Davo
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Posts posted by Davo
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Good to hear you all made it out OK and the nose makes for a good story AK, though I sincerely hope you can go back to looking like Brappie asap.
The South face of Happo looks great but I always think of it as pretty dodge. Have only ridden it about 5 or so times off the resort. It always used to scare me to be underneath all that when exiting Goryu/47 backcountry.
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Cool meeting up with everyone and also riding with that big group on Sunday. The 'funny walk' display out of the restaurant was gold
The tree riding must just be starting to be good now. Next time SG, next time...the races were a good laugh anyway.
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Yeah I'm out for the 20th. The pub crawl sounds like a great idea.
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Yeah it's a shame for people like you ILDP. I've met lots of military people in Hakuba over the last 6 years. Most of them were basically friendly, intelligent and interesting people who are good to hang out with. I can't remember coming across any of the type of jerks being discussed here.
Unfortunately, due to incidents like this military and gaijins in general get a bad reputation. That bar owner who was swinging the guitar will probably be wary if any random gaijins walk into his bar in the future.
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Been dusting off my rock board selection today in preparation for tomorrow and probably Saturday too, even if it is snowing. A pretty bad start to the season in a lot of ways it seems. However, I remain optimistic
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Thanks for the report TJ Oz. I can picture it in my mind just fine on that hill.
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Good tip with the iron. I'm lazy too and would rather someone else did my board for me. However, if there's a bench set up and available it's just pure laziness for me not to do it. I was laughing at the posts about scraping off too much. I used to do exactly the same thing as well.
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If it's snowing down here then the time for worrying is over. I am happy that I wasn't counting on Christmas this year.
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You should hold out there mate. I'm still getting rid of my month long cold, but found out we all had some virus on top of that, which expalins my flu like symptoms I came down with last week. Snow will just keep getting better from now. It's even snowing outside here as I type.
I'll be up there on the morning of the 5th for 3 days.
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Well, in terms of using resorts or not that's clearly true. I could but I won't. Perhaps it's disingenious of me to say that that my 7 days or so riding a year make little difference. Also, if the lifts are running it's better that they're running for a reason right?Quote:There aren't that many choices, so it shouldn't be a tough decision if it really bothers you.
Resort use aside, there are unlimited options to try and make a difference regarding energy use and environmental impact. That's what I'm talking about in terms of impact. -
Yeah the sizes thing is so annoying. I'm not exactly a giant but am always missing out for not being a stick insect either. What I don't get about it is that Japanese guys keep getting bigger and there must be a large demographic of guys who have the same problem.
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You're right. It'll never happen because it depends on the actions of consumers, and in this I don't see any major sea change anytime soon. I'm still trying to work out how to change my impact on things.
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Spud, I'm no expert at the kid game, but I think being overprotective may not be he best approach. I think you've just got to create a good environment and lead by example. Kids can be conditioned to eat healthily and enjoy it. My daughter loves natto, fruit and veges. She could just as easily be loving eating processed rubbish food and high suger content beakfast cereals. I'd rather she start the day with fruit, toast and plain yogurt. There are no fast food chains in my neighbourhood, which is a pure stroke of luck.
The whole way this world is geared up for transportation is a problem-the car is king and everything is designed to have us all driving round in one. At least in most places. I'm kind of lucky in that I really don't need to have one. Don't get me wrong, I do love driving and the convenience, but the car and convenience culture is the root of a lot of problems.
Not sure if lifts in Japan are major churners of fossil fuels-could be that they're nuclear powered.
As far as resorts being environmentally sound goes, the ideal would be minimal impact. A sustainably powered lift right to the top of the mtn(stops along the way maybe)-low carbon biomass fueled or something. No grooming, just professional avie control. Intelligent design of courses to suit different levels of ability, but learnig to deal with powder would be a prerequisate of riding.
Incentives and infrastructure set up to discourage people from going there in private vehicles. In short, madness. It'll never happen unfortunately. This is a world where even people who're concerned about their carbon footprints fly way for ski/snowboard weekends. Not because they feel good about doing so, but just because we're conditioned into thinking of this as normal.
