montoya

I recently hiked/rode down Yarigatake in Kamikochi and promised Andrew from sj.com some pics, so here goes. We entered the valley April 27 to find about 30cm of new snow. I heard there was about 50cm higher up on the peaks. There was no trail after Tokusawa, so we ended up walking on the river up to Yoko. Someone had hiked ahead to Karasawa and we considered going there. But, I had a feeling that much new snow was just too unstable on Karasawa's steeps, so we opted for Yarigatake instead. We broke trail from Yoko to Yarisawa lodge and called it a day there, after 7 hours of hiking.

I try to check in occassionally, but too busy lately to be on the forums much. all in all season is going great.

interesting place... http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/travel/05taos.html?8hpib=&pagewanted=print March 5, 2006 Explorer In Taos Ski Valley, No Frills, Just Thrills By LISA REED THE 20-mile drive from the town of Taos to Taos Ski Valley in northeastern New Mexico is a stunning geographical contradiction. The road travels through vast red desert, past adobe houses and prickly pear cactuses, upward through the dense evergreens of the Carson National Forest, finally reaching a Bavarianlike village with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains — blood-red at sunset — rising to

I have the Helium Jacket from Haglofs, it's served me well, but after +150 days of use it's starting to show some wear. This particular model probably doesn't meet the criteria you listed, but Haglofs makes some nice stuff. If I were looking to buy another jacket, another maker I would look at is Mountain Hardware. Btw, a friend bought alot of stuff from Peak a few years ago (goretex jacket, fleece, backpack) and ended up tossing it away. According to him, the stuff just did not work and was not something you want to depend on in the winter. Nice design though.

uggggllllyyyy there was not as much expected snow from overnight because of the high winds. it continued to be very windy today and not very pleasant to ride in. snow itself was pretty heavy. if you can choose, avoid Sat: http://weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/images/chart.html?c=24 and shoot for Sun: http://weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/images/chart.html?c=48

unfortunately we won't be able to make this party due to some other commitments. hope you all have a good time anyway. take some pics for us tsondaboy will ya? regarding group size in the bc, I tend to agree with sock_monkey. I think the collective intelligence tends to go down as the size of the group increases. especially if you feel uneasy about something, it's easier to back out if there are only 3-4 of you. if it's a group of +10 there is always going to be a large variance in risk tolerance and abilities.

if you're living/working in Japan and self-employed, I think the basic rule for taxes is 10% of the invoice if it's less than 1 million yen a month. If it runs over (1.5 million yen) then you have to lop off 20%. Depending on how much you can deduct for expenses, you may or may not get a chunk of it back. But if you deduct too much and show a really low income, you may have problems qualifying for housing loans, kodan housing, etc. Besides taxes, you should discuss who is going to pay for the other stuff (eg health, pension, etc). Also, you will probably have to file your own taxes year-e

I have mixed feelings about guides I can see how they try to make a fun and safe experience, but I sometimes wonder if they make it too easy. How are you going to learn and grow if you are depending on someone else all the time to do the pre-planning, trail-breaking, route-finding, snowpack evaluation, etc? Then again, I see people out there on their own or with their buddies making stupid mistakes and wonder if they might in fact be better off with someone holding their hand. .. so I guess I'm still undecided about this one.

my wife is using an Osprey Switch 18 pack. the board is an egf swallowtail 164cm.

another thing to consider is who you ride with. if most of your mates are on skins, then it's easier to keep up with them on a splitboard. if your buddies are on snowshoes, makes sense to use the same tool. if you are on a split and everyone else is on snowshoes, it's more than likely you will be doing most of the trail breaking since you will be lots faster. not sure how the approach skis work out. ricardo, is it just as fast as skinning up on regular skis? I imagine you have less float since it seems to be shorter.

I doubt the different tour groups there can guarantee first-tracks to their guests anymore, it is just too crowded on the weekends.

