Slippery Jim

Rusutsu on a clear day (like this a.m.) you can see Yotei, Niseko in the background, Sea of Japan & Pacific, and Lake Toya, and various other hills, etc.

Detachable quads at Alta have no safety bars, so it's not a necessity.

Two of my friends have had the sole of an old ski boot rip completely off from the upper. Plastic gets old and brittle. Buy boots.

Nice, Sand. Back up again tomorrow and expecting a great week!

Biggen, probably too late already but you should edit and delete those e-mail addresses and phone #s. Not good to put on the forum without their permission.

Probably new recruits from Kyushu. Mr W. Have seen that before. But have also seen some extremely good SDF skiers.

Will stop by bar of Owashi Lodge tonight about 8 or so if anyone in Hirafu wants to have a drink

5am wakeup is a bitch. Skied a bit in pm. Hope to be more alive tmrw.

Meet up for an apres beer, Norcal? I'm flying up tomorrow for 5 days.

Only problem with First Blood (the original Rambo movie) is that they made the sheriff more of an asshole than he is in the novel, and they changed the ending for the worse.

That actually sounds good to me !

Staying in Niseko, with maybe occasional day trip to Rusutsu. Undecided on that week of Jan 20; on my own then so if anyone looking to team up... There's a very cheap car rental deal going (Y2,000/day) out of Chitose that I'm thinking makes a mini roadtrip doable.

Wow! Muikabochi, you have a challenger. To both of you

Wish I could, Snowjunky, but up in Hokkaido 1/27-30 and off to Europe 2/3. In Niseko 1/6-10 & 1/13-17; in either Hokkaido or Nagano 1/20-23. Buy the first beer for anyone around those days.

You want a helmet, wear one; you don't, don't. IIII, I assume that's your qualified neurosurgeon diagnosis having examined the patient and reviewed all clinical data? Statistically, head trauma isn't very common in snowsports accidents -- albeit when it occurs it's typically severe. Skiers are far more likely to screw up knees, boarders to fark up wrists. Suggest those on both sides stop making a moral crusade out of it and let people decide for themselves.

Would be piste-off fershore

Maruyama is OK for groomer zooming, but think that bowl up top of Maiko offers more in the way of off-piste.

Yes, that must be it MO, was quite a nice place.

That little patch certainly looks like something anyone with experience would avoid

Is she any relation to Antonio Inoki?

Some good memories of Hatoriko, used to really like the Corkscrew course. Is the Mampei Hotel still open there? They offered some very decent deals.

Ah, well double kudos to you for the lack of experience and the willingness to share

A stungun!

When I was 17 I bought a guitar so I could become a folk singer and score lots of hippie chicks. Damn thing must've been defective because it always sounded like crap and never helped me get laid.