samurai

oh crap, here we go... in an attempt to bipass the blah-blah beauracracy bottle-necks that we all find ourselves in in this country, let's buy a mountain and go heli-skiing! you provide the ownership with the waivers that actually stand in court and I'll provide the pilots and the ships. A-stars and Squirrels; You'll be flying upside-down! (Sorry, pilots only come with ships and ships only come with pilots. those are the rules.) Helicopters (and then 100's of 1000's of ridiers) are literally a phone call away, if we can figure out how to deal with the "Sumimasen... Chotto..."

good point. when I first skied Hakuba region, I said to myself; "can you imagine a red-bull heli event out there?" The biggest problem with big mountain events is their lack of funding. All the venues are miles away from spectators. No spectators=no sponsorship money. With the hakuba region, you could place all your spectators right at the top of the resort and get a perfect view right across the valley. It's way easier said than done, of course. although, I've personally considered contacting the guys from the old World Heli Challenge out of New Zealand to help with the logistics. (that

some of the areas are management nightmares. I completely understand (as a business man) why they just rope it off. the few requesting access and the unknown amount of man-power to make it doable just doesn't break even. Lift tickets would sky rocket if some major japanese resorts decided to take avi-control into their budget.

There are a few instances in history that have altered my skiing. There are a few lines at Kirkwood that come to mind right now that I will never ski because of what went down during my shifts. difficult or not, frequented or not, when you're present- the line becomes something else. I wasn't present for this Australian, but I would still feel it I'm sure. If somebody were to point it out, I would definetely avoid it at all costs. I don't know if it's respect or fear. Either way, I pray for the families.

in an attempt not to stear this thread away from its proper topic, a new thread has been started regarding policy changes. http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/7396.html

I remember reading the newspaper last year about a mountaineering school (I believe it was hakuba area) who had some students die in an avalanche. The cornice collapsed (I believe)(2001?) The instructors of the course got sued. The father of one of the deceased was quoated as saying something to the likes of; "If I had known it was avalanche season, I wouldn't have let my son go." If I remember correctly, the deceased was in his thirties. Thoughts???

Quote: Originally posted by SirJibAlot: I think we all feel a connection to a fellow snowslider regardless of race, religion, or nationality. It could happen to any of us. We could be standing on the side of a run and get taken out by an out of control lunatic, hit a jib wrong, or have a tree jump out in front of you...anytime a fellow snowsports enthusiast dies - it touches all of us. Where your helmets and be safe. -SJA I quit patrolling the day after holding a man's hand after a collision with another skier. Every ten minutes or so his unconscious body would throw his other hand i

cowbells, music store. so dah ne... honestly never crossed my mind. cheers for waking me up.

Quote: Originally posted by SirJibAlot: Samurai, bro - you gotta stop hitting the SJ site after polishing off a few too many bottles of the old imo shochu! I've always gone mirrored, cloud or shine. Perhaps I need to expand my quiver of goggles to include some orange or rose. Any specific recommendation for cloud days? -SJA gomen ne. I'm hung over now. Perhaps those ten moonlight pow lines entailed one too many. goggle rec's? whatever... as long as you have options/backups for when you tumble and pack your lense with snow. (it's funny, i rarely pack my goggles now that I ha

how often do you clean your bases? why are they so dirty? If you are just removing yesterday's wax, may I remind you that World-Cup racing techs consider Structure more important than wax? Base cleaner is nice when dealing with a base fresh from the factory, or after you skied through a cat's oil puddle. Otherwise, if you don't have any reason to remove old wax, why bother? Honestly, what is base-cleaner removing other than old-wax, which hasn't proven itself destructive to anyone who doesn't need a gold medal? (but yes, that stuff's toxic.) BTW- i haven't used base-cleaner in

fis races are famous for cow-bells. I've never actually been. I have only seen on tv. Every race I've seen has had mad spectators with enourmous cow-bells. I have been dreaming of witnessing an FIS race for more than 20 years. I grew up with my face glued to the TV, dreaming of cranking turns like that. I ski alot, but never have I had the opportunity to catch a world-class FIS race. They have come through my town randomly maybe 8 or 9 times and I couldn't make it. I searched my local ski shop to no avail. I may make my own. I'm just sooo fricking excited to see my first fis race!!! can't beli

right. mirrored goggles provide plenty of vis at night. Hey everybody, the sun set, let's put on our mirrors. I'm sure they're 'fine'- keep the snow and wind out of your eyes, etc... and if you don't do much night riding, you'll probably be happy. But, if you do habitually ride nights, you're probably not reading this thread, eh? (like my sore ass ) but if you ride nights more than a holiday or two, clear are waaay worth the investment. The flood lights provide perfect contrast. ideally, no goggles would suffice, but we're talking riding. oh, just got back fr

I don't think any non-fluoro is dangerous. There is an article in the BEST WAX thread that I posted, perhaps you saw it. If you want to prevent loose/light shavings and still want to scrape at home, don't let your bases cool too much, set them by your heater, that will result an easier to control group of shavings. (maybe you know that though...)

you forgot clear for nights. going crud-munching on highspeed quads under floodlights tonight. stoked to leave work early for turns.

