nippontiger
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Posts posted by nippontiger
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Yeah, nice vid - think Im gonna need a fair bit more practice on the slopes before I produce something like that! Looks like its gonna continue to snow though, so hopefully plenty more practice to come...!
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Another point about the sizing - the skis he's putting up in the size icelantic recommend for your size tend to be going at a slightly higher price - usually at the "buy it now" price, so if he puts up a pair of shamans in a 173 they are likely to go for 36k whereas the 184s tend to be going at the starting price of 29k. The keepers in the 178 went at the buy it now of 39k. Id say for a few thousand yen difference though, its probably best to go for the ones you feel would be the better size for you, but if you do decide to wait to see if he puts a smaller size up, it might be best to just take the "buy it now" option before somebody else does.
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I managed to get my bindings put on in the shop where I bought them in Ochanomizu, however it was not easy. I went around all the shops there just wanting any binding which I'd be able to get a brake big enough for. The ones I went with where Marker Squires, but none of the shops could fit them as they use a template that fits over the ski to show where to drill the holes and the marker one, or any other brands available would not fit over the ski which is 119mm at the waist. In the end, I managed to persuade one shop to remove the rubber protectors on the brackets of the template which hold onto the sides of the ski and this allowed the marker template thing to just fit over the ski and he could drill the holes - it cost around 2man yen for the binding and they fit them for nothing. Other stores were quoting 5000 yen for fitting if I didnt buy the binding from them. If you decide to install the bindings yourself, then I would say measure, measure again and measure a third time and drill once - I've never done it before, but from what Ive heard, I think you need to be quite precise. Perhaps someone who has actually done a binding install could give you some more advice there.
As for sizing, Im around 170cm, 70kg and got the keeper in, I think 167. This is a very manageable size for me and I cant help but wonder if I wouldnt have been better with a 178 - I definitely dont think it would be too much for me and Im not an expert skier, by any means. Icelantic quote the following sizing for your height: 5’ 8” to 6’ - 173 to 179, so the ski is perhaps slightly bigger than their recommendation. Id say if you go shorter, you will gain a bit of maneuverability if you ski a lot of tight trees and so on, longer you will gain a bit more float in the pow and a bit more stability at speed. If you really wanted to go shorter, you might want to ask the guy in your mail to him if he has another size in stock - usually he puts one of each ski on yahoo auction, lets them sell, and then a couple of days later he puts up another batch sometimes in different sizes - obviously he doesnt want to put them on all at once as he probably wont get as much for them. I think he sold a pair of Keepers in a 178 the other day which would have been perfect for your size - you might want to ask if he has another pair. Dont worry about the width (apart from getting a binding fitted!).
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Thanks! I put it together over a few nights on and off, so a few hours I guess - most time consuming part is going through the footage to find suitable stuff to include. Also, the effects I added came from VLC player and there is no simple way to save the video with the effect added. For the black and white stuff at the end, I ended up playing the video with the effect added and recording it using some software which just records everything going on on your computer screen. Imagine my disappointment when my friend Robert (the snowboarder in the vid) said his favourite bit was the eaten lunch narrative stills!
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So here is my latest video from from our trip to Kagura on 15th January. For some of it I used an effect which gives a cartoon like effect so I called the vid "Kagura + アニメ"
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Yeah we did kagura today - dissappointed to find it was only open up to the gondola. We were going to pay the extra 800 yen and do naeba but we missed the last bus so we were just stuck in mitsumata all day. Still, lots of powder and we all had a lot of fun practicing jumps into it. It's good to know that you can pay the extra 800 for naeba when you do the higaeri to kagura cos you can check the kagura website and if kagura is closed you can just head straight to naeba - mitsumata would've been pretty dull if it wasn't powder all over.
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What about something like this:
http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/fst/12rosialias70.html
http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e114230216
this:
http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e116386272
this:
http://page19.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x202477874
this:
http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r83929373
Of course, it is best to try boots on, but if you are just going for something cheap (ie soft/comfort boots) then sizing is not going to be quite so critical.
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They look a bit old style to me. Most modern ski boots are front entry with four buckles and a velcro power strap. I guess it is more difficult to get that size in Japan, but Im sure a friend of mine picked up a pair in that size for around 10,000 from London Sports in Ochanomizu.
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New! Why did I find that surprising?
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Probably Kagura again for me!
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Mount Tsukuba! I guess on a clear day, you could see my house! I think it would be just to the right and about 20km beyond mount Tsukuba!
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Huh? They're not legal in Oz? Usually you can buy them in convenience stores, but they're mainly a summer thing in Japan so it might be more difficult to get them in the winter.
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Well, its only January - still time for another few good dumps to bury it again!!
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Im not sure if anybody is in the market for a new pair of skis, but just thought Id let people know, somebody is selling a bunch of Icelantic skis on Yahoo Auction. Depending on the model, the start prices range from 25700 to 31000 and the "buy it now" prices from 32-39k.
I bought a pair of these in a similar sale last year, check my review here:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/gear-reviews/ski-review-004-icelantic-the-keeper.html
I absolutely love these skis!
