Rag-Doll

Originally Posted By: stemik Originally Posted By: sanjo Mind block - why would that be the case stemik? the wind pushing against the covers unmind block? Not sure about this. the hooded quads (with the hood down) being smooth and curved might actually be less wind resistant than an unhooded quad with four punters sitting on it - don't know for sure, just seems like it might be that way. Of course if the hood is open then it is a whole different ball game. On the ticket thing - joint tickets really only make sense if you can ski between the resorts. How many people would rea

The patrol guy standing near the gate probably thought so. After watching me fall off a slow moving single lift he gave me a spot quiz on the avie report for the day - clearly he thought if this gumby can't ride the lifts he probably shouldn't be venturing through the gates.

no need for a bar or rope on the niseko ones as you're invariably frozen to the seat. no danger of falling off. they are dangerous though - on the single seater up to the start of the peak hike I was so intent on the wonderful view back down the mountain that I didn't see the lift station and so flew into it backwards and was then run over by the chair. they need a hood on the front to keep out the wind and a blind on the back so you don't get distracted by the view.

For the record I reckon the Hakuba single lifts are better than the Niseko single lifts!

Originally Posted By: 2pints,mate BTW, are there many 1 person lifts over there? Can't recall seeing any. there are a couple at niseko up high. seems the higher up the mountain you get the smaller and slower the lifts.

The real problem with the turn-a-blind-eye approach is that it doesn't provide any real safety guidance. What value is a skull and crossbones sign standing in the middle of what is clearly a major thoroughfare? That is where Niseko get it right and it echos comments from US and Euro resorts where punters have a free range of access but know that the terrain wouldn't be roped off if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Sure, there may be some ground that might otherwise be opened but isn't, Niseko does have some of this, but generally a punter can be sure that if it was safe to open then it would b

Originally Posted By: Go Native I do agree to some extent that the incredible amount of ignorance being shown by most who comment on climate change, even about the most basic concepts of science, makes the debate similar to comments made by religious extremists. Do you mean in respect of people on both sides or just the nay sayers?

Not all that great; no doubt there is a computer geek sitting near by vigourously working a joy stick as she goes through her "routine"

Originally Posted By: Oyuki kigan Fer the sake of Lil' Baby Jezus! Read some books people! Docs are good, but just as many of you don't take Micheal Moores 'facts' ast face value, neither should you watch that unbalanced "Global Warming Swindle" uncritically either. Especially since the producers of the movie twisted the statements of one of the leading scientists featured to sell their point. Ladies and Germs, i give you... Carl Wunsch http://www.independent.co.uk/environment...-c4-439773.html "Partial Response to the London Channel 4 Film "The Global Warming Swindle" Ca

Originally Posted By: Go Native Greenroome the problem I have with what you're talking about is that the resorts are not actively managing access to off-piste slopes. I'm very familiar with the turn a blind eye policy of some resorts up here but is that a really the best solution they can come up with? I think Niseko has done a great job in showing the rest how it can be done. They just need to have the balls to actively implement a similar solution instead of leaving in the too hard basket and turning a blind eye. Tomamu have implemented an off-piste access policy which also seems to work wel

Originally Posted By: Fattwins You will not see a heli up there as they are protected national parks. Again Hakuba is where Niseko was just before bringing in the Niseko rules. Hakuba is just starting to get things a bit more organized. I found a winter rally course with 4wd buggys 3 weeks ago, right out of the blue no advertising that I knew of. This is typical of the disjointedness of the cooperation. We have had some decent seasons due to elevation the last few years but this was our crap year. That national park thing is a big issue. Wasn't there a major problem during the o

Originally Posted By: MikePow Originally Posted By: JA Almost on topic, just saw this report from the Sydney Morning Herald ... worth a read, I think. She has a real bee in her bonnet about Niseko and doesn't do much to encourage people to visit Nagano. This is quite an odd article. Obviously a paid advert for Hakuba, but they hardly got their money's worth. These sorts of articles are such a waste of time. Some blow-in who knows nothing about the area or even Japan (it seems), spends a very short period of time in town and hands off a couple of cliche's. What a waste of time.

