jon snapper

Candide Thovex is without doubt the sickest freestyle rider that ever put on a pair of skis.

Jeremy hands down. He boards down walls, its just not right. Although Terje and Craig Kelly might have something to say about that.

Toque - I did it just after the car park area opens a few years ago. I was definitely not expecting to find powder. It`s a good laugh, and yeah I suppose most people do do it for the cool factor as it is a pretty cool thing. If I do it again I`m leaving the board at home and taking an ice-pick,. There were some pople have a whale of time ice-pick sliding their way to the bottom - looked like great fun.

I did it a couple of years ago. It's a great feeling standing at the top of Fuji, pointing your board downslope and setting off - that, however, is where the good feeling ends. Powder hounds be warned, there is no powder. The snow is brutal. It's about 3 and a half hours from the car park, then about 5 minutes down. If you're giving your equipment a grand sendoff as I was you may wish to partake in a spot of rock-boarding at the bottom which is a great laugh. If you get up there early enough and the weather is alright you can board in to the crater - not as scary as it sounds, but a

While we're on the topic. As Sanno rightly points out, Dynastar are a part of the Rossignol group. They've kindly agreed to sponsor this years Nagano Ski Trip. I was at there offices the otherday checking out the new gear for this year, some pretty sweet looking stuff I must say. Anyways, we'll be giving away Dynastar skis, boards, bindings, poles, clothing and hats at the Nagano Ski Trip Party at Hakuba's infamous Club Panorama/Valance (or whatever they call it these days) on Saturday January 22nd. Check out the site for more details www.naganoskitrip2005.com Come along,

The NAGANO SKI TRIP is back, January 21st-23rd. Each year over 300 people come together in Hakuba, Nagano for a masses of fun and frolicking in the snow. The Party cannot be missed. Check out the link: www.naganoskitrip2005.com Snapper

Matt - is it that warm? Looks like I timed my little trip back to England well. Never fear, as soon as I return it'll start dumping again. p.s. seriously weird to be back in the Motherland.

We had a about 30cm overnight in Hakuba. This morning was great, but by 12 most everything had heated up, subsequently the snow got really heavy. Looks like we`re gonna get a beautiful sunny day in tommorrow so a few of us are going for a hike off the top of Happo. The outlook for the weekend is pretty bleek. New snow could may not come until midweek.

Can`t look past Hakuba. I`ve just had the most incredible 3 days of boarding ever. That looks like becoming 4, 5, 6 days, 1 week, 2 weeks as it ain`t letting up out there. Snow is falling in the village at the moment, should get plenty tonight. The best bit is there`s been so much snow I haven`t had to go anywhere near the BC (neither would I have wanted to with crappy stability), but once all this dumping stops there`ll be weeks of fun to be had out there. Insane season, haven`t had a day without powder(apart from Mon/Tuesday when it rained) and I`ve ridden everyday.

No big incidents this year. Well there was the bloke who decided he`d puke all over the girls toilet then fester in his masterpiece. Then there was the muppet club manager who didn`t order enough booze, in spite of the fact that I`d warned him the Gaijin would drink his club bankrupt. Apart from all that everything weny mucho smooth.

Coincidentally, if that`s you Mike. Mitch and me polished off all your tortillas, mixed cheese, and chilli mix sauce stuff. Hmmmmmmm....!!!!! :cool

The riding had been really good up until today. I spent 1 miserable hour mincing around at 47. The rain has come to Hakuba, nothing but slop outside at the moment. I`m taking the day off tommorrow as the temprature suggests that it will also be a day of slop. BUT Wednesday, that could be a different matter.

NoFakie - Thanks for the quick response. No offence taken. Hope to see you at the party. Jon

I`m not sure who writes the HAKUBA NOW weather report but the party information they gave today was totally inaccurate. The party in the POOL has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the JET Ski Trip. At 3000yen you`ve gotta be joking, it`s way too expensive. The ONLY JET SKI TRIP PARTY is being held as always at the club in the basement of Omoshiro Hasshinchi, this year known as `CLUB PANORAMA`(previously `CLUB VALANCE`). It kicks off at 8pm and entry is 1500yen with a free drink(before 11pm). EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!! Promises to be a massive party...400+ came last year.

Couple of big hikes off the top of 47/Goryu have got to be up there. Had a mentalist day at Cortina the otherday when every other resort in the valley was closed. Sick day in the trees at Tsugaike today. Would they be your tracks I saw in there today Fattwins?

Had about 15 so far. I find it helps if you quit your job.

I`m sitting here looking out of the window at Snowbeds. I`ve got a pretty big car but I can`t see it. We`ve had between 50-70cm of snow since lastnight. Take the day off, do what you have to do, for this is a day not to be missed. As usuual the 47 lifts look like they won`t be opneing up until 10ish.

Davo - only got one run in yesterday as I had to do the six hour round trip to the lady`s house. Got a full day in today. Took a couple of buddies upto that open area an hour off the top of 47. Built us a massive kicker off an already big cornice. I proved what I`d always expected, I`m absolutely useless at jumping off kickers. I tell you what though, that area needs hitting hard. It was so lush today.

We had an even more mental day today. Hiked for about 2 hours off the top of 47. Went left at the very top and headed for Kotomiyama. Dropped into some seriously good snow at a very steep angle. Ended up in a huge bowl at the bottom. Lush. Ended with a fun out in boardcross conditions bringing us out at the Goryu gondola.

Thing is the temp was about 10 degrees yesterday(or so it felt). I`ve done the same run hundreds of times, many on powder days but it`s never been quite as good as yesterday. Weird!

Davo and myself found some seriously good North facing snow off the top of Goryu/47 today. I`m in a seriously shocked state at the moment. Hasn`t snowed for ages but there is still fine stuff to be had.

I ventured down the closed slope to Iimori from the top of the quad on Saturday. Got first tracks, but it was so deep it was almost scary. I should have taken my scuba gear nevermind my snowboard. That has to go down as one of the Phatter days I've had on a snowboard. And what was the deal with that thunder. I thought it was a freakin' monster slide, soiled my pants royally!

It`s all about having a Pajero. My Paj loves playing in the snow.

Toque, Didn`t see you, although I did see about a million Japanese guys with 1000kilo backpacks on doing some kind of training. My heart went out to them.

Nope, we`ve got 224 so far. Not quite sure what you mean Ocean, but you`re more than welcome to come along. The more the merrier.