So far, only one person has bid on any of these skis and the auctions end today and tomorrow - Id say that if you could get a pair of these at the start price it would be an absolute steal and even at "the buy it now" price would be a very good buy.
Those Gypsy's look amazing, but having already bought a pair last year, I cant really justify it myself.
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Hey
thought I would post this here as saves creating another thread but it will also help you to save money.
JR are doing a special campaign called tokudane　ã?¨ã??ã? 値 whereby if you book a shinkansen ticket in advance, you can save 30%. I can't post pics right now as I don't have a camera handy, and also at work!
But you can save a lot of money if you live near Tokyo, Ueno, Omiya or Sendai and if you intend to go away for a trip to:
Utsonomiya, Toyama, Fukushima, Sendai, Ichinozeki (sic), Morioka, Hachinohe - on the Tohoku shink.
Yamagata on the Yamagata shink
Akita on the Akita shink
Takasaki, Echigo Yuzawa, Gala yuzawa, Nagaoka (sic) Niigata on the Joetsu
or
Karuizawa or Nagano on the Nagano shink.
One example
travelling from Tokyo to Nagano on the 14th will cost you 5,570, saving about 3,000yen
just go into the view plaza and ask for these tickets. Of course the tickets are one way only, but the return is the same price.
ie Tokyo - Echigo Yuzawa one way on the same date above is 4,540, return 9,080, saving almost 2k on the above ticket!
Of course some periods are slightly cheaper/more expensive than others, but not more so than a couple of hundred yen.
Let's booking!
Does anybody know if this is happening this year? I cant read the name of the deal as all the Japanese on this thread is just a load of squiggles no matter what kind of encoding I try to use.
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Thanks - hope to have another one up soon - just need to decide on the music - not so mellow this time...!
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I used premiere pro - just learning how to use it though and the computer I'm using it on isn't really fast enough for 720p @ 60fps. Just had another awesome day at kagura - just hope the gp footage does it justice...!
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It was open when I was there on Monday. I think they dont open it until it has plenty of snow down there.
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Looks like its gonna be Kagura again for me tomorrow!!
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Wheee! just got my hakuba ticket through the mail today, many thanks! Well stoked on that! but more stoked that you also threw in some stickers as well! Cheers dudes, its a cute touch
Me too! My helmet now has a nice snow japan sticker on the back - looking forward to hitting Hakuba when I can next get there in February!
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Yeah, its not really steep enough down there after a really big dump - a friend of mine got stuck around there for 45 minutes! I had to go and ski tracks for him so he could lie on his snowboard and paddle out surfer style!!
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I like the slo-mo.....very leisurely..........which trees did yo stick to? Some of the photos show the face that towers above the top lift that only opens in Feb-March.....did you venture out thatway or stay in resort? I like cruising the trees directly below the regular season top lift, ride em down to the left where it cuts onto the cat track from the late season top lift and then into the trees at the left there as well, eventually coming out just above the Gondola
Pretty much everything was in-resort, I think - I did go into the exact area you mentioned a few times, but Im not sure if its in the video - perhaps a bit of the helmet-cam stuff was filmed there. The other tree stuff was coming down either the left or right side of the Panorama course.
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So I went to Kagura last Monday (public holiday) and took along my new GoPro camera - unfortunately, most of the footage I took was quite useless - I chest mounted the camera most of the time but once I started skiing, it ended up pointing downwards and I just got loads of footage of my skis! Anyway, with the usable footage I did take, I put together this rather laid back video - no crazy steeps, no deep powder, no big jumps or fancy tricks, in fact, nothing gnarly at all, just an easy day skiing in the sunshine!
And for those who prefer pics - here's a few snaps I took - I have to say, I know nothing about photography and I took these on my iphone so....
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You can pick up a low capacity one from anywhere for next to nothing, or perhaps you could borrow one of somebody - could be worth giving a try - best err on the safe side and get a class 10 one. It is a bit strange that it works ok at high res and you get distortion at low. The other culprit could be the computer you used to view the files - one of the low res modes is at 120 fps - if it was this mode you were using, then perhaps the computer you were using or the software couldn't handle the high frame rate?
I'd go though each mode and check if there's a problem with each, check with a different SD card and check the files on a different computer. If you keep getting some distortion, send it back to GoPro.
Does anybody know where I can find a shop in Tokyo that sells gopros and mounts?
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I never saw any on sale in any shops - I ordered mine from Yahoo Auction. You will almost certainly get them cheaper there than you would in the shops and there are also a selection of mounts, spare batteries and so on on there.
The main problem you have with yahoo auction is that you have to set up an account and to bid over 5000 yen, you have to join their premium service for which you have to pay about 360 yen a month - this is OK if you use it a lot like I do. Also, most things you have to either pay by bank transfer or yahoo's "Kantan Kessai" service - both of which you have to pay a small fee for, and I cant actually get Kantan Kessai to work with my credit card as my name isn't Japanese (!).
Amazon.co.jp is also a good option and usually has free postage and you can just pay directly with your credit card with no charge, so it often beats Yahoo Auction for this reason. Also google.co.jp and go to the shopping section.