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telehugh

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About telehugh

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    SJ'er with 10+ posts
  1. Comfy boots, comfy boots, comfy boots - sure way to have warm feet. Unless you are racing I am a strong advocate of making sure that you feet are comfy - which in turn ensures good circulation and warm feet. Ill-fitting / tight / uncomfortable boots are a sure way to have a miserable time and unless your boots are super sloppy it's not going to make a huge difference to your skiing. If you are renting boots it is worthwhile spending some time trying on different boots and if you're out for more than a week / year buying a good pair of boots at the end-of-season-sales and getting them
  2. Not a silly Q .... for alpine skis they are both the same - but for some tele bindings it does matter - there is a L & R binding. As for the "only tune the inside edges" ... hmmm .... there is a time and place for only weighting the downhill ski but then there is the transition - I sure wouldn't want one edgy ski going one way and the blunt one the other.
  3. SJ mods ... yesterday the 6 day forecast for Myoko and Shiga had exceptionally cold temps forecasted 6 days out yesterday - but 5 day forecasts looked sane. From memory Akakura was forecasted at minus 23degC plus x windchill on Sunday - which I doubt. If another odd one comes up I'll PM - the forecasts are great - thanks. IMVHO minus 10 - 15 is cold but workable. More than than is not great skiing weather. Worked in minus 40 - not pleasant and requires lots of layers and down jackets.
  4. If you looked at the 6 day forecast on SJG then I suspect that there is a software bug somewhere. The last day on a couple of the forecasts I have looked yesterday and today look v. low and are significantly different from the Japan Meterological Office forecasts. Maybe a mod could look into it Hugh
  5. I'd claim a one piece as reasonable provocation. And while we are on the subject of bizarre ski wear, what's with this season's look for male boarders in tight-fitting white, floral print one-pieces - I kid not there were at least two of them out this weekend
  6. It's the New Year holiday and the slopes are full of weekend warriors. Normal service will be resumed on Monday.
  7. Hope you had a good day at Myoko today - we've had light snow all day at Myoko and all lifts running. Base is getting built and pushing all the brush down so the tree skiing is getting better.
  8. An easy solution is "magic tape" - double sided velcro. Often sold in hardware shops in 1 or 2 m rolls. Alternatively pretty much any ski shop I have ever been in (including in KR) has ski straps. Good luck with the search
  9. The old style ones (glass chimney) are bomb-proof - mine are 8 years old and they just get dusted when I drag them out of the shed each autumn. The electric fan ones aren't - you get what you pay for and they don't last forever. Received wisdom around here is go for glass chimney heaters and electric oil filled radiators if you really need to keep one room warm - ohh and a kotatsu if you can actually relax sitting under a coffee table (which I can't)
  10. Spending serious money really realy isn't necessary when learning to ski. You don't "need" a gortex jacket - just something breathable and windproof. Snow isn't wet so why wear a waterproof? A lot of older ski jackets aren't waterproof and, guess what, a lot of the newer high-end soft shells arn't either. Thermals are a must plus one or two fleeces. IMHO there is very little performance difference between different thermals / fleeces but there is a big difference in durability. So if it's just a two week holiday then get cheap fleeces and bin them if they are knackered. Wool / merino is s
  11. SerreChe Thanks for the comment - yours and the "guru's" (vvvvvv dangerous to be a nominated guru.....) The more I learn about any natural phenomena the less I know. When I get the chance I'll do a literature search and see if anything comes up - I'd guess that we'd find a bunch of inconclusive datasets. Reckon we get funding to do a 3-year study on comparative thermal gardients - Lake Louise, Hakuba, Whistler? Always fancied a PhD in Snow Science In the meantime I'll be talking to locals, (avoiding any self-styled gurus), digging some pits and doing the block dance
  12. SerreChe Temperature gradient - when I was first writing one of my replies I first wrote "maritime ..... less temperature gradient ..." but then realised that I didn't have anything to back this up. Intuitively I'd have thought that the temp grad in Japan snow pack's would typically be less (deeper snow pack, base at zero and surface not so different etc) but do we actually know if the typical JP gradient's are less? And while I'm asking questions .... why are we taught that the ground is at zero and not colder? Hugh
  13. Marine snow pack is denser and more cohesive - ie more stable but if it does slide typically more destructive. Whereas continental snowpack is drier, lighter and less well bonded. While carrying the rubbish up the hill this morning (cold with good view of the mountains) I thought a little more about this ... other reasons why the Munter method may not be appropriate include the terrain - skiing in the alpine zone is normally the exception in Japan. Tree skiing is more normal particularly if there is a heavy snow fall when viz is bad so the snowpack is well anchored - conversely if you are
  14. Local wind patterns are less predictable than in Europe, slopes are less steep and in most locations we are skiing on marine snow pack. Personally I wouldn't use the Munter method in Europe or in Japan. I take a much simpler approach - watch the weather, talk to people more experienced than me, think about the route, dig a pit, maybe dig another pit, watch the terrain.
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