Simon

Excellent stuff.

In Japan -20° at Hirafu. Overall... don't know exactly, but this saturday morning it was -36° at the top of Mt. Fort (3300mt). You could feel your lungs exploding.

Quote: Originally posted by cal: Another reason why it isn't my kind of place. Cal, what's wrong with that? Just curious.

Quote: Originally posted by db: People in the lift line and on the lift could see me and my board, skiers on the lift were saying things in German to me. It sounded like abuse (but German always does Ah, german cursing. I know it well, unfortunately. Five or six years ago I went on a daytrip to Switzerland with my (now ex)girlfriend. We went with a skiclub, which means waking up at 5am and suffer a 2+ hours trip on a lousy bus. I hated that. But what I hated more was the conditions of the slopes that day: it was april, so it was super-icy, with rocks here and there. Terrible. Matter of f

And here is the italian chap. badmig, I guess you've already lived here, so maybe I'm saying something you already know, but anyway... The best skiing areas in Italy are Valle d'Aosta and Trentino (where the Dolomiti are). Valle d'Aosta is very similar to the French Alps and Valais (Switzerland), while Trentino... is quite unique. The vistas are beautiful and in the last two years they got more snow than Valle d'Aosta. Valle d'Aosta is within easy reach from Milan (biggest international airport in Northern Italy), while going to Trentino from Milan can be a pain in the ass: som

Quote: Originally posted by Fattwins: If it comes down to pure proven speed, speed sking is the fastest none motorized sport. There are guys who do it on boards but not as fast yet...... Yep, true. Just for info (and because I'm stuck in the office with nothing better to do), the current speed ski world record is 248.105 km/h. On a snowboard it's 201.907 km/h. Not bad.

jared, I don't think freeskiing is dying. As a matter of fact, it's pretty big in Europe right now. IMO watching these skiers/boarders in video don't give the idea of the steepness of the slopes they are riding. As mogski said, these are 50+ degrees slopes. Vertical stuff. Seeing them from the top is a totally different thing...

Quote: Originally posted by NoFakie: For some deep hiphop in a Blue Note-stylee, check out "Charmed Life" by Jazzy Jeff. Yep, fab tune. "We live in Philly" is pretty good as well. Totally agree with enderzero's list: Dilated Peoples, The Roots, Common, anything by the Hieroglyphics crew... excellent stuff. Cinematic Orchestra is good too. Seen them at the Liquid Room in september. Cool vibe.

Quote: Originally posted by jared: 70 degrees is almost the same triangle stood up on the small side - im afraid I have my doubts about snow sticking to a slope that steep. Agree. 70° is almost a wall, impossible to ski or ride (at least for us). I remember reading the best ones in extreme skiing hit slopes with 55/60°, even 65° (they called these "non existing slopes" because they are basically cliffs). As for snow sticking to a slope... it really depends on the climate of the area. In Alaska you can find good snow on slopes with 55°. But in Japan (as in Europe), I think that 45° slopes ar

Markie, smaller restaurants & shops don't take Euro. Nearly all of them accept credit cards though (if you don't want to change money).

Quote: Originally posted by Ocean11: That sounds like a good sort of environment to be sliding in. I'll have to go there some day. Ocean, before booking your ticket, consider two things. 1) Resorts on the Alps are having a huge boom in these years. This means thousands of people on the mountains and a huge crowd on the slopes. And I'm not talking about "some people here and there". I'm talking about a GALA-10-years-ago-on-worst-days" type of crowd. The (not so) funny thing is that resorts are doing their best to avoid queues at lifts and are buying vast amounts of ultra hi-tech gondolas

Quote: Originally posted by db: I am yet to really see one here in switzerland, but I doubt that they give a hard time as I am also yet to see a beginner, or even an intermediate rider, so I suspect that most people ride well within their skill level. There is a lot of preventive work done by the people who work at the resorts in Switzerland. If you can ride off piste, you can be sure there is almost no risk of avalanche (well, let's say that the risk is very low). After a huge dump, the steepest slopes are ALWAYS closed and I'm not talking about a rope with a "closed" sign on it: the lifts

Very easy to find in big cities (at least IMO). Been offered drugs several times in clubs in Tokyo and Osaka. And I wasn't looking for them.