Sat/Sun January 27th -28th = FIS Slalom race. Going for sure, but not much skiing, sorry. More of a rabbit-fur hat/down parka/ cow-bell day. Now where's that wine-skin I ordered???

I have a quiver of goggles. If you can't see, you can't ski. changing lenses on the hill is a pain, I change at home where the frame/lens is warm. I have two oakley a-frames and four lenses. I also have two smiths with orange lenses. One of them will always be in my pocket incase I stack and pack my goggles with snow. new skis/bindings- $500-1000 boots- $300-700 clothes- $200-... season pass/lift tickets- $200-800 Two pairs of Oakley A-frames/4 lenses- $240.00 even. (and that's expensive/retail) goggles are pretty cheap. Often my spare pair is given to my dumb-ass frie

did you buy the dominator in japan? I haven't looked yet. I've read good reviews from the guys at epic as well. I'll try it if I see it.

toko has been around a while, but that is not enough to convince me that is any better than anything else. Glad to hear gallium wasn't irritating. Some day I may choose to research more. Until then... keep them coming... I wonder if there is a secret wax-warehouse making all waxes. Like Intel claiming that microprocessors actually perform at different speeds. (all chips made by intel under a gig are the exact same, programmed to perform at different speeds to satisfy all niches of computer buyers... pricks/geniuses. I learned such from my old pc-geek roomate who reprogrammed his processo

to most of us who consider ourselves accomplished riders; how many times have you turned off piste in search of visibility? I saw a 4 year old riding alone in last week's blizzard. I was shocked. Visibility was 2 meters on piste. I was actually surprised that the mountain was open in those conditions. That was one of the worst storms of my 30 season tenure. I remember watching snowflakes three centimeters apart randomly chase each other in front of my face. couldn't see the chair in front of me. If I would have gotten hurt, NOBODY would ever have known about it. My wife wouldn't have been home

Quote: Originally posted by quattro: and fluorocarbon waxes also work well with a finer structure due to their greater water repellancy. CANCER!!! Just to confuse/intrigue those who are still reading--- fluorocarbon waxes (high fluoro/HF) (low fluoro/LF) are pricey and used mainly by racers. I have used them in past years but have given up since I learned they should be applied while wearing a respirator. Apparently, and I wouldn't need to argue, they can cause cancer. http://www.enn.com/press.html?id=105 suddenly buying the pricey stuff seems kinda counter-producutive,

Quote: Originally posted by XilR8: I usually use the 3M pad and then finish up with the brush - the brush is what I use to put the fine structure in. The 3M pad is too coarse to structure with properly. I prefer brushes too, but more because they are easier to use and more uniform in their structure. It's hard to get a continual runnel with a 3M pad. However, if you scrape and structure at the hill, like I do, a 3M pad is much smaller in your pack and less weight too. I honestly can't notice a day's difference in teh two structures. (unless it's slush, nothing beats a coarse brush in the s

I got a midfat this winter and am surprised at the edge hold on firmer snow. It's the nordica Jet fuel (126-84-112) I blame the edge hold on the construction. Wood/metal/vertical sidewall. I think as long as you stay away from fiberglass/cap sidewalls, you'll get better firm snow performance. I believe that PE is sidewall right? I haven't actually seen it, but guesssing from much of k2s construction...

yeah sanno, if you are removing more than wax, perhaps your base is base-high. People who are reading this forum for wax tips are not going to hurt their bases. I'm glad your friend is a wax geek and I'm sorry to hear you ruined your favorite race skis with a plastic scraper. I admit it's possible, but the average person reading this isn' going to do any noticable damage. This is not a world-cup waxing forum. wax-scrape (completely)- structure...

skiing in those washing-machine style blizzards can surely help us understand how easy it is to get lost. you could just hurt your ankle and be out of sight for days. prayers....

Quote: Originally posted by Sanno: If you don't know what you're doing then you're better off by not scraping. In your enthusiasm you might scrape off some base making the base hollow. So scrape, but not all. you're not going to scrape off base material. and you won't scrape it hollow. Hollow is void of wax in the first place. hollow is why we wax. sanno, you're one of them I'm preaching too. Now, go scrape your boards. YOU WILL NOT DAMAGE YOUR BOARDS BY SCRAPING THEM WITH A PLASTIC SCRAPER. If you don't know what you are doing, then scrape that crap off your board!!! wax is not fa