alferg

thanks for the map. i can see i'll really have to lean on my japanese friends to interpret all this info! & zwelgen, thanks for your tips too. im starting to like the sound of nozawa a lot hope i get to slide with some of you guys while i'm there - always good to hook up with someone who knows the score

Quote: Great powder, lax about rope ducking and pretty much empty on a weekday that sounds like the *perfect* recipe for some quality snowboarding So what sort of distances are we talking between all these places? Where is Iiyama? For that matter, can anyone point me towards a map of the region? I've had a look on the web but cant find anything very useful... & any tips on a good hotel/hostel?

Wombats are the coolest!

erm, wasnt this thread about aus/nz? check it out - HUGE dump yesterday, bloody amazing for spring! wish i could be there, but work is stopping me ....at least the more i work, the more i can save for my japan trip & at least you don have to endure nasty blizzards to get freshies over there... gotta laugh at how much the resorts love to hype it up over here - "powdermonium" - hehe! http://thredbo.com.au/indexstory.asp CHAMPAGNE POWDER....60cm of fresh snow on the mountain last 24 hours and 20cm in the village! It's powdermonium

In Sapporo we found these lovely screen-prints, with gold leaf kinda stuff on them, in one of those big department stores with a whole floor dedicated to stationary. They were about AUD$10 each - bargain! Gave a few to some friends who mustve thought they cost a bucketload & had them framed, so we did the same with a couple. they look fantastic - lovely artwork.

damn these are cool tips! im a bit scared about the idea of driving in japan, not understanding japanese at all... sounds tricky! but at least they drive on the same side of the road! Fattwins, looking at heading over mid-jan until mid-feb, was thinking we'd go to hokkaido first (on the assumption that there will more gaijin in niseko during feb, all looking for freshies, & knowing that when i went there in early jan 2000, it was very quiet) for 2 weeks, probably just check out Niseko again & Rusutsu. Then go back to Honshu, set up base in Nozawa or somewhere in the

this stuff is very helpful - thanks again lads! so can anyone tell me how far it is from nozawa to hakuba by bus? is it practical to saty in nozawa & do day trips to the hakuba area resorts? & O11, those board the world articles are what inspired me to go to niseko in the first place - but i promise not to tell any more aussies about japan - honest!

cheers ocean 11! more excellent info - you guys are great i'd heard about the free onsens better than coughing up AUD$ 15 for one in niseko.. how far is nozawa from hakuba? my mate reckons you can get a bus.

jared, those are some priceless tips mate - thanks muchly! if u ever need any tips about thredbo/perisher blue in oz, let me know so r u living in japan?

thanks for that jared - i'd hear that. would you say it makes up for it in the powder dept? i noticed the boardtheworld guys went there on one of their tours, & they had plenty of good things to say about it. http://www.boardtheworld.com/trips/trips.php?tripID=21&tripRID=99

over here (oz)its the name for the face you pull when you're - shall we say - "loved up"!

Hi all, I'm from Oz. having been to Niseko twice, I think its time me & my crew checked out some other resorts. Anyone got time to make some recommendations? I like riding steeps & deep, dry powder. Not that excited about terrain parks - I can ride them here in Oz. Niseko was great, but I would like to find something steeper & bigger. Places with cheap accom are good too. I've been doing some homework on this & other sites, & so far I'm thinking we should check out Hakuba, Rusutsu, Niseko(again)& possibly Hakkoda. I also have friends who will be

woywo, im hoping to get down there again but work might get in the way.... just have to see how it goes. the frog is tipping a decent dump for 13-16th, so might aim for that if i can. otherwise there's plenty of base for a sunny weekend in the terrain park later this month/early next month. i only do short hikes generally, so i havent done any long hikes at perisher (other than back to the t-bar out to skiier right from mt Perisher - I forget the name) ... although i did dead horse gap (this is us on our way there below) but i now know where the name comes from - the poor horse proba

hmm, cool - cant say i'v ever tried that, but i will next time i go there - sounds that steep section from the top of olympic t-bar (plus a short hike) had some awesome pow on it last wednesday

