Plucky

Ocean - quit wrecking! That would solve your problems. I've been wearing sunglasses for over 10 years now. I've never had a problem with snow blindness or UV damage. I usually only wear them in the spring though. I like goggles a lot better.

"How about, "Are you queer or what?" you so funny! Damn Brits.

markie - no order needed. just send me your address and I'll send a copy your way. not a problem at all. dane - just got the email. get back to you here soon. I'm actually trying to work from home right now so I'm a bit distracted. Hehe! It's snowing here again! woohooooo! (I also x-cntry ski)

not a problem at all. Easter should still be skiable. France??? and I envy you too! We have some beginners we hang out with on occasion. The fun thing is just going. Let me know when you can make it and I'll make the accomodations. It's a 1-2 hour drive from my house to the slopes but it's not too bad. We'll get you surfing too! That's only 5 minutes away.

Markie, maybe you can't hit it with us on that trip, but I'll be doing a lot of others at mellower places! If you are up here, my pad is free! Just let me know brah!

hit me at this email if you are serious about Mt Iwake. atwood n @ hotmail.com. Take the spaces out of course. We're going to go in early spring. The mountain looks ripe for avis right now. Hopefully when the snow settles a bit and gets heavy, things should be good. I've got the shovels and avi trancievers so we should be okay. If we dig a pit and it looks bad, we're heading to Hachimantai Forest. It won't be a lost weekend. Hey, you do video too? I put a ski movie together every year. They are pretty good if I say so myself. Everyone loves them. It's just a kind of skiing in J

Hey Dane, I doubt I can make it south this winter but may be able to this summer. Can you make it up here this winter? Open invite to anyone - if you need a place to stay on northern Honshu, let me know. You can probably tell I'm a loudmouth on here and usually talk out of my arse, but it would be great to ski/surf/hike/bike with you. I'm beyond the point of being modest. I've done all of this stuff for awhile now and just like to go. I'm going to make a new post soon, but here is the plan. Mt. Iwate - we are going to snow shoe up it and ski down. Right now it's just m

I so envy you right now db.... I wanna go!

I'm with kamoshika - fogged up goggles suck. db - may be having a brain fart here - you a surfer? We'll have to argue about that later in the year

Fattwins - Hakkoda isn't 'extreme' if you take the managed runs. The reason that I like it (and Ripper) is that you can go anywhere your little heart desires. Nothing is roped off, there are no closed signs and you basically can just point your skis and go. The headwall at the bottom is over 40% though. There is some stuff up top off the main runs that definately gets over 40. We like the mountain because it is so different from anything else up north. It can definately be hairy. People who are unimpressed with the place either don't spend enough time skiing in Japan or don't know

I'm glad you kind of agreed. I like to hit parks, but I'd much rather go backcountry or OB. That's basically what we usually do. We've come so close to gettin our tickets pulled...I just think they are scared of me! It's funny, I'm so nice to them, but if a guy stands 8" over them... I think that's the key in Japan.. And surfing - with a 5/4 and a thermal shirt, it's fine. The Japanese guys are soooo cool out there. I love it!

Hey dane, just checked your site out. I guess you can say I 'probed' you! So you are all in to park tricks? My real question - do you surf? you should try it if you're doing all that dumb shit. Anytime you up north, I'll show you what's up. Right now, skiing is easy (still my favorite) but I need a new challenge. That would be surfing.

Ripper - I just farted. It reminded me of you. Great time this weekend! I just watched CF again! It's afganmanastation!

I don't think you understand....It says fall...not jump. I jumped off of two chairs today. good stuff. But you are perfectly correct. Make sure there are no cameras on the line, no patrol. they can be kind of nasty out here

This is MY place, and I hate to give it up. Thing is, there was nobody there! It was sunny with 1 foot of pow and untracked! Now, the backcountry - depends if you're a boarder or not. I took three guys out and they couldn't make it. They HATEED me after this run. Us skiers had a blast though! Hey woywoy, if you want some more info, let me know. So much more to tell!

I don't think it's that big of a deal. The guys who got manhandled must be small. I almost got my pass taken today. A ski patrol guy yelled at me for ducking a rope, two other sensai's came up to me. I was probably 6" taller than them. They said 'take it easy' and I was nice to them. Respect where respect is due. I ended up skiing with a guy later and he was goooood. It was a good day!

you only have a week? That's enough to score some good runs down south. If you are a serious skier or boarder, head north.

Good stuff yesterday!

I nominate this for 'dumbest question ever posted'

I'm curious as to what you are skiing. I've got some 2 year old K2 Enemy skis that I bought from Takeda for 9,800 yen. They are a bit too short for me (181) but I have a blast on them. I wish they were 191 at least. I wont complain though. I can throw these skis around so easy. It's like having those little tiny skis on your feet. I'm just curious what you have. I like to hit the parks but like backcountry a lot better and these twins seem to do the trick.

I got caught in one at Mt Hood in July of 96. We were skiing the Palmer snowfield and decided to climb to the top of Hood at about noon. It took us 4 hours to get from the top of the Palmer lift up to the bergschrund. We didn't make the final pitch and instead decided to ski down from where we were. It had snowed about 2 feet at the elevation we were at (9,500 feet). Well, 2 feet of heavy, wet powder on top of ice isn't exactly good. I'm really surprised we didn't trigger something on the climb. As we began our descent, I hear my buddy start yelling and whooping up above me - the s

No, he has insurance - we have to as Americans. That's not the point though. There was NO accident. Nothing happened and this guy is blaming this ding on my buddy. If this guy hit us, we would have known. And there's the rub - if HE hit US. That is what is so messed up. The guys story claims he hit us and he wants us to pay and the Japanese police are behind him???? I just don't understand. I'll keep you updated and let you know what happens. Like I said, it looks like my friend is going to have to pay. The only crime my friend is guilty of is driving the speed limit on an ext

Well, crap endzero. They don't drive on the right The update to the story - My friend was forced to drive back to Aomori since they had jurisdiction. Crappy roads and all, they wanted him there by 9am. He got there at 1pm due to the roads. Apparently, the old guy was livid. I swear to Neptune, I could have put the dent in his car with my fist (yeah, it was SO big). This thing was tiny and this guy was rabid. He was still pissed about WW2 or something. They measured everything, height of impact, height of where the paint scratch was, etc... and told my friend they would get bac

Big-will, you talking to me or Miller? I've got too much damn room. I hate cleaning the place and it costs a shitload to heat! If northern Japan is on your agenda.....

Millerheavy, you are in a good location. If you live around Morioka, there are plenty of decent resorts in the area. I will be down there a lot this season with the ski/board club that I help run. We will hit Shizukuishi, Shimokura, Amihari, Tawazako, and (my fave) Hachimanti Forest a few times each on Saturdays this season. If you are interested, let me know on this board and we can meet up. Do you ski or board? Right now I'm mostly going with skiers (me being one) but a couple of my good pals are boarders too. Makes no difference to us - as long as you are willing to have some f