spook
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Posts posted by spook
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Nice pics MB. It's rad that your boys want to shred with you.
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8/10 for me. 24 days on the hill. A couple of those days were as good as anything I've ever ridden. The missus is shredding too. Awesome being able to belt down the mountain together.
Mucho happy. Already looking forward to next season.
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Originally Posted By: RobBright
what settings did you use for this?
I shot on Aperture Priority, trying to get as fast a shutter speed as possibile. Something like f4, 1/250, ISO 200. Try and get the eyes sharp.
Obviously touched the photo up a bit later to bring out some colours, but nothing too extreme. The photo is pretty much how we shot it. -
Cheers Sjers. Stoked you like the pics. Always nice to get some good feedback.
Originally Posted By: Creek BoyI was wondering how your season went Spook - those pics are really nice...especially your action pics. Sweet! How long were the runs over there in the trees? Was it something you lapped up? Tracked out quickly on those monster dump days?The Myoko resorts were medium/largish by Japanese standards. Still very small compared to something in North America, let alone Europe. The lift systems are excellent though. Best lift layout I've seen in Japan.
The tree runs at Akakura and Suginohara take some exploring to find the bext stuff, but after close to a month of riding we were still finding huge new areas in our last week there. A bit flat though. There is some serious backcountry possibilities if you know what you're doing.
On busy weekends they would get tracked, but during the week it would just be Spookette and I. Most weekdays it would pretty much just be us lapping different tree runs and by the end of the day there was still tons of fresh. Seriously, one day at Suginohara we just did the gondola run 20 times in a row, fresh stuff off to either side of the main trails, and there would barely have been a hundred people on the mountain. Weekends would get crazy packed though
Snow conditions wise, I was pretty happy with what we got. Having said that though, if we'd gotten much less I would have been disappointed. There was a lot of talk about how good the season had been up til then. Maybe I've been spoilt by Hokkaido, but I expect a lot of snow in Japan, and from what I heard maybe Myoko doesn't get as much as other areas...?
There was also talk about there normally being nice sunny conditions. Again, not really what I'm chasing. I found the snow a bit heavy too. By lunchtime the fresh snow would be starting to get a bit sticky fro mid-mountain down. So those comments from locals (about the sun/warmth and amount of snow) make me a bit wary about going back for another long stint, just in case we dud out.
The best bit though, was that it was just a quiet little Japanese resort town. Fun.
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One thing I would say, is that some areas of the resorts aren’t as steep as you’d like. They’re not flat by any means, but a slightly steeper pitch would be good. Of course, there are some very steep sections and runs through the trees, but if it was just a tad steeper overall, a ton more terrain would open up. Also, there’s some serious gullies and valleys offpiste, which hinder where you can and can’t go.
(rush hour in town)
Conditions warmed up during the last few days of our stay, but apparently it was one of the better winters in Myoko and Niigata for a while. I’m basing that on what several Japanese people told me on chairlifts and in town. If that’s untrue, feel free to let me know. I thought conditions were great but not spectacular.
(ski bunny)
(tunnel vision)
We did get a lot of snow when we were there, but didn’t think we got that much. I would like to think it was an average amount, rather than an excessively good winter. Because if that is a lot of snow for Myoko, then I hate would hate to see what it’s in an average year. A couple of big storm systems rolled through when we were there, the biggest dumps were about 60-80cm overnight and we had that three different occasions. It’s a ridiculous amount of snow and blazing through it just off the groomed runs was awesome.
We also had a couple of warm days - two separate days of rain in the first few weeks of the trip, and then three depressing days of drizzle towards the end. Again, I can’t comment if that is normal or not, but I would hope not. Overall I found the weather pretty mild. There were only a couple of days when it got proper cold (temps I’ve experienced before in Hokkaido and British Colombia). Often it would warm up after a big dump, so the morning would have lovely dry powder, which would get heavier as the day went on, even a mid-mountain.
