wattiewatson

for food and transport i would carry cash. For everything else you should be fine. matt

The best day i had last year was at Myoko. I think it was Christmas, either that or New Years. I would say over half a metre fell in fell in Suginosawa village and more on the hill. Doesnt sound that impressive but you put half a metre over the roads and things stop moving pretty fast. I had to do a good 2 hours of digging to get to the resort. Matt

Originally Posted By: scouser Thats really helpful. Nozawa does have a fair bit of space for the wife and kids. It also has some decent terrain for someone looking for more of a challenge within the resort. If you don't like bumps, stay away from that Schneider course! Mr Brisbane is a long way off base. I stick by what i said. He made me laugh. Good luck with the tame terrian. Matt

Originally Posted By: Mr Brisbane Why we are also going to Nozawa - All that for less even if the terrain is tamer - better for wife and kids. Good luck buddy. You made me laugh. Matt

i did see someone do an amazing trick with them. Not sure of its name but it looked like a front flip with a 540. It was pretty big. The guy looked like a cannonball on them. Just launched off. I still think fun skiis are a waste of time. matt

Cheers, If anyone has any more information i would love to read it. Thanks for the link too. Matt

Hi, Does anyone know who owns Nozawa? A few years ago the owners either went bust or sold when the resort was in a distressed state. I also got told back in the day it was two resorts which were later combined. Does anyone know the ownership history? Matt

The places i have riden in Japan sometimes have one or two big kickers but they dont have the same volume of jumps as in the states. Myoko suginohara has a lot of multi-directional rails. They make a big kicker around mid season and have a cool snow-cross course. But it also has a season which is 1-3 months shorter than Hakuba, Shiga, Nozawa and Hokkaido resorts. But i have a question for the OP, If you are at a resort all season, dont you go out and build you own jumps? I would have said any resort with a pipe would be good and then you can make the rest yourself? Got t

I see you live in Nagano, what is your favourite mountain?

i heard of it being done. Working in a pension/ backpacker type accomodation is your best bet. Cleaning and cooking meals. not much money in it but you will get by.

boardbaka, yeah i havent spoken to JP Post yet. I posted this thread after looking at a couple of the post calculators, both JP Post and courier services. JP Post was the cheapest but seemed to have a 150cm limit. However i didnt look at it closely and the calculator did say it was for small boxes. I just wondered if they had a special service for snow gear. Im sure you must be able to post something longer than 150cm. Knowing what to ask for would speed it up for me because out in the inaka they like to chooto a bit. Anyway after the box im thinking my board will come in

Hi Guys, I just wondered if anyone had sent a snowboard overseas. Im looking to send mine to NZ and wondered which method was the cheapest. I dont care about how long it takes as i have snowboards at home. Cheers Matt

Originally Posted By: SJ#4 It gets worked out by people voting for resorts. It is that simple. Did you vote for the resorts you have been to wattiewatson? Hi SJ#4, I really meant that i agree with the tenor of the previous posts. That, while useful, the ranking system is not a gospel. Ranking systems are subjective and i think SJ system is fine. I chose not to vote because, while i dont mind sharing with people where i go, i dont do it over the internet. I met some great people from SJ on the hill or in bars this season, its just im not going to encourage all of them to t

i had a look at that resort ranking. Not sure how it gets worked out but madarao kogen at number 26 is a stretch. Matt

a few people are saying they havent got out much. I think you have left your run a little late. Some mountains will be open til golden week but the conditions wont be that flash matt

i met a guy the other day. He was a tourist. Didnt want to show him squat about the mountain we were riding. We went as far as waiting at lifts to let him go ahead. Next day rode with him as it was a weekday. Turns out he read a map and learned a hell of a lot about the mountain, was a nice guy and he taught me a lot. He figured it out all by himself. This guy should too.

does anyone know what leg is getting amputated. Both knees looked like they took a pounding. Matt

well a good few of those top ranked resorts are in the same area. One of the resorts i ride at gets tons of snow yet 10km down the road there is relatively little. You can visually see the difference. There is no dramatic change in altitude. There are some really funny mirco climates. I hope to check out seki onsen in the next couple of weeks. Matt

Hey mate, Dont waste those tickets. Its poor form to enter the draw and not use them. Honestly i have no idea why you entered the draw. Its pretty time consuming to get to Myoko without a car, and thats from Nagano. Its in the middle of nowhere my friend. Thats why Arai, which is close by and a pretty killer resort, closed down. There are plenty of people that enter those draws that can actually use them and then a guy from Brisbane wins it. Well done buddy. Good luck getting there. But anyway, Myoko has really bad access by train. Ive never done it but i could see

Ok too late for the OP but here is some advice, For Nagano/Niigata Total pot luck on whether you NEED snow tyres. If it snowed the previous night or on your journey you will need either snow tyres or chains. Snow tyres make a huge difference. Even though they are studless they make a huge difference. Dont know how but they do. If it hasnt snowed and you are a confident driver you can get away without anything. Not saying its smart or legal but it can be done. I drove all last year on normal tyres and got away with it. A couple of spins here and there but managed to avo

There is a real quiet karaoke place at the bottom of the hill. Only good if you have a crew as no-one else will be there. Anyway its in a converted rice or sake storage building. To get there: Get to the bottom of the access road to Suginohara. You should be at a five way intersection. On your right is the Suginohara township and on your left is the road back to R18 or the IC. You want to veer right. The sign makes this road as going to somewhere starting with K?????. Cant remember exactly. You should go down a small hill and its 300m down the road on the right. It has

yep, I dont buy new either. Nagano city has some good ones. Really need a car to get to them. One of R18 with a big sign saying Nan demo ii is my favourite. Doki Doki in Suzaka is good too. matt

i have found new prices pretty high in Nagano city. I havent looked at buying in Hakuba. However if you are a longer term resident, there are some excellent second hand stores around the place. there is a 163 Option sitting in one for around US$100. My mate got a 158 Uninc for US$30 and i got a 162 carbon yonex for $US100. There are some good deals to be had but it takes sometime trolling through the junk. Matt

Saloman Boots fit my feet the best. They had some wire lacing system but it stopped working after about 100 days. It had a one way locking mechanism, similar in function to a cable tie that locks one way and tightens the other. It wore out. Bought some new boots with old fashion laces. I cant complain. 100 days is about 5 years of riding for a normal Joe. I think the old fashion laces are the best if you ride a lot. If you dont, i dont think it really matters - anything will do. Matt

I hope you guys that arn't getting out much are either pulling down good coin or have a couple of lovely young ladies keeping you warm. This country would drive me crazy if i couldnt get out at least 50 times in a season. Matt