Ocean11

Trick park, eh? Now that would certainly enliven the apres ski scene! Were you thinking of freelancers or pros?

hutch mate, are you getting paid a retainer or something? I get an occasional box of manju for keeping Nozawa in the forefront of the punter's minds, but you should be getting regular cheques for your promotion of Hakkoda...

belle, I'm on my way out to see my tailor right now... Fella can't have too many tuxes. (That Ali G's a real snitch, ne?) mogski, I'm going blue in the face blowing on my harp.

Nat, I don't like Snickers either, they're pretty disgusting really. But if you snaffle one down at 11 am, you can defer lunch until nearly 1:30, and there are advantages to that. Not stocking Snickers in your resort catchment area convenience store is cutting your nose off to spite your face. badmigraine, you're too funny. Actually last time at Nozawa I got chased by a snowcat stuffed with grinning men in suits playing the opening bars of Chopin's 'Fuer Elize' repeatedly at ear-splitting volume. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum... Scary. No snack food though. (That's

Gotta love them goofy gals though. Skanky pose, ne?

dane, I'm sorry to sound so huffy but when I wrote that, I had just been grovelling around under my desk trying to reconfigure my ADSL setup (I failed). Lotsa hairy dust bunnies under there, all very trying on the patience.

belle certainly is a very promising name. But since I fell arse over tit in primary school love for a rach, I've always had a place in my heart for them (was going to say 'soft spot', but that's not quite the case). Well, I've never looked forward to a little suberi quite as much as I am now! -------------- Enough of odes, let's hear the 'Mogski Blues' "Woke up this mornin' Found I was just a backdoor man Said I woke up this mornin' Found out I'm a backdoor man Just can't help but moanin and groanin' I'm knockin' as hard as I can"

Have you given up on Nozawa then? I posted the number of a place on bm's thread about Nozzle... mogski doesn't have a problem with cats, belle, couldn't you tell from his handle?

badmigraine, you don't need another board, and that's that. The reason I'm going to be replacing my soft leather Italian-made regular boots with some stiffer Burton step-ins is safety. That's right, Safety First. I think that if I catch a crab on a tree stump I'll be better off with stiffer boots. Indeed, I'm convinced of it.

My Snickers always get really cold and hard, it's like gnawing on a stick. And when I bite it, there's a mini avalanche of frozen chocolate into my lap (hey now there's a come on girls). Be warned that the last 7-11 on the road to Nozzle does not stock Snickers. Orange Kit-Kats are the best alternative, but they aren't nearly as shock resistant as the hardy Snickers. Cigars are also hard to come by on the slopes - read, impossible. A friend gave me a box of fine Philippine cigarillos in a tasteful cardboard pack that I tucked into my chest pocket. Come the end of an exhausting day with ma

SJG Forum Member Ocean11 calling SJG Forum Member rach... Are you going to Nozzle tomorrow? I believe I am. If you see a red racing helmet getting about, come and give it a tap, then we can both be surprised at how far from our mental image of each other we are. Otanoshimi...

Reg'lar. I tried a both bindings forward 'carving' stance last year, but you lose out on the torque, so it's back to the standard pose. Board is Airwalk Champ 169. Floht lahka butterflah sting lahka beee.

---------------------- gobsmacked! Oh belle, Baby! You have maaaade my day!

snapper, I think that's probably 'charade' you mean there. Couldn't give a toss about the Olympics personally, with it's Fascist history and world historical pretensions. And indeed, I have been in this country for going on 11 years, and have indeed been in Naggers for 3, but so what? If dane was really interested, instead of coming and pestering us, he could have used the web like any 21st century person would.

Japanese are pathetically proud that their country has four seasons, as if no other place in the world has four seasons, and make it the foundation for great castles in the air about what diligent people they are. But wait! The master race can't count! They have five seasons! Summer, autumn, winter, spring, and the rainy season. (That's called the monsoon when it falls on the darker heads of Asians.) dane, don't get me started now...

2 min poking around on Yahoo with the inspired search term 'Nagano Olympics' came up with the rather informative map link above. I trust it answers your question... BTW, you should come to Japan, it probably beats Scotland.

Currently I'm a neurosurgeon at Suwa Red Cross Hospital, but everyone's brain-dead recently. But I've always had an interest in gynecology and I've found a private clinic in Matsumoto that's agreed to let me get my hand in. It should cut 30 mins off my travel time to the powder and allow me to get some extra zzz's in.

mogski, for going to Nozzle from Suwa, I get up around 5 am, meet up with my pals and aim to be on the highway at Okaya by about 6. This allows for an enchilada and weewee stop in Iyama, and gets us there in time for the first lift. I just asked a colleague who teaches skiing in his spare time about lodgings in Nozzle. He recommends a minshuku call Matabe, run by an obahan called Kubota-san. The food is very umai, it's near one of the less crowded public onsen, and it's about a 5 min walk to the moving walkway that goes straight up to the gondola. Phone is 0269 85 2190. Can't vouch for th

Truly dane, have you never heard of a 'Search Engine'? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/events/1998/nagano/venues/

Can't help with the lodgings as I'm always a daytripper. There is one area to the left as you face the mountain where skiers are safe to make moguls and waggle their little sticks about. But nobody in their right mind would want to go there anyway. At the top there is another skier only area, but I go down it all the time, no probs, as do many other boarders. For some reason, it doesn't have as many moggies as the 'public' area. Have fun now y'all. Oh, and as for thicker walls, you can order a bucket of extra mud and rice stalks that you slap on the 'walls' yourself.

Not only do I have an uncommonly large board, I know how to handle it with finesse. danz, just be quiet and try not to jab anyone with those skinny sticks. Actually, that quad's looking mighty crowded now. Think I'll head up to Nozzle and see if I can't hitch a nice long steamy gondola ride with rach.

Go Jinja! And to think that in the 80s 'Japanese management' was aped as a model of forward-looking rationality. Don't forget to bring your hanko, otherwise we can't do anything for you.

golly! You got me there, I am! I thought having lost me job here that I'd be banished from Naggers, but it looks like I've just found me another one here even closer to the slopes, so for today at least, I could hug somebody even if they had plastic robot boots on their feet.

badmigraine, what did you give your sister in return? golly, I'd say that boarder fashion is going in two directions at the same time - some folks are going for a cleaner, more gentrified look (most particularly the girls), while others are going for a very unhygenic, gangsta anti-style (mostly boys, but a few tom-boys too). There was the same trend apparent last year, but the gangstas are just dirtier this year. Also, brown jumpsuits with cream collars and wasp-waists are set to sweep the white catwalks soon... I have to step out of character here for a moment and confess that somet

They should be pretty good for most of March in the main snow areas. Last year (admittedly a good one), conditions in Nagano were fine into early April.