(monkey business. jigokudani onsen monkeys)
We stayed at Suginohara for 3 weeks of our stay, mostly because we got a great deal on accommodation, plus we were ski-in/ski-out. There’s something nice about looking out your window and seeing the lifts, and then riding down the road and onto the runs. Suginohara probably isn’t the best place to stay if you’re over on holiday though, as there’s no shops, bars or restaurants. It was great for us as we had plenty of little creative projects to work on in the evening. At the end of our trip we moved to Akakura for a week, just for something different. There’s a great vibe in the village and plenty of places to get a tasty feed and a drink.
(our digs for the better part of our stay)
Ok. All round a very very good trip and definitely one of the best holidays I’ve ever had. Myoko’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but I love it and will be back for sure.
(Matsumoto on the way back to Tokyo. Check it out. It's a cool little town)
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OK, I’ve been meaning to get this TR done for a few months now but it’s been delayed. It’s here now though. It's a bit of a long one. Hope you like it.
This winter (mid-Jan to mid-Feb) we were lucky enough to spend over a month in Japan. This was our fourth trip to Japan, and armed with more time than money we flew into Japan with no fixed plan. There were a few resorts in Niigata that we were keen to check out and we wanted to keep some flexibility in our schedules.
(Nagano station)
(on the hill...)
First stop was Myoko. Our first day on the hill was a banger - 70cm of fresh overnight and with local trains cancelled due to heavy snow, we almost didn’t make it up the hill. Conditions were pretty amazing. It was our first day snowboarding in 3 years and it was niiiiiiice!
(hot dawg. this is what we came for)
After a couple of fantastic days at the Myoko resorts all thoughts of checking out the other places on our list went out the window. We stumped up for season passes and settled in. I think we made the right choice. We had a lot snow and a great time over the month we were there.
(postbox. i just like them)
(a little bit flat but fun as hell)
(spookette in the trees)
There’s 3 main resorts at Myoko - Akakura, Suginohara and Ikentoaira. Akakura has tons of trees, steeps and some pretty burly terrain. Suginohara is the next largest, it boasts a couple of fast and long lifts, allowing for some excellent long runs. Ikenotaira is pretty small. There’s some fun trees, but not much in the way of freeriding. The main attraction here is the park - they’ve got shedloads of jibs, rails and intermediate kickers. There’s also a rad yellow kombi that sets up in the afternoons and cranks out reggae tunes and cheap chicken kebabs. Koichi-san, the rasta in charge of it all, is a very friendly guy. Make sure to get a kebab off him.
Prior to the trip I’d done a bit of research into Myoko, but wasn’t really sure what to expect. The resorts are pretty good. The lifts systems are efficient and there’s free shuttle buses to ferry you around between the resorts. I’d say that advanced level skiers/snowboarders would be a bit bored in Myoko. The resorts are large without being huge, and the terrain is fun without being too challenging, although there is some pretty wild stuff to hit at Akakura.
We don’t really like riding around groomed trails all day, and stay out of the park. For us, we were there to hit the trees, and we had a ball.
(cold beers)
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Damn. That is pricey. I'll keep looking.
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Yeah. Gonna do some this week. I have been tied up and busy with a bunch of other stuff. Plus I am extraordinarily lazy.
Soon. Promise.
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Can you choose the voice? And how sexy are we talking?
Anyone have any experience renting a campervan in Japan. Not one of the ridiculously huge Winnebago style ones, but a medium sized one?
At a bunch of different resorts in Japan I've seen them parked up in the carparks. Normally I would never consider a campervan snow trip, but you could have a nice hot onsen after a day on the slopes, so it wouldn't be too bad.
I was thinking they'd be good in terms of visiting remote/far flung resorts. Ride some quiet places for 4-5 days and sleep in the van, then check into a hotel on the slopes for a couple of days to break it up.
Been looking around on the net but can't seem to find anything.
