NoFakie
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Posts posted by NoFakie
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Quote:Originally posted by Markie R:
I will be skiing in Niseko in Easter. It is the first time for me to ski in Spring. What should I expect? What risks should I look out for? Any advice? Thanks.
I don't know when Easter is this year, but sunburn is the biggest risk in spring. The air is thinner and you've got twice the UV due to the reflection off the snow. Slap on some sunblock or suffer.
Freeze/thaw conditions so it could get icy near the top. Get your edges sharpened.
Good chance of nice views of Mt. Yotei/the Japan Sea with a blue sky. Take a camera. -
I haven't noticed a significant number of beginner skiers this year. As ever, you see more far more little kids on skis than on boards, but among adults, there seem to be far more beginner boarders.
What we may have is a significant decrease in people taking up skiing and snowboarding as a whole. A lot of the skiers who go out are die-hard enthusiasts who've been skiing for years. Such people are not likely to give up soon, so if the number of new people going out fails to cover the number of had-enough-after-two/three-seasons-types, the proportion of skiers will increase, even if the actual number of skiers does not.
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I think we can blame Allah for ruining last weekend's conditions before the lifts started moving. It wasn't as if there was lots of on-course "powder" to be scraped, at least not in Nagano.
Other than that, I'm with mogski.
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1000 yen off at Hakuba 47 from April onwards. I think a few other places do the same.
From now on, package deals to Hokkaido are a lot cheaper than in the main powder season. It's still cold up there, and you might get lucky and see some more pow.
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Keep meaning to go, but never get round to it. It's a smallish place between Myoko and Arai. There's supposed to be a steep ungroomed course that's good on pow days. Gets a lot of snow, but like Arai not so far inland.
Lots of boarders by the sounds. They also have girls' snowboard camps there every year.
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My favourite encounter with the word gaijin was when I was living in Kansai. After leaving my bike illegally parked near the station, I had it confiscated in one of the swoops that Amagasaki does every three months or so. The following day, I went off to the compound and after 15 minutes of searching managed to find my machine. It took some doing as they had hundreds of black mama charis (shopping bikes). After paying 2,000 yen or whatever the fine was, I was about to head off home when the old guy called me back to give a receipt. He kind of looked at me, looked a bit perturbed, scribbled something down, and then said "aa, kore de ee yan" (I suppose this'll do) to himself. The name on the receipt he gave me was "gaijin" in kanji.
My other favourite anecdote is when I was taking a taxi once, the driver asked me where I was from. When I told him "the U.K.", his inspired response was "Oh, that's the boot-shaped country, isn't it!"
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Hi Vivien
I don't think you need to be able to read any Japanese for "survival", so don't be worried! Like my friend, you may end up buying whipping cream instead of milk, but it's all part of the fun of travelling. It's not going to get you into a lot of trouble.
As advice, it may help you to learn two kanji (Chinese characters). They are the one for "man" and the one for "woman". Most toilets in public places use the international symbols, but in restaurants/accomodation some of the toilets/baths don't, so it's good to know the characters. Some onsens also regularly swap over the men's and women's sections since one may have a better view than the other. If you just walk into the side you used the last time (I've nearly done this after ten years in Japan), it will take you into a room full of naked people of the opposite sex! In such cases, the only way to tell which one is which is the Chinese character on the curtain. I'm certain someone will help you out if you're not sure, but if you're the easily embarrassed type, you'll be able to know for yourself if you remember those characters beforehand.
Most of the ski resorts have colour-coded runs that are easy to understand. They mightn't use the same colours from resort to resort or the same colours as other countries, but all of the pistes are well-marked.
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Doesn't bother me most of the time. However, I'm white and my *general* impression is that Japanese people don't look down on white people. I don't think you say that about some other races and nationalities. I think they have a much harder time of it in Japan.
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I saw a story on a tech site called "the Register" saying that the Japanese XBox can scratch DVDs (and I don't mean like DJ Premier). Just so you know....
[This message has been edited by NoFakie (edited 12 March 2002).]
