AK 77

Quote: Originally posted by Kumapix: nice euro-gap on AK......shockers! look closely - it's an orange stripe on my hat! YOu can see it sontinue round the sides. I wouldn't dare bite your euro-gap gaper style Kuma!

Quote: Originally posted by Kumapix: yeah, the topsheet separated from the middle in between the bindings... that's all i can say for now Too many pies. Or were you practicing Judo on it? (Kuma: "Judo." [furrow brow] - and EBC goes all giggly.) Oh, and I had my nose re-set today. Which was fun. Doc said wiring it was really difficult and wouldn'T make it much better, so he have me the choice between local anaesthetic and more pain, or general and more money and time. So I fronted up to the pain, which wasn't as bad as i was expecting, and got it reset by his delicate artistic h

I'm not AK either (memory loss) but get MSRs - the crampon teeth on them are great - last spring I ended up scrambling up the final part of Tateyama in them, and they worked great. As FT says, the heel risers are definately worth getting - I was sceptical at first, but couldn't beleive how much difference they make on steep ascents. Plus their hard plastic bodys might save your back if you fall into a deep hole on the ground. Or wear them strapped to your face to protect your nose.

I'm ok now - I will continue to at least get my premium back from them. I'll also check with my credit card company as you say FT, but I'm now a fully paid up member of the Japanese NH Insurance, so at most i'll have to pay 30%, and that has a maximum limit too. In the meantime I am telling my students I lost a boxing match with the Kocho-sensei.

Yeah EBC you're so talented - I just love the way you arranged those clouds and mountains! Hee hee, just kidding, nice pic.

Ha ha very good Mr W, actually the doc at Niseki Red Cross hospital in Toyoshina (who is from Shindai Hospital) said "If I do this by hand, you will look like a Japanese boxer" when telling me I needed an op. FT - 12 was an estimate of the total... don't know how many in that one big cut on my forehead, depends how close together they were... but it will be a scar for sure - like Harry Potter! I had to go to sort out some insurance stuff today - my insurance that i bought in Britain just turned round and said that I had invalidated it by not having bought a return ticket before the a

Yeah, I said to the doctor in my terrible Japanese "Before this, I looked like Brad Pitt. Like that again will be fine..." He thought it was pretty funny. Just hope his stitching was better than his x-ray analysis... He said, it will just be a local aneasthetic and set straight by hand. Oh well, chicks dig scars... maybe

mum's don't mess around - especially when they had mountain leader qualifications and first female ascents in the alps. It's her words "it's only pain, it doesn't hurt" from my childood that I still remember! Of course she has been great too, she was just like, "well, sounds like a typical accident situation, I hope you have learnt alot from it" CB - actually she worked as a (unhappy and bored) secretary in the rhinoplasty department of the hospiital back home for nearly a year, so know quite a lot about it - she said I need to have the op within 3 weeks, preferably 2.

Samurai - that's pretty much exactly what my mum said (she is experienced - and alive - mounatineer, and would not have made the same mistakes I did! slightly embarassing.) Her first question was actually "who was leading the group?" Even worse than weak group thought, I was switched off in terms of the really important decision about where to exit, as I didn't know the topography of that valley, so I went along with the decision of others. Why? I was just not thinking. My mind was a bit elsewhere that day, and i was not thinking with my 'mountain head', merely my 'riding head': My fa

Just a quick post: Thank you FT for the considered response, and to all the other people who said get well soon, etc. I am looking at an operation to fix up my nose, unfortunately, with a few days in hospital after no doubt. It really could have been a lot worse though. The following are my personal reflection on the day: Accidents happen more due to the wider circumstances that act on a situation, than the actual immediate accident itself. In this case, I was riding fairly quickly, checking for wet slides coming down from the left, and this was as a result of bei

sh*t your good! Tohoku Bum. actually that's true... they're all in the wash or stolen...

er, did you miss the bit where he said it was on snowblades???

I pitty the fool

Quote: Originally posted by Oyuki kigan: My suggestion is to start attaching idiot strings to them, like they do with little kids` mittens. Maybe you can have them attached to your socks... If I had idiot strings on everything I forget / lose I'd look like Mr Messy from the Mr Men - big bundle of string (actually he's crayon scrawl, I know, I'm just trying show how literate and well-read I am!) I loved idiot strings on mitts when i was a kid - the way they stay in your coat when you take it off.

SF nerd!

yay it's Friday! Monday and Tuesday's lesson's are pretty much sorted, body more or less in one piece despite skating more again recently. I'm all ready to come out of weekend retirement!!! Except I have no clean underwear. I swear someone is stealing my pants! (I suspect Oyuki Kigan) First stop in Hakuba will be the laundrette for the tumble dryer!

er, who said "I really need to learn truckdrivers" in the lodge? I've chilled. I'm just being a grumpy old codger. All i meant was that it was cool you tried to step up the level on the box, and if you had tried it again (on the lower box, not the waist high one!) you would have had it in the bag! I need an early night - I'm too old for staying up past 9pm. I need some horlicks!

true, that might be the end of his season - I'm not trying to make you cane yourself, but if you want to ride park as you have often said, then you have to try some new things... it doesn't matter how small or little they are, as long as you do something new or better each time you ride. that's progression. I think the point is, I prefer not to have 'park banter' - just holla out the 'Yeahs' for anyone doing something that is challenging themselves. Because if you want 'park banter' that means friendly piss-taking as well as hollering, and playing 'now you have to do it' games - th

Girls nighta season passes are 20,000 (same as children and school students), guys are 25,000. Even if I go twice a week occasionally, the season is shortest at Yanaba, and i won't go twice every week every week, so i wouldn't cover the cost. It's also a bit far to drive so many times a week, it's an hour and a half of travel time each night - more if it's snowy or by train. You should keep trying sliding boxes - just try on the lowest ones - like the 3rd box, so that you can just fall or even ski off the side if you get the body position of balance wrong, and it won't matter.

Yes, I'm out of retirement. For now. But maybe i'll retire my 'snowboard specific' clothes - jeans was fun. No hiding wack style under XXL pants! EBC - you really should have just hiked back up and hit the box again - that way it's much less scary the next time, and finish learning what you started, and if you're sore already there's nothing to lose (apart from that guy that was carted off to hospital in an ambulance)! I want to go back again this week.... hmmm maybe you were right about the nighta season pass... then again i would have to go 12 times to pay that off... been 3 t

Nice phone camera timing! I knew there was a reason I got a white jacket! (the skinny jeans are invisible though - too skinny to see!) That was a fun evening - seeing the Quebec boys styling out of the pipe, or dad (FT) shouting 'rail jam, rail jam' and leading the session on the rails (and leading EBC into an amusing fall on the taller box - it looked like a chicken wishbone getting pulled!) all gave me some stoke.

i got plenty for whoever wants

I'll be there early - no later than 6... i have fliers to make it 1700 yen too - or pick some up yourselves in Alpen or wherever...

Yeah, but i think i'll get more for the beard. Collectors item. FT - I was tired mentally and physically. I needed a break and also to do something diferent with Camilla as she left for Thailand for a month today. We made a glass at Azumino Art Hills glass blowing workshop.

I think she said "why does Daddy meet so many strange people through the internet?" I tried to teach her to say "Daddy is a snowblader." but no luck (yet). FT she was so funny when everyone was talking back and forth about skiing and snowboarding, so she just starts going "blah blah blah" to joing in - we must sound the same to a non-snow freak. Sounds like a nice windy adventure at the weekend, btw. I was skating shirtless, in shorts, in the sun on saturday morning - early mid February??? global warming anyone? I obviously don't snowboard anymore - I retired for the long