tripler

Not sure March would have been the best value last year, though that late dump was very welcome. A week in late December or January would be my recommendation for the 2008-9 season, if you have a time machine.

Originally Posted By: Mr Wiggles When you have to go to Tsugaike on Christmas Eve to ride the upmost main course (skiers right from gondola top) and can only ride about 300 meters of a maybe seven degree course past eight movable snow machines that are on during the day and blowing "snow" into your face as you go past, that is a "really poor" start in my book. Which year was that, Mr Wiggles?

Originally Posted By: SJForums What is it that you want tripler? Historical snow data, or data for early this morning? Your post confuses me. Doesn't historical snow data just mean recorded snowfall as opposed to forecasts? But what interests me at the moment is very recent historical data, like how many cm's fell last night. Got a feeling that on the snow-forecast website last season you could see historic data but can't find anything like that there now.

bummer... Was exciting to see it changed from brown to white on the gondola webcam this morning.

Is there a website with free historical snow data for Japan? I know about Now reports on here but there's nothing since 27 Nov for Hakuba despite last night's snowfall. From the webcam it looks like 1 or 2cm at the top of the gondola. I'm particularly interested in finding out early in the morning how much it snowed last night to decide whether it's worth heading up.

Originally Posted By: JA Luckily, we have a dedicated snow site that operates (some) and/or rents live cameras with a refresh rate in the order of once per hour. So, if you want to know what is REALLY happening, you go to the "snowcams" and look. Better than relying on the official snow measurements. Nice, cams are the way to go! With a measuring stick in view and historical screen shots option, they could give accurate data.

that's pretty bad. Doesn't the Japanese meteorology office get any official data?

Originally Posted By: skidaisuki It's an objective thing, the quality of snow, but the quantities don't appear to be in decline You meant snow quality is a subjective thing, didn't you? I disagree. Dry snow - powder - is good and wet snow is bad (though better than no snow). As someone mentioned in another thread, snow type can be analysed scientifically though it's probably not done much and Japan. But if winters are getting warmer you would expect more wet snow. As for quantity, a 38 year old woman in Azumino who'd lived there all her life told me as a child snow would be 3 or 4 feet d

Originally Posted By: RobBright If it is constructive negative comments, then yes, would also like to hear them; however, if they are just negative out of spite, or uninformed, then agree with SJ, they don't have a time or place for them. But in practice you either have a censored or an uncensored board. I'd rather an uncensored one and trust myself to read between the lines about certain posters' motivations. What SJ actually said was he doesn't remove posts except in extreme cases.

Originally Posted By: Sciclone Either way, negative or inaccurate information about conditions or the industry is not needed. Why? If people have negative points to make I'd like to hear them just as much as the positive ones. And who decides what "inaccurate information" is? Most of what I read here is just opinions. eg. Why do some resorts fail? That's not a how-many-days-are-there-in-December type question. Even things like annual snowfall, which I'd have thought could be pretty objective, are not very transparent. The question "Will it snow in the 2009-10 season?", if you think tha

Originally Posted By: Schneebrettmann By the way, is this a live report? If yes, where are you? Sadly not. But it mystified me last season when I started closely checking forecasts. 40cm doesn't sound like that much but in my experience was always a ridiculously large amount of snow.

Why when 40cm of snowfall is reported, the actual depth is always a lot more? 40cm is about halfway up my shin. But when I've skied the day after a 40cm dump, snow's been well over my knees. More like 80cm to 100cm. Lifts opening late from having to be dug out. How do they actually measure the snowfall? Is it compacted in some way to be reported as 40cm?

anyone know about Japanese ski insurance for injury I cause to others? Living here the government covers me for in-bound rescue and hospital treatment but someone told me I should get cover against injury to others. I'd never heard of it before. Costs about 2000 yen for a season, apparently. If anyone's got more details, please let me know, thanks.

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver Originally Posted By: tripler Originally Posted By: RobBright While there might not have been any big dumps, as Tubby said, the mountains are lower down than in comparison to the European mountains. You're using small mountains as a justification for lack of snow? I don't think people who can choose between Japan, Europe or North America will be very impressed by that excuse. eh...no we're not. My post (even although its Rob that you're replying to) said that people forget that the mountains over here are smaller and the resorts lower down compa

Originally Posted By: RobBright While there might not have been any big dumps, as Tubby said, the mountains are lower down than in comparison to the European mountains. You're using small mountains as a justification for lack of snow? I don't think people who can choose between Japan, Europe or North America will be very impressed by that excuse.

Originally Posted By: snowhuntress and the all important alcohol etc!!!! in france supermarket alcohol is ridiculously cheap - cheaper than japan. Bar is probably less of a bargain but with the strong yen probably still less than here. Thursday, ditto, may be ditching the wife and hooking up with a frog if it doesn't snow soon.

i recommend La Neige Higashikan. Best hotel in Hakuba.

Originally Posted By: thursday If trying to save money, I'd take TB's advice seriously. He's a Scot he must have very long stocks.

Originally Posted By: rainmaker European resorts have opened early this season as they did last year. There are hoping for a bumper seasson again. I heard all the early stuff melted. Recently a young Japanese person who I don't think was a big skier said skiing is less popular here than it was because the snow isn't as good. Interesting because I never heard that as a reason before, though often hear the powder was much better 20 years ago. Usually it's said declining poplularity is because people have to spend their money on monthly cell phone bills in the middle of a 19+ year recession

oops, sorry i meant Sun Alpina not Valley. Going to Sun Valley later.

Originally Posted By: skidaisuki If you are in Hakuba and you want to get away from the crowds, get to Kashimayari anyway. It's well worth it for 10 minutes extra on the bus. Is Kashimayari another name for Sun Alpina? I plan to visit Sun Valley if we get some snow before mid-December. Would you be allowed to drive a snowmobile up the closed resort?

common Dell problem is screen dying (after 4 years, then 2 years for me). Second time I bought a new part from ebay for $10 and fixed it myself. Still going ok 7 months later.

got an email from 1pixelhosts saying the create album problem is a bug, button has now been disabled and he'll let me know when it's fixed.

maybe only misleading in the context of this thread. Because I said 1pixelhosts will host images up to 3MB, meaning it can host a 3MB image. Then someone piped up that JSF can do 8MB. Imagine a car ad saying "this car will fit 10 passengers" but it turns out it only will if their arms and legs are cut off. You might be like, oh, well that's not such a great deal after all...

Originally Posted By: SJForums 8MB surely covering most peoples needs. So I very much disagree that it is "pretty irrelevant". Sorry SJ, "pretty irrelevant" was the wrong phrase. It is very useful not to have to compress photos before uploading. What I meant was it's a bit misleading because it sounds like the original 8MB photo can be hosted on here. But it's not at all important, as I said before - the main thing about this site is posts and info. Pics are an added bonus which are much appreciated, thanks. Keep up the great work! and I'll try not to whinge so much in future.