Glen Falting
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Posts posted by Glen Falting
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RIJ - Interesting to hear about the problems you're having. I have basically the same gear that you have but with all the good things everyone says about flows, I' keen to give them a go next season. One of the tumblers on my bindings seems to be leaking lubricant and as it was the one that froze I reckon next year I might be due for a gear change.
How does the responsiveness/comfort of the flows compare with the SI system? Also, how do you find getting into the flows in the deep powder? I guessing you're not using your HDs with the flows, is that correct?
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Ocean, I find it easier to push only one leaver and roll my foot out. As for your friend, having to lean on someone else indicates a remarkable lack of coordination. Are you sure he is Australian?
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Cayote, it has a lot to do with pers preference and what you're used to. I doubt there is any system that is completely trouble free (i.e. every system has some advantages and draw backs). I've had SI for two seasons now and would recomend them to most casual riders.
Pros:
You can step into them stright off the lift and slide away with the skiiers while your stap-on budies are sitting on their arses.
You can skate along and step in on the move.
No dangly bits to catch on things when skating.
They are usually very easy to get into and out of, with no dangly strappy things getting in the way.
They hold very well and are almost as good as stap on systems for responsiveness.
Becuase the boots don't have any bits sticking out, you can remove your ankle strap and use your boots with stap on bindings. Handy for the times when you're renting a board.
Not really a Pro, but worth mentioning is that whilst SI are not the easist to get into or out of in powder, they are probably no more difficult that any other binding system. All systems would require you to clear away the snow, flow binding have the flappy back thing that you need to flip up, which (from the very few times I've seen them in action) seem to be equally problematic. I honestly haven't experienced any problem using SI in powder and when I've had to take my board off, it has been fairly easy to set the board up and climb on and step in. It does take a little balance, but it's not a fatal flaw with the system.
Cons:
Almost impossible to release when there is upward pressure on the system. If you find yourself facing down the slope and the board caught up in something above you, it will nearly impossible to release yourself without assistance. But then, maybe this is just another risk of riding off piste alone.
Probably the worst thing and this would be the same with most step-in type bindings and maybe flow's big advantage is that you need to have the boot quite tight to avoid heel (and toe) lift. The ankle strap helps reduce this a bit, but you still need to spend the day with your boots done up up quite tightly which can be very uncomfortable until you get your boots just right. The top end versions of the boots with their extra padding help a lot in this regard.
The gear can freeze. Once one of the locking tumblers got some ice inside and wouldn't stay open. Not sure how often this happens, but the only way to fix the problem is to let the binding thaw out. Luckly it happened late one afternoon, so very little slope time was lost.
As I said above, it really is pers preference. I bought my system after two days of renting strap on gear and so pretty well learnt to ride with SI. For me, the ease of getting around the mountain more than makes up for the drawbacks.
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Yeah, Daley Thompson was incredible. Probably one of the greatest track and field athletes the world has ever seen. I guess you could also add Big Mig Induraine (sp?) and Edwin Moses. Guys that enjoyed a dominance for many years.
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You're right of course db. We are a bit obsessed with Sir DB. I'd like to change my nomination to Tim Henman. Granted he's not much of a sportsman, but he is nice chap and surely that must count for something.
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I was being facetious Siren. Clearly your ability to converse with adults is as deficient as your personality.
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Agreed. It's been a boring day, but perhaps not quite this boring.
If you're ever heading to yuzawa sometime, let me know. I'll spot you the extra cash so you can ride in comfort for a change.
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I'll make this nice and simple for you Siren.
I was suggesting that taking a very long and uncomfortable bus trip, when a far more convenient means of transport is readily available, is not a course of action I would recomend to anyone unless they had absolutely no choice, i.e. the person was simply unable to afford the extra Y5,000 (or whatever the price difference happens to be). In the context of an internet forum where the members are predominantly English speaking and the topic of discussion was travelling from Tokyo to the snow, it would be reasonable to assume that most people who are interested in the discussion would be able to afford the additional amount to allow them to travel to the snow in a more convenient manner.
Now, if a person is in such financial difficulty that he/she could not afford the additional amount, one wonders why they are interested in taking up a sport like snow skiing/boarding, which I'm sure you would agree, is actually quite expensive. Accordingly, I suggested that if the extra cost of more convenient travel was beyond the means of a person then perhaps such a person should reconsider his/her snow sport aspirations.
You on the other hand seem to think that taking a long, boring, uncomfortable o/n bus trip is something that is preferable if it means enjoying a different experience. Which is actually a pretty moronic thing to suggest given the context of the discussion. Which was cheap day trips and not enjoyable new experiences. It is also quite condescending as it assumes that I haven't had such an experience and that it isn't the memory of that very experience that creates such a strong desire to avoid it in the future.
But please, by all means take the bus, it would reduce the chances of us meeting on the Shinkansen. I'm sure that even the 1hr 20 min it takes from Tokyo to Yuzawa would be far too long spent in your company.