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Yeah mate that's the way for us family types isn't it. I am negotiating some Hakuba time after NYears I hope though. It'd be cool to catch up with you sometime soon.
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Avoid peak times, queues and waiting for things. Time is limited so just think laterally. If I see an ATM with a huge queue I just look for another one. Why wait around when you can keep moving and find and alternative? Not always an option of course, but I always feel like I'm being cheated if I have to wait in line for ages. Besides, most people don't think like this and there's often a free ATM around the corner.
I quite like having a good chill for half an hour or so during a day on the mountain. Just not at lunchtime with all the other chumps who're sleeping in their coca-cola or whatever.
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Finish Dec 22th though it could have been earlier, just got things to do. Back on Jan 11th but maybe only for a meeting and can then probably work from home until the 15th. All a bit up in the air at the moment.
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I totally agree with the two lifts idea spud, but god you know how to rant the ears off of a donkey!
Yes, yes-I know my kids are little marketing targets and all that. It's all fine and well for me to indoctrinate them (as I intend to) not to eat McD's and become part of the machine. Problem is, I'll have to work out how to do that the right way or they'll just turn round, tell me I'm a **** and do exactly what I don't want them to do.
Resorts are OK by me. I don't have time to hike up from the base every time I go out and I suspect no-one else here does either.
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Simple. Get the cheapest overnight return bus ticket to Hakuba. Stay at one of the many backpackers, cook your own food and pack a lunch up to the mtn. Don't rent any gear if you can avoid it. Drink chu hai or whatever instead of boozing at bars.
A really cheap accomodation option in Hakuba is staying at Goryu for 1,000 yen, or so I've heard. That may be a bit boring though. The longer you stay the cheaper it should be as transport is a big cost factor.
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No hkgal it's way outta my budget range and I like to stay with friends and meet new people mostly anyway.
Anyway, regarding the Japanese flair, looking at the photos and the write-up there seems to be little at La Niege. Thing is though, in Japan there's an overwhelming sense of being in Japan anyway, if that makes any sense. Too much Japanese flair may make for cross-cultural communication difficulties, and the "not accustomed to foreign guests" type of thing, which I imagine you'd be trying to avoid where clients are involved.
If they don't want to eat French food and drink wine every night, I'm sure you could sort out visits to Japanese restaurants and so on.
Based on my experience and looking at La Niege, they may even want something more upscale. Whenever my old company did this type of thing the clients wanted places to themselves as much as possible, if not exclusively too. I suppose you have a pretty generous budget for planning this event.
If Niseko has something better that fits your needs, I think it may be the right place. Easier to get to from Hong Kong too from what I hear.
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I worked in party design in London in a past life and my company did one job in Davos Switzerland at the World Economic Forum for exactly the same type of people you work for hkgal.
I think Laniege in Hakuba as recommended by FT would be the ticket. Great location and a real alpine environment. If they go to St Moritz in Europe then they'll expect the higest possible quality. As far as I can tell this would be the best bet. They want to go to Japan for the snow and a bit of uniqueness, provided along with the comfort and professionalism of a place used to accomodating wealthy international clients.
Honestly speaking, I don't know much about the place, but it seems like the best option given your task. Nothing wrong with your English-damn good if you ask me.
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I'll go if I can. A bit early for me to decide yet, was great fun last year and I've still got ma tshirt thanks SG.
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Apples and oranges...Night vs day...or so...they say...
Never been to Niseko and wouldn't bother purely because Hakuba is closer and steeper by a long shot if you believe whats to be read on these threads. The powder and terrain combo in Hakuba is waaay better than NZ.
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It is good aye-can't wait to go running every weekend, and soon during the week as well.
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thrupenny bangers were before my time, though I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the big reds and tom thumbs. One of these days all you'll be able to buy'll be sparklers.
Care over the pennies when shopping?
in General off-topic discussions
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I'm always looking for the bargains when I go to the supermarket. If something is particularly cheap I tend to stock up on it, that is if it can be stocked. I usually buy whatever milk is the cheapest, as long as the dates are OK. I Try to ditch those little coins as soon as I can.