Originally Posted By: Indo Jynxxie, A normal person can't own a property in super so why should a self employed be able to? With the introduction of SMSF's now allow investments in property. So that is an option for a self employed person to take. As for the govermnemt getting their hands on the super pot of gold.. Impossible. They would have to buy out every trustee to do so. Japan on the other hand, the govt controls the investments and when you pay into the pension it goes into a pool rather than an individual's account.. Now thats bloody scary! ....and didn't the J government

Originally Posted By: ger Lots in there Jynxx. So you're a protectionist, then? not a protectionist, just certifiable.

GN, Hokkaidough, Thanks guys. A bit of detail makes all the difference. I wish my first quote published in the international media occurred under better circumstances. I arrive in Niseko tomorrow, this def takes the gloss off. And so apparently people passing out in the snow isn't that uncommon! Amazing that no one else has died.

Originally Posted By: 69 Question is, what on earth has happened here? Hard to tell 69 because we seem to be a bit light on for details here. It would make more sense if we understood where his accm is in relation to wild bill's and whether he was familiar with the area or whether there is a possibility he was heading off to find some other bar/party etc. Hirafu just isn't that big. It beggers beleif that a bunch of volenteers can't line up shoulder to shoulder and conduct a couple of sweeps along the likely route he would have taken. A morning's effort would cover a large area. maybe t

This is a really sad thing to have happen, but hard to understand too. Walking out of a well heated pub into the cold air is like a slap in the face - it tends to wake you up pretty quickly. Can somebody explain where he was walking to and what sort of things are being done to find him? The area just isn't that large and a lot of open area is used to dump cleared snow and is quite solid, so its' not as if there are fields of waste deep powder he would have had to wade through? Although there is the odd creek. Unless he went completely off in the totally wrong direction it is hard to unde

Not strictly a war dance apparently, not the Ka Mate anyway. Not that this fact adds anything to the discussion! But the All Blacks getting sniffy because poeple aren't showing the right 'cultural respect' is a bit girlish. From wiki Although the use of a haka by the All Blacks has made one type of haka familiar, it has led to misconceptions. Haka[2] are not exclusively war dances, nor are they only performed by men. Some are performed by women, others by mixed groups, and some simple haka are performed by children. Haka are performed for various reasons: for amusement, as a hearty welco

I've learnt not to fall It tends to be the best way of avoiding snowboarding injuries.

Originally Posted By: Mantas The thing that makes me proud to be an Australian the most is the way people rally to the cause immedeatly. Kids are donating there pocket money, fundraisers going on everywhere. Everyones' kicking in to help. I don't know if that happens everywhere else but I,m glad it does here. Mantas, I was reflecting on this very same thing this morning. The stories coming out about the heroism, the people helping each other and the sense of community, the CFA and Ambos and the medical staff and everyone else who have just pitched to help is really quite moving - by o

Ah, but you see I don't ride switch. I can do it when I have to but it is essentially riding backwards and like patting your tummy while rubbing your head - just feels all wierd. I don't really see the point in riding switch. Maybe if I was a park rat and the board had a nuetral stance with the bindings in the dead centre of the board but the boards I have all have a slight set back so performance (powder and groomer) when riding switch drops off significantly.

I'm not even sure +30 and -21 is even humanly possible. With a binding set up like that you've probably got bigger problems than a low angle! Do you find that the girls and the lifties laugh at you? Have you tried riding with both angles positive - the stress on the front leg might stem from the fact that your rear leg might not (not at all sure of the biomechanics of here ) isn't as supportive as it would be in a front facing position when you move your weight forward in the snowboard? My set up is roughly +20 and +9. With a low angle on the front I was getting a lot of pain ac

Originally Posted By: Jynxx That front foot pain.. I get that and a friend of mine gets it, too. I take it as a good sign that I am boarding on my front foot but that doesn't help... I started going switch this season and that made a difference for me. And lots of leg stretching and knee rotation exercise! cheers Jynxx, Gareth, What are the angles on your bindings? If the front foot angle is low you will get a lot of lateral force going through your foot and knee when you move your weight forward on the board. Increase the front foot angle so the toe is pointing more towards the fron

So where is the TR mamabear?

2 weeks? Where are you going? I'm 14 sleeps (down from 253 sleeps) out from a boys' trip to Niseko. Learning to snowboard hurts. There is no getting away from that but my personal theory is that attitude is a big factor in how quickly you progress. If you're not afraid to throw yourself down the hill and committ to the turns you tend not to fall quite as hard. As I say above, beginners who don't get into it and therefore don't have the speed to let them create the right kind of angles in their turns and get their down hill edges off the snow are the ones that get hurt. It is counter intui