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soo desu ne... I was confused about the location, but now I remember Tracks. Maybe my confusion was caused by the last time i was there, when I ended up drinking with Troy till, um, I can't remember that either. Good times though, and I'm looking forward to the 28th! Chris

I'll be there FT when you say "drinks are buy your own" does that mean we can bring our own or buy em there?

I got monday off work so I can stay for the festival on sunday... but I have no idea yet where I7ll be staying or how I'll be getting there from Hakuba. I've got my car but I don't want to drive unless there's a place to crash nearby. Anyone have any suggestions?

anyone know if there in any night skiing near Shiojiri/Matsumoto? From the info on this site it seems like some resorts (like kirigamine) only open for the night skiing on holidays, which doesn't make much sense because if they've got the lights they might as well turn them on... I'm not fond of the thought of being restricted to only 2 days a week on the snow... any suggestions?

ski, every season since I was 3. I tried boarding one season but halfway through it went back to my skis.

my best weekend of skiing ever was at Kicking Horse in BC. It may have been because it dumped more powder than I had ever seen before, or maybe because some locals that were training for the olympics showed me where to go off-piste... either way, it's an awesome mountain and I'd recommend it for sure.

thanks for the compliments on the photos... I think I was just lucky that they came out well. I used a sony cybershot, just on the automatic setting. I've got a Canon EOS that I use when I want to take better pictures, but I didn't want to lug an slr camera up tateyama. The mountain is beautiful itself... it doesn't matter who takes the picture or what camera they use. FT and Toque I'll email you the pictures later tonight... gotta go shoot some arrows at kyudo now.

which ones do you guys want? all?

toque had no problems getting down, but on the way up, well... toque's skis, ready to go fattwins fattwins, again it finally cleared up when we were getting ready to leave

I just uploaded a bunch of photos... I'll try to post them here too but I've never done this before so it might not work. If anyone wants full-sized copies, let me know. we tossed our skis across then did our best not to get our boots wet yes, there were that many tents, and maybe 5 or 10 more that aren't in this photo everyone and their mother skinning the same slope even though there were so many trails to choose from...

Yama - i know a guy named Yoshi but I've only been here about 8 months so I'm not the person you're thinking of. FT - for sure put them on yahoo... I hope you get a good price for them. i know it's a good deal but I just can't afford to pay any more right now. and I got home around 6:30 (had a beer up top with some Japanese guy whose name I can't remember before taking the last ride down at 3:15)

deal sounds nice... now if I only had 5 man. If it's still being offered in January let me know. I'll post some pics tonight... can't do it from school. the one of your face plant is pretty good

cheers toque... it was a good time so thanks again for letting me tag along. listening to you and FT bitch at each other only made the trip that much more enjoyable

invest a bit, eh? does the 5 man i dropped last week on a pack, sleeping bag, skins and poles that turn into a probe not count as an investment? Trekkers are next, then a beacon, then warmer/lighter jacket... but they're all a few paychecks away

Yamakashi, you're right about that bottle of whiskey and fattwins' exquisite taste in booze, but after drinking from a nalgene filled with part tea, part chocolate liqueur, part water, part pocari sweat, and probably some bodily fluids, I don't think it would have made a difference if he had brought an 18 year-old premium blend.