coldcat

Thanks for the update. CNN should be more accurate. "halted the event after the crash"... Not exactly accurate. They continued with the event, and halted it after the second round cos it was impossible to continue. The first round continued after this accident, and the other 4 before.

he is only 21 years old...

Check the video.This was in Polonia. Last Saturday. The jumper is Jan Mazoch. It was a day with very very strong winds but international ski federation decided to go ahead with the event eventhough some had advised to not go ahead as it was too dangerous. Before this accident 4 other jumpers had already fallen, still the international ski federation decided to go ahead. What is really cruel though is that after this accident they just waited for the ambulance to leave and then continued with the show. Jan Mazoch hit his head really hard as you can see in the video, and is now in co

These are from my trip last Xmas to Asahidake. From the parking... Temperature was -17 degrees. That's me about to start the descend...

When I was in Niseko this winter, I had quite a frightening accident actually while going through the trees. I was with my wife and she got a bit lost (we were new to Niseko) in the tree area to the right of King 3, so I went there and because I didn't want to have to walk later when the slope becomes almost flat I was going quite fast, my board got stuck in between two trees/bushes (not a lot of snow then so still quite a lot of bushes) and I hit my head really hard against a tree. I was wearing a helmet but even so I was feeling kind of dizzy for a few mins after the accident so I decided to

Quote: Originally posted by quattro: you guys are worse then a bunch of drunks at a funeral. that's so true... me included

Quote: Originally posted by coldcat: This isn't a forum or website about humanitarian work, it's about snow sports in Japan, so it's normal that people express their feelings about someone who died while practicing snow sports in Japan because it's related to the topic of this forum and site. The lives lost in Africa from hunger, or the people that die in the tsunamis, or the people who die in Iraq, or in Palestine/Israel, etc ... are also as sad a fact as it is the accident of this man in Niseko, but that has nothing to do with the main topic of this website/forum and therefore it's just l

Yeah, if you can see the core,apparently you run the risk of damaging your board so much that it becomes not worthy to repair it.

Oyuki, those who care about the person who died in Niseko are not wrong. Those who don't care about other people dying in the world are wrong. To care about that poor man doesn't imply we don't care about other people dying. This isn't a forum or website about humanitarian work, it's about snow sports in Japan, so it's normal that people express their feelings about someone who died while practicing snow sports in Japan because it's related to the topic of this forum and site. The lives lost in Africa from hunger, or the people that die in the tsunamis, or the people who die in Iraq, or in Pa

I might be over-reacting myself, but I just think that somebody's death is something that deserves more respect than that post.

sg, forgive my rudeness but your post was not only insensitive but also superficial. The fact that there are many people dying everyday in the world doesn't mean that we should not feel for the death of those related to us. Death is something sad, and feeling sad about it is natural. What is even more natural and logical is to feel sad when we witness the death of someone who is somehow close to us. The person that died in Niseko was ,like us, a snow lover, and in that sense he was close to us. And the fact that he died in a place which many of us frequent such as Niseko make

It's probably one of the best runs I've had in Niseko inbounds.

Quatro, the gondola that you saw is the prince gondola and as far as I know is running for this season. There's another gondola that hasn't been working for quite a while, you can see it on the map if you look at it. It's the one that leaves you near the "limited 3" course at the top. Now cos that gondola isn't working if you want to do that course you have to walk a little but I'd definitely recommend that run because due to the fact that you need to walk most people don't even know about it so it's usually quite untracked, in fact, when I went down it nobody had touched and it was in the aft

Came back from Niseko. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of snow but enough. Asahidake was perfect though. Anyway, after reading the posts here in SJ I have to admit that I expected Australian people to be complete morons in Niseko. The truth is that they are in general very polite and friendly people. It's a shame they are getting bad reputation for a few isolated cases. In the whole time I was in Niseko, I didn't witness any incident involving Aussies or foreigners at all, in fact, they all seemed really respectful people. I did witness, however, a gang of really really "urusai" Japanese boys d

Thanks eveyone, it seems like there's plenty of reading for me to do now. db le p, thank you for the advice. I haven't actually thought about getting any certification, I just wanted to read a good book for the knowledge I could get and also just for the fun out of reading it. To be honest, I doubt I can ever become a mountain guide, I am the worst person on this planet for knowing directions. I always get lost whenever I drive to a new place, and it takes me 2 or 3 trips to learn the road. No chance for me then I guess

Thanks Ak.It sounds great. Hopefully I'll give it a go if I can find it at a not too expensive price somewhere.

I've only been in Japan for 2 seasons (this is my 2nd), but I remember the locals last year round December telling me that I wouldn't be able to start snowboarding until January... Snow came early in December and everyone was really surprised, most people hadn't even changed their tires yet. I'm just guessing but could it be that everyone is comparing this season with the exceptionally early season of last year? I don't know well, but most Japanese people seem to assume that the season starts in January.

I was looking at reading some good book that teaches you the knowledge that mountain guides and people like that have. Any recommendations?

Quote: Originally posted by SerreChe: Read a review by a meteorologist looking at snowfall statistics in the french alps over the past couple of hundred years! Did not know they had that much data. Anyway, it goes like this: Between 1977-1988 was an exceptional period for snowfalls ( thanks, I enjoyed that). Below average temps & higher humidity. People got used to it and assumed it was normal conditions. Between 1855-1875, the alps had between 1/2 & 1/4 of the regular snowfalls. 20 years running !!! After 2nd world war, snowfalls were so low that there was barely any m

Quote: Originally posted by Markie: Coldcat, how could you leave out this one? It's the most important! -sumimasen, toire wa doko desu ka. (excuse me, where is the toilet) sure!

El Nino years are years in which Atlantic low pressures are very active, and this is always preceded by winds from the south in Europe.

Never been to Niseko myself, but about Japan,learn a few Japanese words. It will make the locals happy. Plus is a bit arrogant to go to a foreign country and expect people to understand English. Just doing your best with a few words may make a difference. Something like: -arigatou gozaimasu. (thank you) -sumimasen. (excuse me, sorry). -konnichiwa (Good afternoon) -ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) -konbanwa (good evening) -sayonara (bye) You can find more on the internet if you look for them.

This year is a El Nino year. While it shouldn't affect much Japan from what I know (and I hope), it does affect Europe very much, and that's the reason why temperatures are being warmer than usual this autumn. By the way, El Nino is a natural phenomenon, not man-induced.

And last winter in Australia and New Zealand, the same story.

From what I've read they are registering record low temps in the US and Canada this season. And the snow-fall is being amazing too.