abelere

if u can learn breakfalls like they use in judo you can save your butt and wrists alot of pain, especially in the beginning. from a snowboarding POV anyway and probably skis. they are not so difficult but making a habit of it takes some time.

will be using the same wear i have been for the last 2 years, dark blue jacket & grey pants. Bought cheap, less well known brand stuff but they are still going strong. new colours would be great but my money has to go to transport for w/end trips.

apart from Hokkaido, i guess the other prefectures which surround the northern alps (nagano,toyama,gifu) are your best bet.they all get lots of snow

he didnt post a link but he gave a reminder just in time.

Originally Posted By: stemik Happy 7 season ticket lottery has been drawn - over 5000 applicants for 300 season passes. wow! those odds dont sound too bad at all. thanks dizzy for letting us know about that lottery and giving us a sniff of hope

might be lucky enough to earn some turns at tateyama for the long w/end in november. fingers crossed.

heres some pics of a recent trip to yakushima. i did the hike to jomonsugi, the oldest cedar tree there. the old growth forest is spectacular, i recommend taking the long route via shiratani unsuikyo (shiratani gorge). more interestin terrain and you can escape the crowd for half the trip. started before sunrise and walked all day there and back. there are many freaky trees nice rivers all over the place mononoke forest, beautiful but beware of leeches what we all came to see, the big tree

That was a great read! Got me all amped up about Hakuba now. Cheers!

i wish lifts were ~3000Y/day, they are closer to 5000Y nowadays. it adds up pretty quick if you hop around. happy7 tix are the way to go IMO for that. season tix are really worthwhile.