grantj71
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Posts posted by grantj71
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Tripler... You and SantaCruz are taller, but I am a BIG bloke... You are at least 25kg lighter than me (if you get back to 95kg) and Santa Cruz is 99kg... to my 120-125kg...
I can ride my board fine thru the trees as well, but as SantaCruz says it's all about feeling stable and doing what you want to do with it..
I am happy to go into the park, but being close to 40 years old, I just want to jump and land without being tricky... Whereas, some people want to spin and flick etc..
I am sure if I wasn't such a big fella, I probably wouldn't need to worry about having such big boards...
As for the original post though about someone being too tall (or big)... Definitely NOT!!! Doesn't matter what size you are... As long as you enjoy it, and at the end of the day have a beer with the crew... That's what boarding is all about!
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I am 192cm tall and weigh between 120 and 125kg...
I have 3 boards that I use regularly
1. Burton Baron ES - 168 cm. I use that mainly in Oz on the hard packed snow/groomers. Also used it in Hakuba last year as limited new snow.
2. Burton Super model - 172cm. Good mix of a board to use on groomers but also good if we get a dump of snow as gives me the opportunity to get it on TOP of the snow and not under it!
4. Nitro Sabre Swallow tail - 181cm. This is AWESOME for the BIG dumps of snow in places like Niseko, and also for Heliboarding... Being the size and weight that I am, I find it the best for pure powder riding, as other powder boards (such as Burton Fish etc) are just not big enough for me.... Mind you, when you end up on a groomer... It ain't fun!
So... Don't feel like you are big... You are a light weight!
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Well, I am glad that on the whole most people have taken my review as what is what meant to be.... Just a neutral informative view of things. I have no vested interest in either location..
The hope is that certain people that live and work in each location can discuss in a neutral way the positives and negatives to management and we can see an improvement.
I am sure also that many Aussies would love it if Qantas, Jetstar, JAL or similar put some direct Australia to Sapporo flights back on!!!
Someone in an earlier post mentioned about people doing their research before they get there... Yep, good point, but I think that in all honesty, I stayed at a BEAUTIFUL hotel and can't fault it... Except I speak EXTREMELY limited Japanese and the staff spoke extremely limited English... Did I find that a problem...Nup... Loved them, they were fantastic.... But where as some people bag Niseko because there are too many Aussies, I don't mind the fact that the amount of English signage, and literature available gets you informed when you get there...
Remember, we are on holiday and when on holiday things should be easy!!
Anyway, I hope to return to Japan on a regular basis and I hope to experience other resorts as well as return to Niseko in future!! You have to have a taste of the new and a taste of the 'trusted' in order to keep experiencing new things!!!
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Hey
Can anyone tell me if there is suitable storage at Tokyo station?
Travelling back to Narita tomorrow from Hakuba, and want to stop for 3-4 hours to look around but don't feel like dragging bags and board bag around.
The board bag is massive as it holds a total of four boards for wife and me (including 182 swallow tail, unused on this trip!!!)
Catch the shinkansen in the morning but if no acccommodation confirmed for bags, then might leave it till lunch time to leave...
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Well, I wasn't trying to create any fisticuffs but more just getting out my views on the differences.. Too often, we get 'one is better than the other' but no real reason why...
Hakuba could be the BEST resort, but unfortunately at this time of year, the snow is not the best so hard to get a good judgement from that point of view..
The restaurants, onsens, off piste 'tree's' and all that could also be very good, but with little information in English to point you in the right direction, it is again hard to make the best decision...
The biggest thing that I could see that was just a shame, was looking over to those BEAUTIFUL peaks, and not hearing a single chopper taking some people out heli-boarding...
I have spent time doing that, and that truly rocks!!! Yes, you do need AVI gear etc etc, and PLEASE no fighting, but it potentially has brilliant opportunities to have good in boundaries tree skiing, and also has the opportunity to have the extra activities, for those with the dollars and the skill level to do that!!!
I think that the only way to get the improvement is to keep talking about it on a positive note, and eventually there will be change!!!
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OK...
So we have read this type of thing 1000 times, but I am putting this review up based on my opinions.
I have been to Japan for the last 4 seasons straight (currently in the hotel in Hakuba)... Mar 2006 in Niseko, Feb 2007 in Niseko, Dec 2007/Jan 2008 in Niseko, and Feb/Mar 2009 in Hakuba. I have come here to Hakuba with my wife, and she came last year to Niseko as a virtual beginner..
So... Here is some comparisons.
Getting to resorts from Australia - The winner - Hakuba... Plane landed at 6am and in Hotel room by lunch time after taking train, then bullet train then bus.. Easy work..
