stemik

If we're looking back, Echineko (!) and the fantastic wit that was badmigraine for me. "Captain Stag" for the best username. Special thanks also to Markie who kindly bought me a curry and kebab at Indi Momo in Hakuba, back in the day when they did lamb versions of both. Ah Yes echineko and one more young lady but i cant remember her user name

Just one thing I want to say before this forum closes....I love Happo-shu! There i have said it.

very sad to hear, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Kudos for all the hard work that goes behind operating an active forum. Well Done! 13 years of friends that i never met. (apart from one or two) Some interesting characters on the way, a few of the older ones spring to mind, Thursday. Fattwins, Dp Spud, Oceans.....

Marrillen Hotel have a slope side restaurant that does a good German bratwurst! Yeah, got that one covered - we stayed at the Marillen January this year and the Bratwurst isn't bad atall ! The Huttenzauber just across the slope is even better and has a wide range of Bavarian fare and nice Weissbier. It's only open at lunch time though - makes for an ideal lunch stop. Mmmmmmmmmm......just thinking about it currywurst and weissbier for lunch slopeside. It really doesn't get better than that !! Marillen is a good location, are you staying there again this winter? i am there most night with

That sounds a lot like me. I just liked the color and style and went for it. Because it was 400cc there wasn't much written online in English.

Marrillen Hotel have a slope side restaurant that does a good German bratwurst!

Did they have a flux capacity?

thats a nice truck and a nice suburb!

reason being is that the system to operate the ic cards is very expensive. Most ski areas are on a contract from Fujitsu or Hitachi etc.. they are not cheap to run. I think they work well with resorts that have different owners then all the data can be gathered to see how they split the payments. More accurate than using a clicker.

No we don't have a garage but - i think we will build one next spring. It actually wasnt that bad. it was 23,000yen and the price includes pick up from Hakuba and taking to Nagano and making sure the battery doesn't go flat over winter. I have to pick it up in Nagano in the spring. I thought it was rather reasonable.

Currently no Hakuba Valley season pass but it is in the development stages for next season (2015-2016)

Well done! My bike is being collected on Friday and being put into storage until April. it will be sad to see it go...but it has been fricking freezing riding these last few days.

after the test they gave me some feedback but at this time i didnt know if I had passed or not. As a group of 4 we went back into the school waited about 20 mins then told we had all passed. Then the paperwork started...it took about 1 hour in total.

after about 20mins

Good luck with the test. The final lesson I took, my instructor was showing me how to bow deeply to the instructor and say "hai" is a firm manner etc... He was a total tool!

gangwan-do Wrap up! It is one of the coldest places I have ever been to. Good casino there!

Actually less and less locals are skiing or riding. My direct neighbors don't For my son's age (11) there are only three out of two classes that are members of the alpine ski club. Of course some do join the cross country club, but most of the boys are playing soccer. They do have certain days for PE on the slopes and maybe some kids will ski by themselves but overall the figures are well down from previous years/generations.

Awesome stemik!! Congrat's to your daughter If you don't mind me asking, what age category do you compete in? and what time usually wins that category? I'll be 50-59 category for the next few years. I was thinking that the locals would be unbeatable in most categories but would love to have a crack if there were some kind of Gaijin award. I compete in the 40-50 age group, (only for a few more years!) Not many locals compete it, there is kind of an unwritten rule that locals are to help out and not compete. Not sure of top of my head what time runs but I think about 1:45

I compete every year. Never won it. Never got close to winning it! But my daughter is reigning ladie's champion! It is more like a SuperG or Downhill race than a GS or slalom. It is funny watching every one jelly legged at the final gates.

yes i did. I had to the visit the driving license center at a strange time something like between 1:30 and 2:00 - very inconvenient.

I took my test at the driving school, not sure who judged it but I dont think he was one of my instructors. I was then given a certificate which I had to show at the driving license center on a different day, watch a safety video, get a photo taken and then issued a license.

yeah we ended up with some hotel coupons, and a free helmet!

I bought my bike from a Red Baron store. To be honest I bought there for the ease of convenience - it was very close to the license center! My friend and i went in together and we bought two bikes (one red one blue). We didn't get a lot of discount though!

Not at all!! The bike will be going into storage and coming out in April. Just too dangerous and too cold.

i think it was about $150 for everything from the beachbody.com website. You might be able to find it cheaper though in Japan