crazyski

Oyuki -- I'm headin' to Whistler in just a couple weeks (actually, 12 days). been checking snow reports, and looks pretty mediocre, especially compared to the last few years. Last 3 seasons November averaged nearly 150cm, but so far only 86cm... all this when the best pow resort in North America, Alta, already has 450cm . After a quarter of school, I NEED my turns in some pow, and I NEED my apres ski beers. I sure will miss the onsen, though. Perhaps my happiest moment was after gettin it in Gifu pow all morning then sitting in an hot, smelly onsen with big, fa

yo fatty, i think i've been on that river in your pictures. not far from kyoto, right? i forgot the name of it, but there's a hike there that follows the river in lonely planet. what's the name? that station platform looks particularly familiar. sayogawa maybe?

i fell into a snowdrift last season up in hida with toque. he made like three laps on a sick powder day while i looked for my glove, hat, goggles, pole, ski, etc. thought i was gonna drown in snow for awhile. sounds like it'd be a good way to go, but choking on pow when you're upside-down sucks. phhhhrew. choking on faceshots at 50kph is another story.

6 years and counting for the doctor-making-big-bank thing... 3 1/2 years left of med school, 3 years of residency in ER, then its a fully transportable position with decent pay and no responsibility outside shift hours (except for all the times you get sued frivolously) but before that i'll be US$200,000+ in debt. YAY for modern American medicine! wizardman, i'll be sure to send a pm soon. fattwins, i'll talk to dane soon toque, learn how to spell...and thanks for the pics. and one last thing.

ah, danz. checked out your blog through asia. lookin' good. i had a blog, too, but it was barely updated. oops. you as bummed about being in school as i am? actually, i'll be in seattle december 9-11, then i'm heading up to whistler with chelsea clinton's stanford roommate and a former Seattle Seahawk (among others). The crazy people they let into med school in chicago... i'll be in whislter til the 19th -- we gotta meet up. and about kirkwood, toque, make it the third week in march and i'll be there.

dudes, it's like the fattwins/toque show up in here. wish i could be there. stuck in true flatlands. damn, i'm jealous of the dude with 3 brand-spankin' new pairs of volkls. just got me the 02-03 v-pros. alright, to business. fattwins or toque-- you guys got any friends in the whistler area who like to go bc? i'm heading there dec 11-19 and wanna get at least a day or two in the bc. suggestions?

toquie and friends, i'm drunk, and at the bro's college in NC, America, so I thought I'd write for the first time in months. siad that i'm not there anymore. boo hoo. i went waterskiing last saturday. almost like skiing. didn't even fall. great stuff.

Quite interesting. The real question is...what do you like, beard or no beard? I've had both this year in Japan, and the beard sure gets funny looks sometimes. My cowokers were quite amused. But to answer your question, I shave probably every other day, but I probably need to do it every day. I shave against the grain, which cuts off at least another days worth of growth. beards are cool.

Ah, Toquie, you miss me already, eh? I'm pretty bummed about having to leave, especially since I only really met 2 bona-fide SJers in real life (besides toque). (Fattie, OUFreeski -- we'll catch up sometime, somewhere, I suppose). Anyway, I'll be happy to know when they're some real skiing JETs on their way here. 3 out of almost 200 just doesn't cut it - I guess that's more pow-pow for you, toque.

Yeah, so on saturday night i was drinking and last night was told of something i said. i was in the bar, and allegedly it was one of those times when the song fades out on the CD, and everyone's conversations stop at the same time, and there is momentary silence in an otherwise-loud environment. Then i say: "YEAH, WE CALL THOSE PEOPLE GAY!" I don't have a clue in what context I said this, but if only we knew, we would have an answer to this very perplexing question... Man, drinking sucks sometimes - but it sucks so good, eh?

