jared

I might be said "knee" assuming its the same language/dialect/accesent as my mother inlaws name.

I have spent a season in Canada and multipule seasons in northern Honshu visting spots all over the place and as much as I dont want to admit it, the best snow I have ever had was at Niseko, in Jan 2000. Extreme depth is only usefull when accompanied by extreme lightness. Could only see where I was going for a brief moment each turn. Other times I have had it that deep it has not been as light meaning when you get speed up you tend to float to the surface and when you go too slow you sink and stop.

I am a skim reading failure.

Opposite - the north island resorts get a much thicker ice cap? snow pack? than the southern fields and it takes a long time to melt. They also have all the local skiers where southern fields are more tourist driven. so the north island resorts are open till mid novemeber this year and almost all south island ones are closed now bar mt hutt and broken river (i think) still lots of snow about for touring and more on the way this weekend it looks like.

you know you are getting older when "I'm never drinking again" is replaced with "I just cant drink like I used to" Just getting to the end of ski season here... no real going out or sleeping in has been done since May. Looking forwared to BBQ, drinking, going out and music season (not so much the hangovers though)

Down south most of the punters are from outside the area and they all plan to have their holiday during peak season, once that season is over the ski fields are super quiet. Up north most of the customers are more local so if there is snow they can keep skiing. At coronet peak on Saturday the skiing was better than it was for most of August and there was hardly anyone there.. Opening day was far busier and there were only a few runs open then.

Last weekend resort skiing next weekend here in NZ. Got more snow now that we have had all season. Looks like it will be snowing for closing weekend too. How are things holding up in OZ - From the top left of the weather maps I look at you guys have had some snow too lately??

If you want just a little bit of revenge without the bother of police you could tell her that you called the cops and they are going to come see her later in the week. (I would - but then I'm an asshole - you might not be)

Is the word you are after anonymity? The trick is to be poor first.. then get rich a little later so you can appreciate it.

should get some snow out of this

Why the preference for bottles?

I dreamed that I have next week off work to go skiing... and that my ski buddy is also my wife... and that we have another ski friend coming over from Japan to go skiing with us for the next 9 days... and that a series of cold fronts are going to cross the country today and tomorrow to set us up with some new snow for the week... and then I woke up and its all real!

A little googleing answered my questions It got a 69/100 on ratebeer.com so it's worth a try I reccon.

Do you rate the black sheep ale? I think I can get that here - but I wanna be sure it's good before I spend $8 getting it. What is it? a special bitter or something else?

They are miners - so I guess they are just stuck at work. They could do some mining to fill in the time and get overtime rates!

They should just do it asap. Tell them 5 months first then they will be stoked to find its only 4 months later on. Nothing I hate more than looking forward to something then having it delayed over and over again.

Don't forget the camera. (and the spare battery) Mamabear - hows the guy with the broken leg? Did he get operated on or are they just going to let nature do its thing?

In a report I read the docs were estimating how much weight they had already lost it was noted in the pics they had of them that a few of them had their tops off because of the heat down there.

That would suck - but it's good news for family etc.. that thought they were probably dead just a few days ago. So if you were a miner stuck down there with just a 10cm diameter drill hole to the outside, and a few months to fill in, what do you get them to send down? I would start with Paperback books rolled up tight. Beer Thermorest (if you can get the roll tight enough)

Minty, it depends what you are going to be skiing and for how long. If you are generally going to be skiing on or near to the trails then the skis you are on will definately be fine. If you want to go deep into the trees and the snow is knee deep (or more), then you will still be ok, but it would be much easier on bigger skis. If you are going to be spending lots of time in deep snow, or if you have lots of money for new skis then definately grab some big skis. If however you are in those conditions for a shorter time and you dont have a big pile of spare cash then you can make do with the

Last weekend at Remarks was pretty good too.. Too good for messing about with a camera on the Saturday but on the sunday all the easy pow was gone and we had to hike for it so we had time to film some of it. With the lower quality clips for the internet it gets a bit hard to see some of the more distant shots but I'm sure you get the idea.

They seem a bit short on snow there minty, I thought that the Canterbury fields were in better shape. The retro ski call was a bit rough, 4 years isnt that old! I just wish mine lasted that long, they tend to get destroyed after a couple of seasons.

Mt Dobson

This is a very serious topic. No joking about beer please.

I pretty sure they are Sastrugi, though its the first time I have seen them. I was almost sure they would be horrendous to ride on but was very plesantly surprised when I found they were soft. I think it might have snowed on top of them after the wind event.