a 2nd floor pizza and pasta place. The service is horribly slow when it gets crowded, but the ambience and food is good. Nearly opposite there and downstairs there's an izakaya that I haven't been to, but that seems to have a good selection of jizake. Tell us how it goes...

So according to danz's definition, which sounds good to me, were the 3 or 4 NZ boys who died at Hakuba last year riding 'backcountry'? And does anybody know of anybody killed 'off-piste' by avalanches or by running into trees, or by falls? (I did my best to get killed by all three on my last trip...)

Kuma, speak to the patrol in Bear, that should see them off quick enough. barok, I see you take a dim view of marketers, but my point is that real ones have sympathy with their potential customers' wants (which is why I doubt ronboy is a practioner). My local weather news has resort-sponsored background video of people riding in prime powder, and features images of helicopters flying overhead (meaning: freedom, access to inaccessible locations). This is of course fraudulent advertising, as most places won't deliver on that, but it at least recognizes that powder and freedom are things th

Hi helen, Not a good day no. The weather's looking good for my er, retirement, so I shall be off to happyland soon.