stillnoprogress

if your like to tour the alpine or ride park hakuba will be super fun until early may. if riding groomers or sidecountry powder is ur gig then i'd stay in OZ and spend my dough on stimulants and promiscuous women.

Originally Posted By: Kumapix i want a pair just for the cool names dude...we gotta wait on the BROboard.

nice work boys.... snow still looking good -- exits starting to look brutal...

a day trip from Saitama to hkb? that's sounds gnarly

hakuba won't be a problem unless ur thinking new years or chinese new years

plenty for sale doode.

hakuba hasn't seen this much culture ever! i'm still bringing my case of beer. and if anyone from the base can bring up some wintergreen Skoal i will owe you massive. can't buy that on this godforesaken island...

still looks good... just booked flights... see you next wednesday... hope i still have a job when i get back.

i don't like the English can we ban them? It's a ski resort not a country club where you can decide who be a member. Japan's population is clearly declining, they have no natural resources, property prices and consumer prices are stable at best, and the immigration stance and tax rate prohibits external factors to bring much change. Japan has to try and capitalize on it's natural beauty (read "snow") and HAS to encourage tourism from Chinese, Russians, Aussies, Koreans, Indians, etc etc. Most of the ski areas in Japan are in massive need of capital investment and this is going to

Originally Posted By: TheOrange About how much does a ski resort cost I wonder? Fortress Investment Group bought Intrawest in 2006 for $1.8bn. So they effectively bought 10 resorts including Mammoth, Whistler, Copper, Winter Park, Stratton, & Tremblant. Re your second question it doesn't sound like they intend to make any changes to the management, staff, etc. What we are probably likely to see is intrawest style land and hotel development and expansion of services. That being said, i wouldn't be complaining if they relaxed the rules at 47 a bit.

personally think this is a big step forward for the area. whether it's linking 47 and happo under one lift pass, developing empty tracts of land near the lifts, demolishing so many antiquated bldgs in the Hakuba area, etc etc, it will absolutely increase land values, rental prices, vacancy rates at pensions go down and prices go up. the losers will be the ones who aren't running their businesses correctly in the first place. the bad part is that the resort becomes more crowded, but it'll all be on the groomers. Foreign-owned or not, improvement has to happen in the area.

Originally Posted By: Critta I agree with the issues regarding accessability. What's a 10yr old hiace van (or similar) worth to buy and run per annum (insurance/ rego etc)? The current finnacial market suggests rates will stay down in the near term - who knows what may happen over the next 5 years though? To make it work as a foreigner, rental income is an absolute necessity and this has me questioning two things: 1. How difficult is it to have an old house approved to rent out as holiday accomodation. 2. How busy is the shoulder/ summer season (ie how many occupancy weeks wo

If you plan on owning a house in hkb the extra dough to buy old beater is a drop in the bucket

there is a place on Kita Goryu Dori (my street) that is for sale, but i think that's the one FT is talking about. i haven't looked at it but my friend shared FT's wife's opinion. Hakuba Real Estate has a vacant lot for sale in Echoland on their website, but you should just give them a call to find out if they have anything they haven't listed yet (and Sakura too). There seem to be a few places in Meitetsu that look pretty good (Meitetsu ain't too much different than Misorano but it's a bit further from the Master Braster i suppose). To be honest it seems like real estate transactions i

i own some property in Misorano and to say that the operators targeting foreigners are not to be trusted is absurd. they would have to target foreigners if they want to stay in business. Try Sakura or Hakuba Real Estate or PM me. There are definitely a few places for sale there.

my buddy stunts goes to these places all the time to ride rails. Apparently the kickers are tough b/c the landings are pure ice. I think he likes Kamui Misaka Snowpark in Saitama the best. Personally think that skateboarding is better. it's summer for f--k sake.

Francois, were u able to rent gear & did u end up doing this trip?

many thanks...

i don't think i can -- i haven't posted enough yet. i am a mere amoeba in the snow japan forum kingdom w/ my measly 19 posts.

thanks kuma... had tried a search earlier but to no avail. yep i know u and thanks for the DVD. doesn't make my top 5 but a very funny film. Oyuki - good advise... much appreciated

In my experience showshoes have been pretty much as fast as skins uphill until you have to start going down small downhills or flats. Does anyone have anyone have anything good or bad to say re the burton or voile system vs snowshoes? Heading to Whistler next week and was going to look for a deal on a Prior but haven't convinced myself that it's worth the expense. Also does anyone have a view on skins vs snowshoes from a safety perspective? Any feedback appreciated...

This is a pretty good article on persistant weak layers and very relevant given the rain on snow events in Hakuba. Not super technical. http://www.avalancheinfo.net/Media/Persi...f%202007-08.pdf

not really sure but i have to imagine they're going to dig a pipe and i can't believe they would go to the expense of digging a pipe and maintaining it (or anything else) if they were just going to leave it up for a weekend. I assume it will be private, but the logistics of stopping the gaijin from poaching is going to be a nightmare. regardless, it would be nice to have a park in the spring at Happo

In case you haven't seen, some are calling this the worst snowstorm in over 50 years. You can search online for some images of the Wuhan area. The Ministry of Agriculture reports that the weather has severely damaged crops (rapeseed, vegetables, wheat and other crops) in 16 provinces with 17mn acres of crops damaged and 1.8mn 'completely destroyed'. Here are some other facts: * 77.86 million people affected, according to official figures * 53 people killed, including 29 in bus crashes in Guizhou and Gansu * 89 coal-fired power plants have coal supplies down to alarm level; 18 mn k

i think the direct bus is run by a company called travex... they have a website (not sure if they have an english one though)