Alright, so this post spurs from the commonly-noted "US dependence on Mid-east oil." After much frustration finding primary sources for US oil data, I've concluded the following interesting facts: *The US produces approximately 40% of its own crude oil for consumption. *In the most recent month for data, the top two exporters of oil to the US were nowhere near the middle east, but were rather Mexico and Canada. Saudi Arabia was third. *OPEC supplies the US with less than 30% of its crude oil. *The Mid-East supplies the US with less than 15% of its crude oil. *The

Just got back yesterday, but didn't do any surfin'... Saw some people on the NW coast of the main island, and it looks like some waves were of pretty decent size (maybe 3m?). A beautiful place, though. Wish I could have seen it when it was warmer, since it was less than 15 degrees the whole time i was there.

Scary indeed. I'm debating whether now is the time for some 3rd party voice in American politics. Both parties have become stagnant, undynamic, unimaginative, inward-looking cooperate pawns. In today's TV-driven and soundbyte-dominated campaign climate, the sad fact (that Mr. *** pointed out above) is that the man with the most [special interest donated] money will win. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what Ralph Nader would do in the White House? (too bad it just ain't gonna happen)

Any dates are good, from the 9th of april on... can't wait - yay!

yeah, looking forward to some backcountry trips this spring. I'm still pretty new to the tele game, and compared to 20 years of alpine experience, 2 years of teles is always humbling, even on the resort. Can't wait to flail and try to get up with a 50 pound pack...YAY! And TELEDUDE, Norikura is awfully close to ASAHIMURA. There's only one of those in Japan, right?

quote: Originally posted by Yuki's Passion: Starting from April, with my new school, I get about 7 weeks paid summer, just under one month winter, over 2 weeks in the spring, plus about 20 days of nenkyuu, and all other national public holidays !!! And, since Im a huge ski bum, I get to be the ski coach and go on two trips (paid) to Hakuba each year. Ahhh, life is good. Yeah, Im gonna get paid NOT to work, he, he, he

I agree moguls help a bunch with responsiveness and absorption, two things that are key for skiing in japan, even if you don't ski moguls. eg, when making quick, last-second turn decisions while doing high speed through trees, and when hitting crazy runout ruts, bumps, geothermal outgassing-holes, stumps, etc, etc. I simply can't ski them any more. I like long, shaped, and fat skis, so I have three strikes against me... And I'm a lot worse at it than I used to be.

Here\'s the link for the thread on DNA Spin3. High score is 93560. Good stuff, it is.

Quote: Originally posted by mogski: Ummm, you're not suppossed to get stuck in powder. That's when you decide to buy TWO boards (some might call them skis), and put ONE on each foot. You can go faster, too.

I got the legbouncing thing goin' on. Don't know why, really, 'cause I'm not a nervous-type. Bugs the hell out of all past girlfriends, though. I guess I should stop... Or maybe stopping pinching their butts when I follow them up the stairs would be a good starting point.

yo jared, who is that skiin'? looks like a pretty quality jibber - landing a 540 is pretty impressive. Too bad I couldn't meet up with you in Iwate - the highway was closed so my intermediate-minded friend thought I'd be a better idea to head to shizukushi instead. both gondolas were closed, but there was still some good stuff to be found near the slow singles to skiier's right.

My friend in Alaska just wrote saying it was -50 degrees C where he lives in Fairbanks. Brr.. I wonder how many times "samui" would be said if that was Japan? My eventual plan is to head south to NZ (hopefully for good). The snow is a bit heavier than here, but here's plenty to be skiied. I just gotta go back to the states and finish (and start for that matter) school.

Quote: Originally posted by Teledude: For most people that's too high to ski but not for the Bolivians, if they can afford to. I'm sure they have better things to do most of the time though. 14,000 feet isn't too high either, there's plenty of places in Colorado to ski from that height if you don't mind climbing to get there. Yeah, even lift-serviced stuff at A-basin is nearly that high, eh? Like 13,005 ft. 50+ peaks in Colorado that are higher than 14,000. Can't say I've even climbed one, let alone skied it... " title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" />

Sorry I missed all y'all up there last weekend. Not paying attention to where one is going while on tele skis apparently makes one late for an SJ pow-wow. DOH! Next time, for sure... Gifu this weekend, anyone?

ah, good times, them were. Does anyone happen to have a pic of toque and I hanging from the rafters at Jam BY OUR LEGS?!? Seeing JamBar during a 1000-yen pissfest is one thing - seeing it upsidedown is quite another!