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I went to Hakuba 47's last day last season that was May 5. It was quite busy, and you could still board right down to the bottom, though there were massive moguls all over Route 2 as well as Route 3. Lots of people were camping in the car park, which I thought was a bit strange seeing as there are hundreds of better places to camp in the area. I seem to remember some hikers laden with backpacks walking up the middle of the course, and lots of paragliders lower down on the Goryu side, so it's not your usual day out.
I've got a boarding friend working up at Tateyama this spring, so I'll probably head up there once the Alpen Route opens. Hopefully someone will have built some jumps by the time I go.
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[amateur science from politics graduate}
Could be a flawed assumption. Does gelende snow melt any slower? For starters, if you're going to build a resort, common sense dictates that you'd build it where there's lots of snow. Due to the nature of snow falls and other factors such as sheltering/winds etc., this can mean one side of the mountain and not another.
A good few resorts (inc. pow mecca Niseko) have large snowmachines to help them build up a base or in some cases just to stay in business. This of course means that there's even more "snow" on the runs. Presumably, the groomers can also push the snow around to help the coverage early/late season.
Gelende are also higher than the surrounding villages/towns. I think 1000m of altitude equates to a temperature drop of 6 degrees Centigrade, so if it's colder higher up, the snow's going to stick around longer than it does lower down.
As for skied on and unskied (yes!) snow at a similar location, I would have thought that the friction from the skis/board would warm up the snow, resulting in it melting faster. According to the blurb, the top of the range Burton boards (BMC, Dragon) use such friction to heat up and melt indium particles included in the base to make the boards faster. Whether there's anything in this is another thing altogether.
[/amateur science from politics graduate}
On the chemicals front, I think the cost of chemicals for a large resort would be prohibitive for all the courses. However, on a vid I saw guys at Mt Hood throwing handfulls of something on a half-pipe in what looked like summer. Anybody know what it is?
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Switching between rain and sleet this afternoon. Wet snow as I type. It may be better higher up, but I wouldn't bank on it.
Yanaba is right next to the road, making it lower than the other resorts. I wouldn't be surprised if it's slushy all the way up to the top. It was very icy at the top of 47/Goryu yesterday, but that just makes for fast riding if you can handle it. It was slushy from the Goryu zigzag (1200m?) downwards.
If you do go to Yanaba, check out the free demos you can do on Sims, Forum and Gnu boards. You'll probably have to stick on your own bindings, but it's nice to try out a new one. Most of the ones they've got are freestyle, so just the job for all the toys they've got there.
If you're the guy that wants to do jumps, most of Route 4 at 47 has been turned into a park. Most of the hits are table top style, so there's no drop to worry about if you've not got so much confidence. There's a nice quarter pipe-type hit for you other guys. Pretty close to vertical at the top.
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You can get some tips on the short linked turns Raury's talking about in the "tight turns" section of this page.
http://www.transworldsnowboarding.com/instruction/mmtips/
I'm by no means an expert, but I find I can do them better by getting really side on.
That dude who wants to "learn to fly" should also check out the "how to ollie" section.
I ride a freestyle board (old Burton Balance) that's a shade too big for me, but I can get as high as most beginners get on small jumps just by using the board's flex. I've only just started doing tricks so I've got to be almost stationary to pull a high one
, but it will come I'm sure. -
In fairness, any article like Blair's is only going to be about the conditions at one resort. All ropes were not made equal, so just because you've seen some highly questionable ropes somewhere else doesn't mean Arai are wrong to rope off inbounds terrain that includes waterfalls, cliffs, etc. Such areas have already claimed lives.
If you can read Japanese, you can learn about it here.
http://www.mt-arai.co.jp/jiko/index.html
It's a pity the article isn't about a more controversial resort with 15 degree open tree runs roped off. Arai seem keen on opening up what they can, so they're maybe not the best target for such complaints.
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Latest fashion. Pouch-like drawstring bag. I think most kids keep a stubby PET (plastic) bottle of oolong tea or some other drink inside. In Japan, cigarettes are also a good bet. I've also seen kids with large looped straps dangling from their waists. Catch one of them on a branch and it could be curtains.
In terms of immobility and aches, hands after climbing (esp. for beginner) beats back leg after powder. Great fun though.
