Oyuki kigan

Very few ski hills get snow all the time. For the other 99% of us that don't always get to go to those places, we learn to deal with what we have, and maybe, just maybe, have fun.

if people skied/snowboarded as much as they bantered about important nothings on the forums they would be able to handle a little ice without complaint, and free up some bandwidth

a guy i went to school with, Rob Fagan, got 5th in boardercross, i see. And you're right, not JJ Thomas, Ross Powers got gold (but still, when was the last time you heard anything about him?)

Originally Posted By: ger Snowboarding. What an irony. What a joke. Just a bunch of posers thinking they're so anti-establishment, so alternative, so anti-mainstream. so 15 years ago

Competitive halfpipe riding is lucrative. And yes, you are right, it IS competitive. I may have exaggerated the noncompetitivenss of it. But compared to other sports, the competition is slightly different. You are competing in a large part, against friends. Which is to say, there is as much of the negative aspects or rivalries of other sports. Shaun White is a very competitive fellow, and one of the reasons he does so well is because he utilizes the pressure of having to perform positively. So in a sense, he is competing against himself. Sorry if i overstated my case. But snow

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain Dude, I think you are buying that bad boy, don't give two shits snowboarding marketing crap that seems so prevalent these days. no, that attitude has been there since the beginning of the sport Quote: If they didn't care about competition why would they train? They are top athletes in their sports and a lot is riding on their performance. Really? Careers are not made and destroyed in the Olympics. When was the last time you heard something about Gian Simmen? Or JJ Thomas? Quote: Whether some snowboarders are more or less serious about

I don't see much proof of the competitive aspect of halfpipe snowboarding as being high in importance to the riders involved, much less nationalist aspects. Fame and glory perhaps, but not much more than that. In that sense, snowboarding this far has maintained a much more lax attitude towards competition than more traditional sports. Many of the compeditors are close friends, and its kind of hard to suddenly pull yourself into some kind of 'them' against me' role. The nationalist aspect is even weaker. And i'm not saying that Kokubo is an ideal role model, i don't know him well enoug

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain Originally Posted By: Oyuki kigan And no, the Olympics are NOT that special. Especially when you are up against someone like Shaun White who will win it all anyways. I think Kokubo's attitude is much healthier that the last Olympic hopeful, Narita. You really think that representing your country at the biggest sporting event in the world is the same as competing in Alts Bandai? (just for example) If you think of something like halfpipe snowboarding as a big deal, then that is where we part ways. I think Alts Bandai and the Olympics a lit

I know, i know. But snowboarding an general (especially subjectively judged snowboarding, like halfpipe) has never really attracted the straight-laced types. From the CBC halfpipe announcers (former pros) getting reprimanded for loaded jokes in the Nagano 98 Olympics (not to mention some of the world's best boycotting the entire event) to Jasey Jay's 'scandal' for testing positive for the performance enhancing drug marijuana to Heikki Sorsa's 2-foot mowhawk in Salt lake City to whatever is happening now, i'm not really phased. Its snowboarding. However, it is cute to see the Japa

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain Regarding the olympics, he is there representing Japan, not himself, tuck in you shirt and straighten your tie. It has nothing to do with individuality. The Canadian team has lots of crazy individuals (bearded and dreadlocked), all of whom tucked in their shirts because they realize that they are there representing their country. This guy also made some stupid and lame comments about how he didn't think the olympics were special and that it's just another event so he obviously doesn't grasp the idea that some things are bigger and more important then

I won't contradict you guys in saying that it was hard, and in the areas with heavy traffic, it was icy as well. And i agree, a nice dump of snow would be nice. I suppose i can still remember last season, when the conditions WERE completely crappy, and being able to ride on natural snow this year is still a treat. I am not a carving nazi at all, but i honestly didn't find the conditions bad enough to prevent me from having fun, which is what i usually refer to a 'crappy'. The park was in pretty good condition as well.

After over 30 years on the hills, i think i have an idea of what good snow is like. I never said anything about powder, there was enough soft stuff over the ice to make it enjoyable for myself. Then again, perhaps all the years skiing and snowboarding have made it possible for meto enjoy conditions that aren't 'optimal'. Too bad you didn't have a good time. And the touch of new snow and grooming made it a pretty good today as well.

Originally Posted By: -20.7 Bollocks, it was most definitely crappy at 47 today. I was there. Very little snow forecast overnight. i suppose we have quite different standards for 'crap'

It was fine today at 47. Not epic, but not that crappy. Will be better tomorrow with a touch of new snow and grooming.

Originally Posted By: dyna8800 Quite frankly, I do not think that the Japanese ski/snowboard schools would have been able to handle the foreigners. Let's see...start out the lesson with some stretching, calisthenics, then highly rigid instruction, lots of drills and not a lot of free skiing/riding which we instructors call "mileage". For rental, are you saying foreigner sizes or ??? What was the opportunity there? yes, we foreigners tend to quite spoiled and unreasonable, expecting all kind of special treatment such as season passes, meetings that don't run past hour paid hours,

Karuizawa is crap and i can not in good faith recommend it to anyone.

http://www.burton.com/mens-snowboard-binding-accessories-ultra-capstrap/220722,default,pd.html?dwvar_220722_variationColor=996&start=&cgid=mens-binding-accessories that the strap, and if you are looking from a japanese server, scroll to the bottom of the page and there are some shops listed that sells them. One Make in Chiyoda, and Ca4la in Harajuku is what it tells me. Oh yeah, one more thing. It depends no how old your 'old' bindings are. Older burton toestraps are attached by a bolt, but the newer ones slide up through the baseplate, and are not compatible with t

55% for 1kyu, so no pass. But better than i thought, 'cause i didn't study at all for it.

here it isã€the winning run at the x games today http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4871381

i don't think its required at any park i know of. I rarely wore a helmet for 19 seasons, but after i knocked myself out and broke a couple ribs (on a small kicker i'd been hitting all season) last year, i started wearing one.

try Rakuten, but you probably won't find anything over 153

47 has a passable park, nothing to leave home for tho. I can't reccommend it.

Smokin has made one of the best boards i've ridden in my short 20 seasons of riding. They are kinda rockered, but its very, very subtle, with basically the board flat between the feet. They consistantly place in TW Snoawboard mag's top 10 good wood. Plus, they come with a 3 year warranty. http://www.smokinsnowboards.com/ I'm guessing the KT-22 is the model for you

I'm not a fan of Shaun White, but it looks like he's set to win the Olympic Halfpipe again. Unless the other compeditors can learn DOUBLE MCTWISTS in the next couple of weeks.

good choice