yip, nothin wrong with aussie powder - just that it donest last all that long, but who cares - we've tracked it all up by then anyway, right? & yeah, my jacket is covered in black streaks now someone on ski.com.au forums reckoned it comes out with soap flakes, but it didnt work very well for me.... pretty crappy old jacked anyway, time for a new one - preferably black! woywoy, i prefer thredbo on a powder day, but i like perisher too - the terrain parks are far better there, & if its windy, it holds the snow better than thredbo. but the golf course bowl is fab... l

glad u like em forgot to add this bunch in as well > http://lpl.bootrecords.com/images/trip_14-18_08_03/als_analogue_cam_web/ thredbo & perisher dont have much in the way of continuous steep stuff, but there are a few short steep sections which are wicked on a powder day. I've never been to the victorian resorts so i cant say. the aussie gums are lovely to board in - very colourful & unique. this one is my favourite, taken by my pal owen > this guy's got some good aussie snow photos too > http://www.ginini.com.au/wilderness/galle

hi J-sliders It has been a pretty good season here in aus this year.... I've had some epic days, ripping through blackened forests(from the bushfires) full of fluffy pow.... here's a bunch of pics & movies of me & my mates, at various points in the year. first trip of the season: http://lpl.bootrecords.com/images/trip_01-14_06_03/ just after the first monster dump (over a metre in 3 days) - the AVIs are pretty kewl: http://lpl.bootrecords.com/images/trip_26-27_07_03/ just after the second really big dump (75cm in 36 hours) - dates are secret cos i took si

sorry but i think Aussie is getting a bit of a bad rap here - Thredbo & Perisher (2 resorts in NSW) have some seriously kick-ass areas, & a tree run through gum-trees is totally sublime! & some of my most memorable powder days are right here in Aus... we dont get many powder days, but they are damn good when they happen but having said that, if i lived in Japan I dont think I'd bother coming to Aus to board - I'd be saving my holidays up for all that lovely jap powder

i have a friend who just got back from nozawa & he found a great massage therapist there - i'll see if i can get his details for you. i'd imagine that any osteopath with a few degrees on the wall of their clinic would be worth a shot - you'll know they are good if they give you a really thorough massage (using elbows to get the knots out) that actually hurts a bit, then they do the adjustments afterwards. & like dims said, headaches means something is pretty badly out of whack - i had headaches for 3 months after my car crash - they only went away after i'd seen the osteo 3-4 time

last year in the blue-cow terrain park (australia) I did backside 360's off the first 2 tabletops, a huge indie off the spine, then a cab 180 off the last tabletop, all in the one sequence - not bad for an old bugger of 31 years!

i am just getting over a whiplash injury from a car crash - its been much worse than anything i've ever done to my neck snowboarding, but the rehab principles would be the same i reckon. do lots of warming up stuff - look up as far as you can go, hold for a sec, look down with your chin against your chest, repeat 10 times each direction, then do the same thing side to side. heat is good too - get a microwave heat-pack or a hot-water bottle & rest with it against your neck. also swimming is really good for streching & building strength in the neck. & you need to see an ost

was sniffing around the JAL site, & discovered its free to join the Mileage Bank program, & they're doing this double points promo at the moment - who says there's no such thing as a free lunch!!? http://www.jal.com.au/jmb/default.htm http://www.jal.co.jp/jalmile/ao_e/how.html http://www.jal.co.jp/jmb/ao_e/cam1.html

anyone else been to any indoor ski places? i'm pretty keen to check one out, just for the novely value, but i definately want one that has a kicker or some kind... cheers, al.

which is the best indoor boarding place in tokyo? which one has the best terrain park? i'll be there in march & may as well check one out... on the topic, anyone seen this> http://www.ski-trac.com/news/ the last line about global warming is a bit scary...! bit of discussion on it here> http://forum.ski.com.au/scripts/ultimatebboard/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=001027 aparently, there's a plan to build one here in sydney, aus., but it looks a bit dodgy going by the site> http://www.acay.com.au/%7Eskidome/ which is a sha

thanks mate, thats the best bit of info i've managed to pick up yet