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working
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"I just thought it was a bit stupid to relate it to how much you earn"
Sorry Siren, but I'm not the one who is suggesting that taking an o/n bus to the snow from Tokyo, when other far more convenient albeit slighly more expensive options are available, is a good idea.
and yes, it is a particularly boring day at work today..
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only 4 times? - mate you're being ripped off
I hate o/n bus trips and would pay quite a bit to avoid them. It's a nasty, brutish way to travel and should be used only as an absolute last resort.
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Ender - it is pretty expensive when you include the taxi to and from the resort, maybe a taxi to and from your house and tokyo station, the onsen, the beers, lunch and a couple of munchies during the day. It doesn't leave much from Y20,000. It's the shink ticket that gets you, if I had a car I'd probably be more inclined to drive to the resorts in Gunma or other places closer to Tokyo.
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Siren - mate, it just seems like a bloody lot of effort when for a very little extra the whole hassle could be avoided. Maybe if you're only source of income is a part time job in a combini, an o/n bus is a workable solution, but if you're a foreigner living in Tokyo and intending to take up skiing/boarding then its likely you're going to be able to afford to take the shinkansen. Either way, it's no bother, the more people on the buses means more free seats on the shinkansen.
Ender - generally, if you buy the tickets early in the week, there are reserved seats available, otherwise, a quick trip to a JR View Plaza on the night before will get you a non-reserved seat. It may be possible to buy them on the day, but I haven't tried.
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Y11,800 includes return shink ticket.
If you need to take an over night bus for a day trip, just to save an extra Y5,000 or so, then maybe you should look at taking up a different sport.
At Yuzawa there are a few half decent resorts, not as good perhaps as those available from Nagano, but the convenience more than makes up for it. There are quite a few within a Y2,000 taxi ride (split the fare with a couple of mates and its nothing at all). A typical day is - Leave Tokyo at 7:00, on the snow by 9:00am, ski/board all day, a quick onsen before getting back on the shink at around 6:30pm to enjoy a couple of relaxing beers before arriving back in Tokyo at around 8:00pm.
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Ender, you may be right, it's just my guess, but at least some of the runs seemed to be fine (i.e no worse than the others) and a couple were subsequently opened on Sat. No doubt some were a bit dubious and for safety reasons they were kept closed, but that didn't seem to slow people down. At one stage there seemed to be more people heading under the ropes than using the authorised courses.
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Don Bradman.
For those benighted souls who don't know who he was, he played cricket for Australia. He so dominated the game during his career that his batting averages were almost twice a high as those of his contemporaries. In baseball terms, his batting average was over 700. There have been a lot a great sportsmen and women (most of them Aussies
) but Don Bradman (who was also knighted -Echineko) was head a shoulders above the rest.He was also a remarkably humble and decent bloke.
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Osaka, ignore Danz, everyone knows that the journey is more important than the destination. Sounds like a great trip.
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Speaking of fun and groomers... just got back from 4 days at rusutsu spent mainly on groomers. Brilliant blue skies and hardly anyone on the mountain. By ducking the ropes, we even managed a handful of powder runs on the groomers that the resort had kept closed on Thursday and Friday, so the weekend visitors would have some fresh stuff to play on.
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Not sure whether you've noticed this or not SS ol' son, but not all English speakers are fluent in Japanese and, strange but true, not all Japanese speakers are fluent in English. As a result a combined forum would very quickly separate into Englsih threads, with English speaking posters and lurkers, and Japanese threads, with Japanese speaking posters and lurkers, i.e. not that very much different to what we have now.
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Go for the "Skippu" from JR. For about 11,800 you get a shinkansen ticket to Yuzawa and lift ticket for the whichever Yuzawa resort you're visiting.
Very do able for a day trip. If you get the right Shinkansen (7:10 on Sat morning), the trip from Tokyo to Yuzawa is around 1hr 20min. On the train by 7:10 am, on the snow before 9:00 am.
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IceEiji - when choosing from amongst the many seemlying very good offers on this thread, beware the veblem effect!
YP - What level did you do? I had a go a level 3 on Sunday. Not the most pleasent experience, but with a bit of luck I might scrape a pass. One guy in the room received a call on his mobile and was summarily red carded!
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...maybe they just weren't a bad as everyone else. Compared to the French and Spanish running around at that time, the English, were posivtively enlightened.
Last Samurai looks good but does sound a little like Dances with wolves.
Tom Curise did his best work in Taps. Since then he's been coasting.
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Relax folks. It's not going to be a problem for decades. Let your children's children worry about it.
Also, you can consol yourself with the thought that there have been natural and rapid variations in the world's tempeature in the past and maybe what we are seeing now is simply another example. Don't forget, the beaches will be much closer so it will be easier for your great grand children to go surfing.
Its a glass half full kind of approach.
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Those figures are great unless there is some sort of misunderstanding or you're simply not guilty of the crime. The police here can hold and interegate people for quite a long time, without proper acess to legal counsel or independant translators.
SI bindings and boots
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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Thanks Ray. It's good to get a balanced comparison.