I don't know if he was guiding, I think he was just looking for some safe lines to ride.

if he had long blond dreadlocks, yep that's him.

You're starting to see some locals from Tenjindaira over at Kagura, since it seems BC conditions at the former are too risky right now. I think we saw a mate of Dave's from Minakami over here digging a pit and checking out the pack. I used to wish we had bigger mountains at Kagura, but this season might be the exception.

besides the snowpack risks, this weekend alone I saw people in the BC: *with no pack/avie gear *boot-packing and wrecking the hiking tracks *looking to drop in over a cornice and a rather large crack below until we yelled at them *riding 2-3 at a time *stopping mid-way an exposed steep slope to wait for a friend above *traversing out of terrain traps such as steep/deep creeks this season I'm way more careful about staying clear of people I don't know, there's just too much stuff like the above going on. when Kagura opens up the top #5 Romance lift in mid-March, I have a fee

if you got any pics of local avie conditions from hakuba, would be nice to see. no question there are some pretty deep fractures around the Kagura area now. biggest I've seen is this:

friends that have the new Lightning Ascent from MSR like them alot, light and good float: http://www.msrcorp.com/snow/lightning_ascent.asp if you wanted to save money, the Denali Evo Ascent is also good, plus it allow you to use flotation tails http://www.msrcorp.com/snow/denali_evo_ascent.asp if I were buying new ones, I'd get the Lightning Ascents

Quote: Originally posted by _spud: One of my aims in life is to own a nice swallow tail and have the opportunity to use it at least 5 times a season. just 5 times a season??? don't they have powder over there in the Alps? I'm seriously thinking of getting a Winterstick Swallowtail. Couple of mates have it, looks like a monster, ultimate floatation yeah baby!

splitboard : *long approach on snow ( eg +3 hours) *long traverse out (eg +1 hour of walking out) *you're in hurry *you're breaking trail in deep snow *you're carrying lots of gear (tent, etc) snowshoes : *short hike up *really steep hike *a pre-existing trail exists *you're going to do laps with relatively short climbs *you want to use a specialized non-split board

Yes, the look like glide cracks. I think they tend to occur when a thick snow pack develops quickly over wet or unfrozen ground, which describes this season neatly. Sometimes they fully release and go all the way to the ground. Sometimes it looks like it has gone away, when actually new snow and wind has just faintly concealed them. In your scenario I'd think about how much the sun affects it, with meltwater percolating through the snowpack and affecting the ground surface hold. Almost all that I have seen there have been on south-slopes.

To make your scenario more interesting, major cracks have occurred well before Jan 1 at Kagura. How they affected the snowpack through this cycle is a concern. Stuff like this:

well first he's traversing under a very large crack. here's a pic from Dec 17 2005 for comparison's sake:

Quote: Originally posted by _spud: the lazy minded BC rider .. I was looking for the right words when I saw this recently (besides "idiot"). Thanks spud, 'lazy minded BC rider' fits just about right here. Some people never learn.

Kumapix I haven't ridden the Malolo but I've heard it's like a mellow fish - a bit more versatile and less surfy. I think the shorter taper boards (kyber, fish, malolo, etc) have good float but ride more "surfy" in the pow. That's why they are so fun in the trees. If you want to carve at high speed in wide-open runs, then I would ride a long swallowtail. Anyway, I think trying to use a single board for all conditions is a big compromise. Get a quiver of 2-3 and pick the right one for the conditions that day.

if anyone is heading up to Kagura for the BC this weekend, I'd stay away from south-faces as much as possible. The forecast is for warm spring-like conditions, and there is now about a meter on top of the Jan 1 sun crust. There are some deep cracks running along the top of the Nakaone ridge at the usual drop points, but partly buried by snow and hard to see. The Challenge course at Tashiro is also looking sketchy (south-facing and steep), I would not go in the trees there on Sat. http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0111/TKY200601110380.html 雪崩にご注意、週末は春の暖かさ　屋根からの落& 634;も 2006