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Heavy rain this morning in Hakuba. It may have snowed higher up, but surprisingly enough I didn't ride the lift to go and check.
All of the runs at all of the courses are still covered, so you've got no problems there, but it's positively spring-like at the moment.
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Quote:Originally posted by Nat:
C) If local people find you, either Policeman or Layer will come and see you for some reason.... No?
My local resort, Omachi Skijo, has been closed for the past two seasons. The main slope currently features half a dozen kickers, one of which was about 5 feet high the last time I looked. There's also a "rail" that someone has built by placing a piece of pipe on a snow support. No-one cares if you go up there, and now there's no more pow, you can get up there pretty easily without snowshoes. -
Out of interest, how long are the skis mogullers use to compared to "ordinary" skis? I tried going through moguls on a shorter board the other day and it was much easier than my powder plank. Quite good fun even.
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I recall that the last big fall in Nagano last year was on April 1st. The snow fell as rain at lower altitudes, but at the top of Arai there was a good 30cm of fairly good powder. Nobody there, either.
The previous season I boarded on good powder (maybe 15cm) in Kiroro in Hokkaido in mid-April. There were freeze-thaw conditions on the other days of our trip however.
YMMV, but I think there are still dumps to come. Even if there aren't, just score some air in the park. Still lots of fun to be had.
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One of the reader reviews says that Nozawa is the oldest. It's quite detailed. Click on "reviews" at the bottom of the main SJG page and you can search from there.
As a general rule, the resorts with wacky non-Japanese sounding names or Romanized spellings (ARAI, Hakuba47, etc.) are the more recent ones.
Hakuba Goryu's poster for this season has a great old B/W photo of some guy skiing way back in time (biplane pilot goggles, wooden skis/stocks etc). I don't know when it's from, but it's a cool picture.
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The women's figure skating pulled a bit of a wacky one yesterday when with the last competitor (Slutskaya) to go it was
1. Michelle Kwan
2. Sara Hughes.
The final result?
1. Hughes
2. Slutskaya
3. Kwan
Had the Russian girl ballsed up completely, Michelle Kwan would have won. But seeing as she did pretty well, she knocked Michelle Kwan down below Sara Hughes. Great drama maybe, but what's wrong with adding up marks out of six? Why should one person's performance affect another person's standing? Why do they still bother with the marks out of six if it's all relative? It doesn't seem to make any sense at all.
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I'm a weekday warrior myself and the biggest dump I've enjoyed was Jan 9th. Yep, a Wednesday. At least 60cm of very very fluffy. Two days later on the Friday, fat wet flakes fell, signalling the start of the warm patch we had.
Mind you, any powderheads out in Hakuba over the two busiest times of the season (New Year or the recent long weekend) can't have any complaints, because there were big falls both times. The first few days of January saw the biggest sustained fall of the season so far. The roads are bad enough at that time of year without heavy snow.
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Yo simoncroft
Padded pants are good for beginner boarders. They also help keep your batty nice and warm if you don't have properly waterproof gear or take ages to strap into your bindings. I stopped wearing mine earlier in the season, then hit a tree and got a bruise the size of an orange. They're back on again now.
My old doctor friend told me that wrist injuries are very common with boarders, so give them a good warming up too. I'm sure you'll be able to work out a suitable method. Remember to do both hands now !
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Thanks Jon ! Interesting to hear. My cynicism was unwarranted in this case.
Given that there are some wild place names in Japan (and in other countries too, of course), it doesn't sound that bad to me. It also avoids the problem of all three villages fighting to have their kanji in there somewhere. Most Japanese place names sound terrible in English, especially when you adopt the Japanese bureaucratic custom of sticking a City, Town or Village on every name. It's not "Los Angeles-City" or "Sydney-City" is it?
speeding ticket....
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
Like gamera says, the speed limit is 100km/h unless marked otherwise on highways (80km/h for all of you guys squeezing into kei cars) and 60km/h unless marked otherwise on ordinary roads. In winter, speed restrictions may be enforced, so the limit may be considerably lower.
I've seen a lot of wrecks this year around Hakuba. One every two times I go out almost. Most of these have been when the roads were bone dry. Take it easy y'all!