mrjamie

Yotei is a good 5 hour hike, but the hardest part is the top... It took us maybe 3 hours to get to 1200 meters then 2 hours to get to 1600, heh. The trip was actually put off twice because Yotei just wouldn't clear up... though this meant that there was fresh powder in annupuri and hirafu, so

I'll keep in mind the advice Tesselator gave; quattro, yea, that's what I was going for. Experimenting with iMovie filters radiohead is great for otherwordly snowboarding.

Back from 20 days in Hokkaido with plenty of footage on a new HD camcorder, I'm eager to try my hand at editing some movies. Each video completed I'll link to here. I'd use you tube, but letterbox videos are just so gorgeous... ozawa bowl in annupuri: http://homepage.mac.com/mrjamie/.Movies/Hokkaido.mov :: the file won't stream, so you'll have to download it (right-click the link, etc.)... this will be fixed on future videos. You learn things every day, whee.

yea, I was talking with one of my guides and he mentioned that in the past a lot of people used to ride the bottom of yu no sawa, but then a few 'accidents' happened and now not even the locals on snoeshows touch it, nante...

It was raining in Niseko yesterday, and I decided to leave a few days early. There is snow on the mountains, but it's a question of whether you'll get clear skies or clouds and light rain.

I wonder who updates the niseko now! page and how they found out I got so sunburned climbing yotei yesterday? anyways, here are some pictures:

Niseko has some nice back country; Moiwa and the nitonupuri/chisenupuri are good powder fields for beginners. There's yoteizan if you want to hike that, and back bowl/ozawa are fun powder bowls as well. Hakuba also has great back country, or so I hear, and lots of groomed runs as well. Otherwise I'm clueless when it comes to back country!

Strawberry fields and hirafu peak get tracked out right away... from the hut is a little less tracked since not everyone wants to hike 20 minutes, and there are tons of other powder caches on the mountain with an all mountain pass :-) It seems to me like more non-Japanese come here every year, and if they do ever open up the two middle bowls I imagine that will just continue to increase.

niseko is empty. Three people staying in a backpacker that can hold 50+ people (shizenkan) wonderful

I love powder just as much as the next person, but I have plates and hard boots for a reason. When I've ridden too much powder I start getting nostalgic about the regular slopes... mmm, carving.

it's been snowing for three days straight now and the top hasn't been opened once... wait for it... wait for it...

blizzard in niseko tomorrow, keep it on the low...

Torihada - what board do you use? On Yahoo Auctions Japan you can pick up a brand-new 2007 Burton Fish or Malolo for ~350-400 US. I took a new Malolo (162) out to Oze Iwakura last Sunday and I've never been so happy in powder (I hiked up from the top lift and rode through the trees on the other side of a small stream), albeit wet and sticky powder. Effortless float, and after riding an alpine board (Prior 4WD) with hard-boots and 63/60 angles, the 54/54 angles on the Malolo made the board feel telepathic; it seemed to know exaclty where I wanted to go. Turns through tight trees were no pr

hey thomas -- any hope for that review of the D1+? cheers, Jamie

The meteorology department recorded the first winds of spring last week. Tokyo hit 17 degrees last week. I was snowboarding in Niigata last week. Winter lives inside us all, it ends when we say it ends!

i'm thinking of heading to somewhere up north where it's still a little bit cold, for some snowboarding in Niigata or Nagano. If anyone is up for two days of boarding and doesn't mind someone who takes their shirt off during runs if the weather hits 10 degrees, let me know. I ride hard boots, so I'm not going to be in the park at all. I speak more-or-less fluent (not to boast, it's a lot of more of the less) Japanese so I can deal with all that stuff, but I imagine must people on this board speak more-or-less fluent Japanese? so maybe that's not a concern. :-) Anyone, if yo

I climbed by myself last Saturday, though I ran into more than a few friendly Japanese folks with whom I talked on the way up. You know better than me whether or not we're acquaintaned, probably :-)

To chime in with everyone else, I agree the more people who are willing to prepare for and take the risk of back country boarding, the better. As has been mentioned, most people who are willing to take the time to hike through snow for a few hours just for a few minutes of skiing/riding are probably interesting folks. Back country is awesome :-)

nice runs looks like :-) I went up to tengu on top of tsugaike this Saturday for my first backcountry ever. (http://homepage.mac.com/mrjamie/PhotoAlbum16.html). The snow was ice for the first few meters, powder for the rest of the summit, then crust the rest of the way back to the gondola where it was slush from there on down. Still, very fun :-) Nothing like hiking up the face of tengu, hah. 30 steps rest 30 steps rest. Nice broken snowshoe How was the snow for you guys?

two weekends ago I went to Nozawa Onsen. Saturday was lovely with low temperatures and snow all day, and sunday morning was good. I made a mistake and thought that because the snow high up sunday morning was nice, that when I came down in the afternoon the low powder would be a good ride. I popped under the lift at the race courses on the side (kita no nyuu? pair lift) because the powder on the way up looked untouched: no wonder! It felt like riding mercury or some other heavy liquid; sticking easy and each turn felt like I was riding a bowl of marbels or something. Egads! Still, left som

I'm thinking of heading back to Niseko the weekend after next (leave thursday the 24th, 25, 26, come back the tuesday the 28th), and I was wondering if anybody knew some real cheap packages. I'm looking for a package that includes air-fare (from within Japan), a place to stay, and 4 days of lift at Niseko for 50,000 yen or less. Any help would be much appreciated -- I'll be checking other venues too and update this thread with any information I find.

I'm glad you like the Donek. That's what I had read about it, that the edge bites into the snow and stays locked in. In fact, I'm really glad to hear you're having a great time with the new equiptment. I'm trying to figure out where I can go for one last trip before the season is over. Yuzawa just got a little rain, so I'm not sure yet... I haven't touched my boots at all, once I figure out how to read french I might attempt that modification. Until then...

It's about 2 hours by shinkansen, but also ridiculously expensive. :-( I'm going weekdays, yea, from tuesday (tomorrow) until friday probably.

I'm thinking of heading up to Yuzawa (probably maruyama) this week for a last outing of the season. I'll probably stay three or four days -- anyone interested?

The boots are great. They might be a little bit stiff compared to the Raichles, but there's an article here (http://www.extremecarving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1034) about how to modify them for a slightly looser ride. Otherwise, they're pure comfort. A little tight on the ankles, but after you adjust to them it's no problem. The fasteners are great, they're solid metal and adjustable as well.