What about SnowJapan stickers? Nothing too big: a lil' sticker that you can put on your helmet or your board.

Quote: 2) Is there anywhere in Niseko/Kutchan where in case of emergency I could use an Australian visa card to withdraw cash? Nulla, As far as I remember, there are no ATM machines in Kutchan and Niseko. I'm sure there is a bank in Kutchan, though: you'd better bring some AU$ with you, just in case, and change it there.

2.000 yen is already expensive for some of us: Sleeping on the floor

Quote: I think you will find lots of people (NOT ME, I MAY ADD) that will gladly pay that much money for a night of luxury. Yeah, especially on this board. I mean, we see billions of threads with subjects like "any suggestion for a 5stars hotel in Hokkaido?" or "any idea for a nouvelle cuisine restaurant in the Nagano area?". C'mon. I see people discussing how expensive skiing/boarding really is, trying to find the cheapest spots to eat/sleep decently, searching for ideas to heat up the van for sleeping in... Fukdane wanted to know if anybody has been to St Anton. Cool. I've been there seve

Hmmm. Veeeery difficult. The last train you can catch on the 29th is the 6pm from Shinjuku (8.51pm at Matsumoto, then take the Oito line and arrive in Hakuba around 11pm). And if your flight lands at 4.35pm, getting to Shinjuku before 6pm is nearly impossible. If you're really determined to do it... well, you can head to Matsumoto. You should arrive there around 10.30pm. Sleep in Matsumoto and on the 30th take the 7.11am train to Hakuba (you will be wide awake anyway because of the jet-lag). You will be in Hakuba around 9am. Drop your stuff at the hotel, go snowboarding (both the 30th and

I beg your pardon, Sir. If you'd ever go to St Anton, may I suggest booking a suite at the hotel Hospiz. At 583 euro (73.000 yen) per night, I'm sure you can "stay in style" there...

Fukdane, St. Anton is an excellent resort and late february is probably the best time to go there. I think the place has only a couple of flaws: 1) accomodation is ****** expensive, especially if you are staying in the center of the village. 2) most of the courses are for expert skiers/boarders only. Well, not expert, but... let's say that the average level is medium/high. If you're travelling with beginners, this can be a problem. Other than that, you can't go wrong with St. Anton. The snow rocks and the after-ski is good (there are several nice pubs around, usually crowded w

I have a pair of F60 bindings: they are more than two years old (100+ days of riding), but still in perfect conditions. Very solid. I would recommend them, definitely. The only problem you could have is with the highbacks: they are VERY high and it took me a while to get accustomed to them.

Andrew, one thing more. The only good reason to travel by train from Tokyo to Sapporo is already having a Japan Rail Pass. For example, you're travelling for work from Tokyo to Osaka (and back) and your company pays for transportation. A single trip on the Shinkansen is 13.750 yen, If I remember right. More than 27.000 yen for the whole trip. For that price, you can buy a pass (7 days: 28.300 yen, 14 days: 45.100 yen), do the 3 hours trip from Tokyo to Shin Osaka (and back) and with the same pass travel "for free" wherever you want. Other than that, the trip is a pain in the ass (I'v

Terje is the MJ of snowboarding. Boarding is just natural for him. I would rate among the best Shaun Palmer. Almost 20 years of kickin' ass in the pipe, boarder-x, downhill, on skis, mountain bike... whatever.

Yeah, it was news for me as well... A friend of mine told me they've started in '99. But Santa Cruz boards use Volkl cores (I think they always did, actually) and Sims used them as well in the past.

I've seen a couple of Volkl boards on the slopes last week-end, so I decided to take a closer look at them in one of the bigger board shops we have here. Well, they don't carry Volkl snowboards. Another shop: same thing. Third shop: nothing, nada... Has anyone ever tried them?