Niseko - Land in at 6am, then transfer on bus to Haneda airport, wait for about 3 hours and get flight to Chitose, wait for about 2.5 hours and get bus to Niseko... Arrive by dinner time...
Accommodation - I have stayed at Pensions in Niseko (Full Note, and Ru Ru), and am staying at Hotel La Niege Honkan in Hakuuba.
From a cost perspective, Pensions win, but from a luxury perspective, La Niege wins... So it realy comes down to what you want at the time. Won't knock either!!!
Onsens - Niseko wins hands down. A variety of nice indoor/outdoor onsens within easy walking distance if staying in Hirafu... Hakuba has them, but they are far more expensive (2-3 times the price) and usually not as much character... We haven't visited many because so spread out.
Food - Both have great food... But Niseko has access to crab, and the food you can get on Hokkaido ROCKS... Fresh natural food... Plus food on the mountain during lunch is better as well... The big clincher... Cost... Niseko is about 10-20% cheaper when comparing yen to yen for food.
Getting Around - When I have stayed at Niseko, I have stayed in Hirafu village, and there is plenty around and easy to get to whether it be Seico Mart, a good restaurant, or the onsens... It is on a hill and that is a pain in the butt BUT Hakuba is SOOOOOO spread out, and with the night bus running at such long intervals, the winner here is Niseko... BTW the night bus stopped running on 8 March so have to take taxi's and they are about 50% more expensive than Niseko (used them to go from Kutchan to Niseko several times).
Lift passes - Niseko you pay for one pass for however long, and only when that pass runs out do you have to worry about taking it back for a refund... The pass was good for the 4 Niseko resorts (you can ski from resort to resort easily and if need be catch a bus home or ski home... Can go to all 4 in one day if you are fit enough.
In Hakuba, you have to take the pass back at the end of each day and get a refund, then the next day, you have to go to lift counter and get another... Plus they don't work at neighbouring resorts, which means if you started the morning at Happone and then went to Hakuba 47, you would need to buy two different tickets, even though they are about 2 km apart.
We had purchased 10 day passes (10 of 14 days) but HAVE to go to the ticket counter EVERY DAY and have to return the pass EVERYDAY.
The 'Aussie' Invasion - Look... We have been to both places and to be quite honest, the Aussies have infiltrated both places to such an extent that you can't really say that one is worse than the other. Niseko does have the advantage however that much of the signage is in English, and you can get more information out of people (say to do lessons, go back country, find out where the good onsen is or where one is because the writing is in Kanji). Aussies can be as good or bad in both places...
Now the big one...
The snow boarding - Please note that I am 37 and like big free riding... Enjoy trees and powder.... My wife is 28 and she is just getting comfortable on a board going over various terrain... We are not big on snowboard parks and leave that to the younger crowd.... Off Piste on fresh powder is our idea of perfect snow... Throw a few trees in the mix is great too..
Hakuba - Have been to Happone, Hakuuba 47, Iwatake, Tsuagike Kogen and Goryu... Hakuba 47 from a snowboarders perspective IMHO is the most well suited to us of these resorts. Nice runs on groomers with minimal moguls. A boarder cross park to give us something different, and a great snowboard park IF we wanted to give that a crack...
The rest are alright but really are catering for skiiers with HEAPS of moguls.... Especially when covered in ice as season is poor, they are the snowboarders worst FRIEND.
However, limited tree runs (I don't think I have found any 'legal' tree runs in Hakuba!!!) and as we noted with our friends and just on the lifts, the snow patrol is ready to pounce if you go under the ropes.. We saw on several occasions Snow patrol on snow mobiles sitting waiting at the bottom of runs ready to get people who enjoyed a bit of 'off-piste' action
Unfortunately, we have been here in the 'worst' season for 40 years, so can't comment on how good their powder COULD be, but if you can't try off piste or go thru the trees, then it is hard to pass judgement!!!
Goryu in our opinion is pretty poor... You have some very easy places which is great if learning BUT even on a weekday in a crap season, you are competing with 5000 other people. They have one black run, and that is full of moguls and then you have cat tracks. Their double black runs, were closed to the public so unsure if moguls or good fun for boarding!!!
Niseko - I have been there early season, mid season and late season and on two of the three occasions, they complained how CRAP the snow was!!! It still rocked compared to Hakuba... Nice fluffy stuff and on each occasion EVEN in their CRAP seasons, we got at least 1 or 2 days with waist deep pow!!!
Tree runs! Go for it! Off piste - No drama.... I think in Niseko I spent about 10% of my time on the groomers and the rest of the time off piste...
