gogalago

Yeah, guess I underestimated it - goyru claims 40cm for last night up top, so guess happo and cortina have got more... shweet! Might have to make a quick weekend plan... Although the 10cm "base" at the bottom will need a bit of work!

The air stream on the satelite looks pretty good, but dunno if there is enough vapor for a major dump... how much is already up there? reckon there will be another 30cm extra on top by sunday though. Would be nice to have the season start in November again!

The brain screamed "NO! NO! NO!" for a few minutes,but then I began to wonder ... if this place were near here, I could easily see myself dusting out the cobwebs with some turns before the season, instead of sitting on the forums on a saturday afternoon...

Yeah, you probably only get a wax for 2000... I do find getting the edges done professionally once a season (esp once it gets icier) is worth it though. But a good waxing, filing down the odd burr and a dab of p-texing are things I will happily do for my baby myself. Your 7000+ prices are not that unusual, but if you are willing to pay them too often, you may as well just get a new board instead!

Has anyone had success with Japanese credit cards on SAC? Just tried to buy something and had mine declined... The complication was that it was for US shipping only, but was trying to send it to a mate there anyway - ie billing and shipping addresses were different. Is this a general problem or just because it was a US-only shipment?

you stomp on my dashed hopes! you might not consider that their current abundance might not be a product of them having evolved over the past the ability to lay their eggs at a snow-avoiding hight?

Talking of praying manti, have heard people talk of a lot of kamemushi (stinkbugs) meaning lotsa snow... have seen way more around here than there were last year, and the peaks outside my window were not snowy until much later either. was kinda hoping that the folklore might have been confirmed, instead of someone doing a study to ruin my fantasy.

So anyone got their (un)lucky postcards from snowlove yet? They said something about sending out notices on the 5th... maybe this year they aren't sending out the bad news...

If they are here for that long and its a kind of sub-trip, I would head for nagano - you can use the rail passes to get closer to the hills than some of the other places, but might involve a few transfers - still you could get to hakuba for example in 5 and a half hours, so not as bad as I thought - I never had free trains as an option so the 22000yen that will cost you was a bit steep. As you are touring, you might look into stopping in matsumoto and checking out the castle, or going off to see the monkey onsen or some other touristy things too. Now you should pick between Nozawa, Shiga

Depends how things turn out this year.... Most accessible is hyogo.... hachi kita and related could definitely keep you entertained for a few days, but whether there will be enough snow by then remains to be seen. There are a few underated resorts in the area too, particularly if you are not looking for mad terrain. gifu is the next step up, and might have more snow that early, but as I said, it all depends. nagano is your surest for snow, but if there is some in nagano, you will probably find it in gifu too... nagano might provide more options though. ... and you are righ

!!!!YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Forgot my camera at work, but last nights rain was actually snow on the Southern and Central Alps.... Nothing like being able to see it lying out there everyday to get the amp up! See you all really soon!

Dunno if you'll check in here again, but on Saturday there's parties at Tracks (Hip hop, dub, breaks), Rock Bridge (Techno/Trance) and the annual Kigansai where you pray for good snow next year along with some Afican percussion and reggae dj's... that starts at 6 at the Sports arena.

I'll throw in for tsugaike too... there is actually a bus, it leaves from the Alpico bus terminal at the base of Happo, but you gota pay for it. Its actually the bus that comes from Nagano City: http://www.alpico.co.jp/access/express/nagano_hakuba/info_e.html

Yeah, didn't use the word "dump" in my post, but considering how its been, seeing a day of snow is quite fun. Can't believe that we've only had to get the snow-blower out three times this season, so a definite lack of dumpage. We'll see though, two foot days in march are not that unusual, so all hope is not yet lost..

Been coming down white all day in Hakuba too... bit too much wind though, but reckon there'll be at very least a new foot on top by morning.... sun forecast too!

Probably not the info the original poster is looking for, but in case any one else is interested: Bus from Nagano to Hakuba: (scroll down for the route) Alpico bus Bus from Shinjuku to Hakuba Alpico Hakuba<->Tokyo Bus And by the way "things" will be going down in Hakuba this weekend.... don't think there's an unbooked bed in town!

wikkid day in the pipes for tomorrow. just got down from 47 and there's about 30cm on top... and its coming down hard. Visibility is pretty poor, so think there are a lot of stashes laying about. Wind is starting to come up though, and seems forecast to get a bit stronger unfortunately. Personal best day of the season so far....

Had some mates in Shizuoka who found it to be a fair task to get up here. Not difficult, just a bit tedious. You might find that buses are your best bet, as although you can catch trains, there is no direct/fast one... despite specifying that you wanted public transport you should go pick up an international licence, so you can at least rent a car occasionally, if you get chance to split costs... all this of course assuming you do want to come to Nagano.

Redo from start. hopefully gonna look significantly different in the next 24 hours....

A few of our guests from here (Hakuba) did a day trip to Obuse to check out museums, so we are also pretty close.... but seeing as Shiga is day-trippable too, I guess that doesn't tell you much.

Nice to put some faces to names... didn't get to meet as many of you as I woulda liked, but those I did were all solid. Thanks for putting it together, FT, and cheers to Tony for putting up with us (and for the shirt) Motherhucker, hope you survived the walk home mate.... See you at the March one then.

Akakura doesn't check much... except the gondola. Generally places that dont use magnetic thingies only seem to be strict at the bottom. Doesn't only seem to be a japanese thing either as I had much fun in California without shelling out...

five hours ago his beanie was made of stone....

This was meant to be my "big" season... but between lack of snow and racking up two injuries, have only managed three mornings... and I've been in Hakuba for the last 35 days!!!! ... maybe this weekend I'll re-start the season.

I will probably wander up the road for the occasion.... (just in case anyone's trying to keep track of numbers)