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soubriquet Good job getting the kids up and skiing. Its always good to see the little ones up and start going for it. I finally got all mine up last year and its a good feeling.

Look at some of the features of the helmet and what you are planing on doing with it. If you plan on using it to hike and ski in the BC consider a helmet with good ventilation. If your racing venting may not be as important and some thing with face protection might (salamom race)

Everyone thanks for the info. It's not definate having to much fun here in Saporro at the moment.

I'll take a stab "punters" .

Usally stay at the Century Hyatt reasonable price. But its nothing special. Points on the Hyatt card if nothing else. I've also stayed at the New Otani was much nicer but was not as impressed with the location

Ropes, T-bars or Pomma lifts cant say I've seen any here in Japan. They do have there place, although they can be difficult to ride. Most are in Europe cant say i've seen one in the States at recently.

I may be moving to the Misawa area. Can some one recomend some slopes in the area and aprox. driving times. Thanks

You may want to stay in Chitose. The rooms are cheaper and just catch the train up to Sapporo. Try the ANA or the Nieko. The down side is there is not much in Chitose. There is a small bar district and a new outlet mall.

Lard If you look at your base and see any oxidized sections (areas that kind of have a whitish tint) then you probably need wax. Usally need to wax every 2-4 times out depending on snow conditions. A good all purpose wax is all you need. Vince

another good link is www.tognar.com the mother of all tuning sites.

You may want to try some slow cure epoxy (24 hour type) Inject the epoxy into the delaminated section and then secure with a clamp. Let sit for 24 hours and then sand any excess globs that squirted out. The reason for the slow cure epoxy is some of the chems used in faster drying epoxys can damage the inside lamanates. This holds true for skis. I don't board so i'm not overly familar with the guts of a snowboard. Worst comes to worst and a shop can also do the work. No clue what the charge to fix it.

I wax mine every 2-3 times out. I do it myself I enjoy doing it and i know its done right. Have had the shop screw up my skis in the past. I also do most of my own edges and base repair. Most shops uaslly use a big grinder to do edges. It takes way to much off the bottom. Once in a while is not bad. Letting a shop do it if your edges are rail high or at the beginning of the sesaon is ok. But I usally prefer not to bring them to a shop.

first time ever Ski Apache New Mexico back in 78 Europe Hintertux 86 Japan Sapporo kokusai 04

we just multi-task better.

Miteyak Does the store you speak of have a Patagonia sign hanging out front just before the left up to the gondola.

I belive NAC may have some Teles to rent if not I'm sure they could point you in the right direction. They are located in Hirafu. The last time we were in Hurafu we stayed at a place called Kimamaya. It's a small inn and the owners speak english and are extreamly helpful. There web site is http://www.kimamaya.com Hope you enjoy your trip to Niseko

St.Anton gets my vote. Some hot lines and a cool town to hang out in. Telluride is another if your looking at the states.

Same goes for skiing thin socks are better. I like Brigedale thin ski socks. They dont bunch up, have a light paded shin and keep my feet relativly warm. They may be hard to find over here though.

Try Italy, pasta and espresso what more could you want. I've yet to find any decent food slope side over here.

Spaeking of tele fests. TAJ will hold a powder clinic in Niseko on the 11-13 Feb. and there backcountry fest on the 5-6 March in Niigata prefecture Seki hot spring ski site. If intrested contact TAJ at http://www.ski-taj.org/ PS. Powda Tele saw your pics from your Rishi Mt. Excellent

If you do decide to forgo the skis. I would suggest you bring your own boots. Rental boots are the pits no matter where you at.

As far as rope diameter I would suggest maybe a 9 or 8.5 mm. As for the length maybe 20 meters. Unless your doing some real mountaineering I would not carry a full length rope of 50 meters. Two sections of 5 or 6 mm 3meters for some prussic knots may also come in handy. Along with a few carabineers. These items come in hand if you have to self extract out of a crevase or a hole. I know i would be hard prsssed to be able to pull someone who weights 200lb out of a hole with out the use of some pulleys to equalize the weight.

This is the second ski related site i've seen hacked. It's good you guys caught it before too much damage was done. The other site lost it's entire forum. Thanks for the good work

Sounds like quite the epic trip. Glad to hear you made it back Ok.

yes photos would be a good thing.