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What's wrong with just using a road map?
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When I was in Myoko the dispute was still on. It doesn't matter though. There's a bit of fun stuff in Onsen, but mostly I would just stick to Kanko.
You can ride the better steep stuff at Onsen and they cut back to the Kano lifts anyway..
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cheers mitch. stoked you like the pics
hmm. seem to having problems linking pics in from facebook. maybe fb hae changed something with their site. anyway, here's a couple of shots from last week
if you want to see more, search for "Pitstop Hill Mentawai" on facebook and sign up as a fan. I upload a bunch of pics every fortnight.
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padang seems to be cranking along fine. i don't want to sound callous, as many people died in the quake, and many are still affected by it, but it appears to be business as usual.
there's a lot of building down, and some areas are pretty destroyed, but it's always been a hodge-podge 3rd world city an it doesn't seem much different now. just a bit more mess and carnage than usual.
pariaman (a small city to the north) is apparently much much worse, with something like 90% of buildings destroyed.
still, i'm kinda sketching out in padang. if i have to go into a big building, i'm keeping a firm eye on the exits. i won't go deep into the markets either (above the markets, the matahari department store is a crumbling wreck. people still operate stalls and shop there, but the don't really have any choice in the matter - what else can they do.
one of the big shopping malls - plaza andalas - looks to be almost repaired, but basically they've just plastered over the cracks and put a new lick of paint on it. i would be very very reluctant to go in there. it's already been badly damaged a couple of times
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just got into padang and the trip was an absolute breeze. using speedboats is so much better than the ferry. what was the better part of half a day and a night worth of travel is now just an afternoon.
stuffed my face with spicy bbq prawns and fish for dinner, staying in a nice (low-rise) hotel. it ain't so bad.
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just had a surf at sideshore rifles. swell was good, tide was good, wind was... not quite there. worth a shot though. i got reatrded drunk last night, was hungover as hell today and kind of rattled out there. it's so damn shallow.
the surf looks pretty sick for the next few days and there's no one around. but i got to go to padang to deal with some immigration stuff. very annoying. luckily there's room on some speedboats for both crossing, but still - 5 hour trip each way, 3 nights in padang just to get a photo taken and do some fingerprint. they already have my photo and fingerprints. boo.
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that bottom pic is my best mate, with the boys hooting him from the shoulder. haven't seen him for two years, so was pretty rad to nail that shot of him
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hey hey
so i've been trying to link some pics from facebook t this thread, but have had zero joy. i'd like to post a bunch of pics but will have to settle for the ones below instead.
these are from the last two weeks in the mentawais. the waves have been fun if nothing off the hook. there have been some nuts sessions, but for the most part it's just been good.
not that im complaining. i'm happy as larry (whoever he is)
yeuw!
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cheers indo. i tried to link some facebook pics into here last night but it didn't seem to be working.
about to head out for a surf now, will try again tonight...
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Ah, you're one of those glass half full people
Monkeys are good. Matsumoto is great too.
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such as sit inside and moan about the weather.
for all those who would ski in the rain - if you went on a beach holiday, would you try and sunbake in a thunderstorm?
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the beauty of a season pass is that once you've paid for it, it doesn't cost you anything to ride
i had one this year, and there were a couple of crappy days with rain and/or bulletproof. but i could still go up, do 3 or 4 runs, get some fresh air and then head back to the lodge
if i was buying day passes there's no way i would have gone up the hill
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i wouldn't ski in the rain or on snot if it was free. it's just no fun for me.
i live in oz, and have traveled to nagano in the past and have not gone out on the hill for a few days due to rain or ice. just cos i'm there does mean i want to do it conditions are bad
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beautiful light in the first shot mike. bummer bout the rain though
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It sounds like a question. South Africa. It's possible?
Few late pic's - Rusutsu plus
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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Even when you're screaming at him to hurry the hell up...?