spook

but you put up with it, because if you know your way around it's not a problem. and the snow is ridiculously light

but like thursday said, the olympus is waterproof so it can take a beating and you never have to worry about it. take it out on boats etc and treat it rough. it'll be fine

the G10 and G11 get very good reviews. it seems that a lot of pro-shooters carry one (or something similar) with em for the times that they don't want to lug around a SLR. there's plenty of times i want a decent camera on hand but don't want to have to lug around a bulky body and lens. i just can't justify buying even more stuff! not sure about the S90, but the G11 is a fair bit chunkier than the tiny point and shoot cameras. the shockproof/waterproof olympus is very compact and can easily slip into a pocket. the G11 is a bit bigger, but will still fit into a purse or handbag or whatever

hey mina check out www.dpreview.com for some pretty in depth info i also seem to remember reading somewhere that the G11 isn't much better than the G10, so yu might be able to pick that up cheaper?

ahh, i dunno. best just to email me at lukegerson at yahoo dot com dot au and i'll forward you the info

are you still looking for insurance moonwalker. i got a deal on a company i use for all my trips... send me a PM if you want the details

or they are just laid out in a frustrating manner and you have to take a couple of lifts to get anywhere... hence they seem slow

yeah, i got no idea how to read the bus timetables either, and to be fair, a lot of japanese people seem confused by which bus is going where. i've just worked out what time they leave at the start of their journey, and add on a bit of time for them to get to where i'm at...

i would think 3000 is about as cheap as it's gonna get... if you're coming all the way from kore just for a 3 day ski trip, would't it be possible to just go skiing in korea instead? or are the slopes no good?

one of the worst places i've ever stayed in was a B&B in newscastle, UK. got stuck there on a bank holiday weekend when our campervan broke down. the cheapest accom was 50quid a nigh and just terrible. faulty tower-esque. hilarious in retrospect but not when you're bleeding money to stay in a hovel. other notable mentions - hotel in the red light district in singapore (we'd been reliabl informed the red light district there isn't too seedy and the place was cheap. i wouldn't recomend it) a fleabag rabbit warren place in kyoto that was just terrible and way too many places in 3rd worl

my first 'powder' experience? a whopping 10cm dump in Big White in Canada that had me beaming from ear to ear. couldn't wipe the smile off my snowy frozen face. i've been hooked ever since riding powder is so much fun - it's interesting snowboarding in different countries, and everywhere yo go people froth so hard on it. it's a universal buzz, just cos it feels so good.

yep, i can see that it seems like a long time. but when we were planning the trip we could do 2 or so weeks hitting a bunch of different places, or 4-5 weeks somewhere for a similar amount of money. we took a bit of punt that we'd like myoko and arranged some cheap accom, rode around for a few days to check we liked it and plumped down for a season pass. between the resorts there's a ton of terrain, lots of off piste to explore. i think we'll only just be getting a handle on the best off piste runs by the time we leave. i really like riding trees and some of the runs here are as fun as an

only been here two weeks now...! got another two weeks to go. thought we'd maximise our snow time because it's been a few years. seeing as i've been drooling over everyone else's pics and trip reports it's only fair that i return the favour. you'll just have to be patient cos we're working on it... will definitely put up an in depth report and lots of pics when we're done you ski today muikabochi? you seem to get a lot of time on the mountain

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain Thanks everyone. Glad you enjoyed. Spook, this resort isn't all that far away from where you are now. We could very easily see Mt. Myoko for the upper part of Ryuoo. I'd suggest getting over there if you get the chance. I've been dreaming of that top to bottom run the last two nights... thinking about heading back there this weekend (if only for a day trip)! sweet BM. it sounds pretty ace. i guess for us transport is a bit of an issue - not having a car turns a simple trip into a bit of a drama. had a sick day at suginohara today though. rod

wow. awesome TR BM. looks like you had a killer weekend. i'll be adding this resort to my list too

yeah, i seem to remember seeing sit-skiiers in hajuba a few years ago. am being humbled by them. they were faster than me too

Originally Posted By: Mr Brisbane Our only regret whilst at Myoko was not spending more time at Ikenataira and Suginohara. The tops of the hills are spectacular and the top to bottom run really lets you know where your legs are. Very appealing to us Aussies. The only criticism, that I have of the whole Myoko experience is of the shuttle bus service which although punctual was neither regular nor frequent and the timetables which defied the best efforts of even native Japanese to accurately interpret. yep, i like suginohara and ikenotaira too. the lifts at suginohara are fast and

sounds good! what charts are these and how reliable are they?

ps. i really like that shot of lake nojiri. the views from myoko are ace!

nice pics BM. yesterday was a bit disappointing on the hill. 10cm of fresh but gnarly crust off piste from the thaw/freeze from the warm and rain. had resolved to have a quiet weekend, but got up early this morning cos of crazy noise from snowpughs and snow blowers - it's still drak but it looks like another 10-15 of unexpected snow fell last night.

oh yeah, black mountain, had a look at that cheeky run you're talking about, but wasn't sure if it would actually loop back around to onsen, cos it looks like you'd have to go around the entire ridge of the onsen resort..? anywya, will have a poke in there in the next few days send me a PM when you're in town and we'll go for a ride together

hey muika. um, disappointingly, no good photos yet. been shooting heaps, but haven't got anything we're really happy with yet. spookette and i shoot a lot of surf and travel stuff, snow is new to us, so we've been pluggin away learning the basics. fingers crossed we'll have some gold to share in the next few weeks. we've been riding around with a backpack full of camera gear. it's a bit annoying and i'm quite paranoid flying along with it all, but it's the only way to learn. black mountain - the top lift at akakura kanko is running - that's the one you can drop to skiiers left into those

just went for a quick few hours on the hill. mixture of fresh pow, crust and some heavy stuff underneath, but found some nice windblown stashes. good to get out there after this morning's rain anyway where do you normally stay in akakura? we had a poke around akakura onsen yesterday. the lifts aren't as well thought out as they are at the other myoko resorts, but that must keep people away, because there was a ton of fun little gullies and hits everywhere we looked. very mellow terrain, but i'm riding with the missus and it's enough to keep us both happy. we'd planned to check out so

sweet. i've heard interesting thnings about gulmarg. hope the lifts are running for you. my sister in law went there a few years ago. great photos.

damn. first descent. that's epic