Will Lee

Man, Cantonese chicks scare me in general. When they open their mouths I`m not quite sure whether they`re giving me a compliment or cussing me out!

Hey Ocean, is Cortina International usually still good in March(early to mid)? I`ve been thinking about checking the place out but can`t find time to squeeze it in. Yup, my boarding schedule is pretty much fully booked til the end of Feb!

Didn`t get a chance to mention this last weekend but oh man did Kitashiga Ryuo BEAT ME UP last friday! If some of you would recall it was dumping nonstop in many places last week and Ryuo was no exception. It was snowing the whole time I was there(from about 6pm til 6pm)and I wasn`t able to tell whether they`d put out the groomers or not. Their board park was completely buried. Even on the lower beginner slopes the snow was shin deep! I was really looking forward to trying out the runs on the very top of the mountain but due to heavy fog all day I had to give up that thought. As a result

Can`t do that now. When I was up there a couple of weeks ago there was a notice saying because they found a crack up there hiking to the top is forbidden til further notice(I reckon probably for the rest of this season).

Hunter Mountain Shiobara in Tochigi Pref. I wasn`t expecting much so in the end I was quite pleased with the day overall. Man, did they GROOM their mountain(but good for carving)! It was definitely crowded in my book, though. There`s just one thing I`ve gotta say...DO NOT try that all-you-can-eat curry place near the board park. That joint blows!

Iwappara is good for beginners cuz the main run is pretty wide. Them 2 runs off to the far right are pretty fun too if you`re feeling confident enough. Kandatsu Kogen is usually very crowded so avoid going there if you can. If your friends are willing to go a little bit further Tashiro would be a very nice place for beginners too.

(Trying to hold back laughter) Alright mate, hop on a plane and go there via China and please give all of us a detailed report when(if?)you do get back. Bet they`ve never seen a snowboard!

Quote: Originally posted by Ocean11: 169 for me. Crisps mate, would that be the Burton Fish, short, fat at the front and narrow at the back, with a very back stance? Or could it be the dummy board that you check out bindings with? One of my crew was riding a Fish at Nozawa today, and he reckons it's great for powder (although not for landing huge jumps), but horrible on groomers. The Fish is made to be shorter than a conventional board, or so I'm told. You`re riding a 169cm board Ocean? How tall are you exactly?! Okay, I must be the short guy on this forum.

Quote: Originally posted by amandanism: i am a chick and i have a 154...it comes up to my lower lip. ive been told that i should get something a bit bigger...but i love it and it works really well for what i want to do. A 154? And you`ve been told you should go longer? I imagine you`re a pretty big Asian chick aren`t you?

Natto on a bowl of steaming rice is great if you`ve got the time(no flames, please). Ochazuke is pretty decent too. Never really did like cereal and milk that much when I was a kid. An omlette with a couple strips of crispy(NOT soggy like they`ve got here)bacon sounds nice once in a while, though. I think I`m Japanese I think I`m turning Japanese I really think so!

Our boy Markie must be smilin` from ear to ear right about now!

Arai was slushy and bumpy on Sunday. Big, big disappointment.

Yeah, Echineko. I`ll shout your name out loud if you come boarding with us(serious)!

Plowing through them white, fluffy stuff.

Quote: Originally posted by danz: just got back from 4 days at niseko... ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! some of THE BEST skiing I have EVER done... some of the DEEPEST I have ever skied some of the best WEATHER I have ever seen... I hate you man! It`s not fair...when I was up there last weekend the weather was shitty, the snow not all that impressive and I couldn`t find Strawberry Field. I saw on the news lastnight that Niseko will be dumpin` for the next few days...sucks to be me! fantastic...will post some pics and write a new journal soon... I am still high off that Niseko

That`s not what my Japanese friends have told me. One of them even said around 10 years ago when Japan had a "ski boom" the line at Naeba was almost 2 hours long(no joke)and you could see people lining up all the way out to the parking lot! Now that`s unbelievable! I`m glad I didn`t come here 10 years ago.

Almost certain my buddies and I will be there next Sunday, so maybe we can hook up Scooby. About the place, it is true a lot of its snow is man-made and the quality not too worthy if you`re comparing it with Hakuba`s stuff(or even some Gunma places). But it is fairy big with enough course variety and it has a pretty decent board park that even a not-so-skilled boarder like myself wouldn`t feel too embarassed to use. It does get quite crowded in Feb, though.

I guess I unintentionally confused someone into thinking that my buddy and I took a commuter bus from Shin Chitose Airport to Niseko when we went there last weekend. In my post I used the words "ski tour bus" to indicate that we joined a package tour and the bus was exclusively for the participants. Anyway, I did dig up some info regarding transportation so here it is... You can take the train to Niseko Station(but it`s probably not right in front of the ski resort). There`s only one per day, leaving Shin Chitose Kuko Station at 12:45pm and arriving at 3:25pm. It`ll cost you 5030yen. For

Quote: Originally posted by Karnidge: Was it busy? No, not really(in my opinion). Even though that day was on a national holiday.

Not sure if the place will stay "popular" any longer now that we`ve all heard about the Barok Incident...

Quote: Originally posted by jared: i did tell you - its written right there!!! Is that where it is? Man, was I fooled. I totally thought the entrance is up on the top! But it was SO foggy that`s why I thought I couldn`t find it.

Quote: Originally posted by Indosnm: You wasted your time with the PASSPORT crap. I just stick to HIRAFU. How can you judge the ability of someone by the stuff they have and the way they look??? if thats the case then all Japanese boarders/surfers must be pro! Oh, I don`t know...my gut instinct? I figured chances are no beginner/poser would even bother carrying snow shoes with him. To be honest Annupri wasn`t all that bad. They`ve got enough powder on top(and you can hike up more if it wasn`t for that big crack they found earlier this month)and the middle is good for doing some ca

Yup, all the time!

No. Try changing in the parking lot afterward.

WHAT THE F**K?!?! This is TOTALLY unacceptable!! These tough guy wanna-be asshole patrols physically assaulted Barok not once but TWICE! The point is no longer that he went riding out of bound but the unlawful behaviors of these disrespectful pricks. Someone call Debito Arudo(the guy up in Hokkaido who dared to sue a discriminating bathhouse and the city of Otaru)...a lawsuit oughtta be filed! What the hell were they thinking? To actually lay a finger on an "okyaku-SAMA"...have they gone nuts? I personally feel some kind of retribution should be in order. If that had happened t