[Goggles? your opinion?]

i need some new goggles,

 

Oakley A frame? Electric? arnette?

 

dunno what to get.

i think ima try and buy a pair in jimbotcho

 

im going to japan for this season,

in japan do you need reflective lenses or non-reflective?

or both?

[Best Park & Best Pipe]

i havent boarded in japan yet..

 

so i was wondering, japanese parks,

are they good?

 

i mean, where i am, in NZ, my local resort (Turoa) kept at least one kicky 30-40ft tabletop the whole season, that was the first time theyve kept something that big for longer than a couple of days.

i know that aint big, those american parks have 60footers and plenty of them.

 

its just that i dont really like it when people say fields have a good park and its just a bunch of rutted out flat 15footers ...lol

 

is there variation? hips,stepdowns,spines,,rails,boxes, etc etc??

[Switch Step-ins / Vans Boots]

oh, actually, i think Nitro makes the ugliest boots....lol

i like my boots cuz people sometimes mistake them for skate-shoes.

[Switch Step-ins / Vans Boots]

these days theres so much information, internet etc etc, that you dont have to take a salesperson's word for it.

so i never let a salesperson change my mind.

 

grrrr, i dislike burtons stupid "3D" binding positions.

burton is like microsoft.

my drakes came with baseplates that fit my burton board-holes, but theres not much ajustability cuz the baseplates also fit regular holes....

the burton baseplates from my friend's "burton freestyles" didnt fit my drakes...grrrrr!!!

can you buy some extra baseplates for burton holes that fit drakes...?

 

northwave and drake are the same company right? ...how come drake make such fine looking bindings but northwave makes the ugliest boots?...lol

[after ski life ?]

i thought that cuz of the September11 attacks, and the resultant airplane travel scares/price hiking, i thought a lot of japanese ski/boarders who would usually go to USA/europe would go skiing inside japan instead this season....?

what dyou reckon?

^^just a thought^

where you at barok?

[Switch Step-ins / Vans Boots]

i must say, i havent too much experience with step ins, ive riden them for 5 days total maybe?

 

but i agree with barok,

 

plus, what if the boots of 'switch' dont agree with your feet?

or, you break the bindings, and have to buy more step ins or fork out for new boots and bindings...?

 

personally i wouldnt touch step-ins, theyre just too limiting.

 

im rockin some 2001 DRAKE F60's

mmmmmmmmmmmm, nice traditional bindings.

 

 

i used to tell my friends not to buy step ins cuz you gotta carry a binding around with you on each step. plus its stiff for walking.

but i guess with highback stepin bindings thats half solved....

watever, go Traditional !

[Riding switch]

0/0 angles?!?! i'd like to see that!

lol

ive been snow boarding for....4 seasons

getting about 15-20 days a season.

so maybe i havent had time to catch up with these fashions, plus I been in NZ so we kinda isolated....lol

i just ride whatever feels right (for stance etc etc)

 

 

in the way of teams? i think its a forum invasion, but i dunno,

just from their vids, "technical difficulties" "the resistance" "true life"

damn, they are good riders.

 

so Ivo, what kind of riding do you do?,

 

i mean some alpine rider on a 180cm board wouldnt give a @@@@ about peter line doing switch backside 900's....

i guess im saying that only freestyle riders really follow teams, and brands.

 

if im wrong tho, educate me.

[Riding switch]

what are we following some sort of fashion ?....!

 

duckfoot?

on the topic of stance, i think its all up to the individual,

....plus the higher the back of the bindings the better,

stiffish, tallish boots,

wideish duckfootish stance,

happy attitude,

...and it saul goooooood

 

 

about changing your bindings,

i say definately dont do it, (unless you rock angles more alpine than front28 and back10....)

otherwise just follow my advise earlier,

torsion, flexion and extension baby

[Riding switch]

yea,

i dunno, you might lose a little power in duck foot, depends on the angles,

+21 front and -6 is good for starters.

i like duckfoot cuz it reduces the effective boot length so i dont have to ride a wide ass heavy board with my size-11 feet.

my board is 252mm in the waist,

i dont wanna ride a beefy thing with a 265mm waist.

 

i mosdefinately agree with barok, a groomed intermediate slope,

 

keep your momentum up

and just exaggerate the movements of normal riding,

thats the key,

ya know, like:

flex up and down heaps, (so you get a nice quick direct edge change)

use your new front knee to steer with,

lots of torsion from the feet,

ya know?

 

if you exagerrate them ^ with plenty of momentum,

you wont catch edges like many ppl do when learning switch

 

 

ey,

later

Don

[Boots]

i ride > 32 (peter lines)

theyre last seasons, or maybe two seasons old, i cant remember, but theyre nice and stiff,

 

i gotta slightly disagree with you Ivo, i think if your into rails and that, then some flexy boots is good,

but for Freestyle, like park riding (or free riding), definately the stiff boots, you need the extra support in the park

 

and theyre really good for freeriding eh,

 

just dont but some bottom of the line boots from rossi or watever, thats what i did for my first boots and they are disgustingly flexible.

