Meathelmet

6 hours untill the flight takes off... Whooo! So,if you happen to se a black/green dude with gotamas come and say hi. If i manage to ski,that is... Back from the doctor...blown disc in the back. Shite. But, i´m gonna try and if skiing is impossible, well, i´ll be at the onsens sucking down some Kirin...

Haa haa!!! Hillarious TR there, spud! Nice writing and i have to say,those graphs on the pics got me cracking... Good that you had a...well...good day out. It is wonders that a that kind of day out will make to you´r psyche. Even if the run is crap,it is so much more rewarding than most of the lift served stuff. Nice that you got going there. Btw, are you still in that cham area in aprill? I´ll be around from the start of the aprill for 2 weeks or so. Hopefully the place gets some snow before that... A+

Quote: Originally posted by Toque: What is this Recco reflector that you guys are talking about? RECCO Tm is a small 4cm x 2cm x 0.5cm piece of enceased diode.A passive one. Let say it is like a reflector. Then you have the RECCO trans-recievers,that cost about 5000€s,only skiresorts have them,and they used to weight about 15kgs (nowadays down to 1kg). The transmitters emit a signal that is amplified and reflected back to the transmitter. Hence the term "passive", the user of Recco doesnt have to do anything else than to buy a Recco patch for a 15€ and get buried. But. In sho

Quote: Originally posted by sanjo: What did you choose Meathelmet? Well, we chose something in the south,Hakuba. And powda tele, you didnt get me,didnt you? I tried to say that if we have a possibilty to go to a bit more uncrowded (touristwise) place,well, we´ll go there. I dont see the point of going to a place that has a reputation(from different sources) to be crowded with other powhounds when you have a possibility to go to some other place that isnt´t (supposedly) that. And still be able to ski pow. And still meet people. And still ... Got it?

Quote: Originally posted by Bushpig: But a mate who worked up there for a while said that there were just too many loud Aussies around and it didn't feel like Japan. Intresting. I was scouting places for our incoming trip and this thing was the "final straw" that decided agains Niseko.. I tried to be objective and stuff,and asked about a friend that had been in niseko area last winter and he said that he liked the place itself,but it was "full" of aussies,many of them that behaved like britt´s in Mallorca. He felt that his group of "gai-jin´s" that were there were looked upon and t

Quote: Originally posted by _spud: You could make me a price on my Sidewinder jacket, I am open to selling. Lol...I allready have the exactly same jacket as you have... But thanks for the offer! And thanks guys for the names of the shops. I have all the normal gear, but my stuff start to be "quite" worn out, so update is needed at some point. Pants are missing half the fabrics,gloves are held together by 4m of duct tape etc... So it is good to know there is some decent stuff aviable when neccessary. Otherwise i could check out some stores in osaka where we stay for a day

Quote: Originally posted by Kumapix: Montoya, what's your take on the burton malolo then? A shorter pow board with lots of taper. I was thinking of getting one for next year. Friend of mine rides the malolo too. He really likes the board. It is decent on pist and hardpack,but obviously exells in pow. Superb ride,even for a such a short board (156cm?). The stance is quite back,making it a blast in deep and trees. But yeah,it is a "quiver" board, so you´ll need something that complements it... But, that is a good reason to buy more and more stuff! Eh?!

You guys have any decent shops for gear there? Mainly clothes stuff. I mean,some arcteryx,patagucci etc. stuff? I have to buy some stuff soon,but was wondering if i should wait few weeks untill i come over, or to get the stuff from europe? Here you have to skin for a arctreyx jacket some 500€s = 600-700$s, if that is something to compare with... What is the price levell usually? I know we have a strong euro at the moment,so shopping from the US is goood, but how is yen doing comparably?

Quote: Originally posted by _spud: 1.NPM - I def wont go that long 2.Still not sure what to do board wise, think I might go to Laax and try a few out from a board shop. 3.Is buying skis so ridiculously confusing? 1.Looo-ong! Well, each of us have our preferences. I used to ride 165-172 freeride boards (i am 180cm 70kg) and had no problems.On the contrary,it always took few runs to get dialed in to my shorter 154-162 park boards when riding park... 2.Dont you guys have the TestCenterTours by different manufacturers all around the alps? Check out from the manufacturers webs

Njet. A TeleBoard. Some freaks like to make things even harder...

Sorry for the "sharp" eye...one of those weird occupational things... And yes,Monte rosa utterly sucked.. We were supposed to stay there for couple of days, but they had 5cm of snow on december 21-23rd. 5cm..... From the e-mails that i have gotten from there since, the situation is horrible.No snow. The situation is as horrible as in 2002,when they had no snow untill february.Then they got 2.5m in one dump. Soo, definately dont go there untill they get that kind of dump again,or two. The place is unskiable for weeks. In japan we are going to hakuba. In..umm..5 weeks?!!

Few boards that i could recommend,even if i am mainly a skier theese days (damn body that cant hold up)... Option Joni Mäkinen : A reeeally good board.Snappy and stable and take lot of abuse. (well,i am a bit biased here since i have been involved in the graphics last few years... ) Ridden: F2 Respect : I havent ridden this years respect, but it should be very close to Super/Light Glide from the previous seasons wich i liked a lot.Light,stable and snappy... Burton Jussi Oksanen : A bit "easier" board in the shorter lengths. Then. Boards that i havent personall

Haahaa!!! Awesome,spud!! I looked at you on the mainstreat,got a "hmmm?" kind of tought without knowing why. Only later i had the recollection of you guys being there.. But no,i wasn´t there with my girl, but with a friend of mine.You were close to the little bridge/river in the centrum. Yeah,we stayed there for 3days,2 days of skiing in total sink, but wednesday was quite good... a feet or two of pow,sun and not quite empty... A lot of rocks though. Skiis look like they have been shot or something.

weird coincidence... spud, you didnt happen to be in andermatt 3-4days ago, with a japanese girl, fluffy looking dog,and wearing a black arcteryx sidewinder jacket...?? if you did, i think i saw you there...

Yoo,spud. Enjoy the riding there! You´re gonna have a blast. We propably will come to that corner of the alps within a week or so. Look out for a tall snowboarding brit and a skiing scandi. I´ll be the scandi one. Cheers!