So... That is my opinion... I hope it can help some people... Please note that Hakuba is probably HEAPS better for skiiers and if the season had been better, then they could probably boast about better snow fall... But at this point in time, I will definitely be going back to Hokkaido in the future....
Would be good if people worked out what was best for them... as we didn't comment on bars... night life etc and of course what is good for us, might not be the case for others as they might LOVE moguls!!! Or ice!!
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Hi guys
Hoping you can help me.
My wife and I will be hitting Japan possibly at the end of Feb 27. Can't get there any earlier due to work commitments.
Have been to Niseko 3 times since 2006, early March in 2006, Feb 2007 and Christmas 2007/New Years 2008. We probably need a change, but want to go somewhere that is still likely to have a good cover and MAYBE if we are lucky receive some extra snow.
Don't want to slum it, but don't need 5 star luxury, but only can speak about 3 words of Japanese...
What's the best options?
We are not crazy people who need it steepest, etc etc, but at Niseko we did like to duck the ropes and go thru the trees and just cruise the mountain.... Ideally we would like somewhere where the lifts are close by, as is food etc... Very important to have a good nights sleep so a good bed is a must!!!
We have been to Rusutsu while staying at Niseko, but wouldn't mind something on Honshu maybe this time as removing the Narita/Haneda transfer and then up to Chitose would be GREAT!
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If he had a single board and the bindings were set not dissimilar to a skiier then it is mono-skiing... If he is a on a single board and his bindings are set just like a snowboarder he is one crazy dude!!! Poles would be awesome when you are on one of those bloody cat tracks that are almost dead flat....
There are mono-ski boards specifically for mono skiing.... Not having done it, but I reckon that they would be heaps easier to ski in powder over proper ski's... I mean I am a snowboarder and can't control two things at once, that's why I snowboard!!!
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Well, I just got back from Niseko, after my third trip over the last three seasons.. First trip - early March 06, Second trip - mid Feb 07, this trip - Christmas eve 07 to Jan 4 08...
Yep, it wasn't as good as it was the previous two visits BUT.... Still found deep snow, that didn't have a crunchy base (the last two days)... and yep, the rain was a downer, but Mongoose, MikePOW, Go Native and others..... you all sound like the little fat kid at Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory ('I don't know if this chocolate is good enough for me').... You are so lucky to be in such a beautiful place and even in this 'crap' snow, I still found plenty of untracked lines...
Now I have to wait until June or July this year when Perisher or Thredbo gets a MASSIVE 4cm dump of snow so I can go rock skiing.....
And warm temperatures... You poor fella's... It is 35 degrees © here right now so the only snow I will be seeing is in photograph's!!!
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Does anyone know if the Annupuri bowl area is open yet? Has been a favourite of mine but I am getting the feeling they haven't opened it up yet? I arrive on Monday and really pysched about the whole thing...
What appears to be the pick of the crop at this moment in time?
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Hang on... Wasn't there an extra 45cms over the weekend? I note the depth is now around 1.45metres in Niseko and was about 1m on Friday...
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My two cents worth....
If you are like myself coming from Australia, then the gear that you would normally use in Oz, while usable, isn't ideal for the amount of powder that you get in Japan... As such, while you can get around the place, it is hard work.... As someone else has already said, you will probably find that using a FAT pair of ski's makes life a lot easier... The problem you then have, is that on your return to Australia (if you are coming back to Oz), you will then find that the 3cm of powder we get here in a 'HUGE' dump is not really applicable for your big fat powder ski's...
So, if you want to get suitable gear for the right conditions, then I suggest that you get a set of POWDER ski's for Japan, and a set of 'rock' hoppers for Australia...
A bit like having a 4 wheel drive and a Porsche in the driveway depending on if you are going off the beaten track in the mountains or out on one of those fantastic bitumen windy roads like the Great Ocean Road...
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If you are going to go to Niseko... Just get the All Mountain pass.. We all know that you can get bad weather on the mountain but it is not so bad 500 metres around on the next mountain (say it is windy, or overcast)... If that was the case and you had an all mountain pass, you simply either bus it or go to the better areas...
The other thing is, I have been there twice now and spent probably 20 days there but could accidently follow a run to the bottom of the hill and realise that I am at the lift of another resort... That would be a bummer and hard to explain to the Japanese to get back there... If I had the right pass, simply jump on the lift and off we go...
As for food... I think you can find cheap, you can find expensive... There are plenty of options and easy to go on a budget OR splurge out on the expensive stuff...
How much you dropped in prep for the season
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Anyone who starts adding up the costs of winter sports, shouldn't be doing winter sports....
Imagine on a 'No friends powder day' trying to decide if you should buy that extra lift ticket even though you MIGHT exceed your budget!!!
When it snows, you just GO!