[Riding switch]

hey, i love to ride switch, land switch etc,

 

so my angles are front= 21 and back= -18

duck foot is the way to go,

 

I dunno how well that works for non freestyle riders tho...

[Miyagi? .........(great new site)]

thanks Martin,

 

i think im gonna buy a Burton Rush,

i can get one (2001model..(with the red/orage city graphics)) in newzealand for NZ$900....thats about 46000 yen....

 

rush is the wider version of the balance.

 

but i cant decide between a 160 and a 164.

see, im about 6 foot and i weight maybe 75 kilos,

my old board is a 154 Option but it has a really short nose and tail so the running length is actually a little more than the rush160...

cuz im into the freestyle side of boarding so i think the 164 is too long maybe .....

 

aww, damn,

plus at the moment i can only find a 164,,,

but im lookin hard.

 

anyone got suggestions on which length?

anyone riden a Burton Rush?

 

cheers, lol

 

 

cheers

[Miyagi? .........(great new site)]

hey i love the new site,

it was the best thing in the net,

but now its the even bester thing on the net

 

Im almost definately going to be working as a snowboard instructor at ONIKOUBE skiresort in MIYAGI this season,

anyone know if the snowboard park is any good?

 

and those snowboard shops in jimbotcho, dyou think i could pick up a wide board there?

(i gots size 11 feet and hate the toe-drag)

do they sell Forum and M3 there?

 

 

thanks

[Niseko's terrain park?]

HA HA ha,,,,yea, ive had a few rail tattoos...

 

thanks for the knowledge on sahoro

 

I hope I dont sound like a "big-shot" in the park or pipe, cuz im not.

but I loved the week or so i got in the park at my local resort (Turoa,NZ) a perfect set-up: some shity jumps, small rails and probably the worst pipe youve ever seen, but that was perfect for keeping the beginners out of the best bits, rainbow and kinked rails, and two 35 foot tables, i was too scared to spin off those jumps cuz they had ice landings,, i did manage to break my wrist on em though..

 

the niseko park sounds alright,,,,but who needs it when youve got the powder supply eh?

thanks heaps for the info...

i think i read somewhere that there was a locally famous gap jump at Niseko....?

 

but the one thing ive gotta know, How may feet do these jumps measure across the top?

(a rough estimate = fine)

 

{sorry to be so inquisitive}

 

Thanks

[Niseko's terrain park?]

oh,and one more thing,

 

has anyone been to sahoro resort?

...is it isolated?

whats sahoro's park like?

dyou think they'd hire foreign snowboard instructors?

 

sorry for all the questions...

but if somebody had the answers......?

 

thanks

[Niseko's terrain park?]

i know how most japanese freestyle riders love the halfpipe, so the terrain parks in japan are not known to be very extensive ...right?

how about jumps in niseko, this great site(i love this site, such a wealth of information) says that niseko has tabletops and onemakes, how big are these(length in feet)?? what was the biggest? are they well maintained or does the management only care about the pipe? are there jibable rails in the niseko villiage?

are there groups of riders who go off piste and build their own jumps in the powder?

 

if anyone would answer some/all of these questions, i'd be so grateful

 

thankyou

[Everyone enjoy Obon?]

pile of crap. just working and sweating.

anyone make their way up to that sado festival last week? any good?

 

don

[Best Snowboarding in Japan?]

Wow- 2 and a half month!!???

 

The 2 I stayed at were Villa Alpen in Shiga Kogen resort area and the Pit Inn in Iwappara Yuzawa. Both really friendly, and the latter has some jazz events which kind of clinched it for me!

 

Listen, must get back to work now. Will be back online tomorrow.

 

Cheers

 

don

[Best Snowboarding in Japan?]

Someone is listening, yep. Loads of cool stuff going on in the winter here, but unfortunately Japan is now hot and sticky, so not as many thinking about the white stuff...!

 

Accommodation? Pretty wide question. Some great places to stay almost everywhere, but it is difficult to know where to go - and who will welcome the gaijin. Trying the places on this site is probably a good place to start, as they obviously want the foreign business. I have stayed at 2 places from this site, and they were both cool. Difficult to find other places without a long and boring search for crappy sites on the web. Seems they are going to expand that section here too for the next season.

 

Dont really know about the work Q. I have personally never seen a gaijin worker at a resort in Japan.

 

Good luck anyway

 

don

[Best Snowboarding in Japan?]

Hi there.....new members - cool!

 

1 Niseko

2 Niseko

3 Niseko

 

(I am a little biased, sorry).

 

Other picks;

 

Nozawa Onsen (Nagano Pref, off the courses);

 

Hakuba 47 (Nagano Pref, choice and nighlife of town too);

 

GALA Yuzawa (Niigata Pref, easy to get to);

 

Tenjindaira Tanigawa (Gunma Pref, small but grrreeeat!)

 

Zao (Yamagata Pref, what a great place this really is)

 

Appi Kogen (Iwate Pref).

 

Hope this helps. Where will you be based when you are in Japan???

 

 

Don