Hotaka Scott

x2 for the Otsukaresama

^^^ Thanks. It's a little below 0 in the morning and "warms" up to 9 or 10 on a good day, although it may feel warmer if the sun is out. There's still plenty of snow (and a bit of debris) in the Karasawa/Hotaka area although I reckon it just a matter of time before it starts getting spoon cut.

Originally Posted By: ILoveZao Well I had last day now. I need to move away for a month on business and so no more skiing until hopefully November. A sad day indeed Liked the summer photo from the other thread - good stuff.

Alpine Guides is a guiding company in NZ that has a heliski operation (maybe 2) as well as offering mountaineering/climbing/backcountry skiiing (?) courses and guiding. I took their ski mountaineering course a few years back and was very pleased with the course and instructors. I can't vouch for the heliskiing operation though, but overall the company was very professional and courteous. I'm sure there's others out there with more info, but this may give you a spot to start your search. Hope you enjoy your trip and please let us know how it turns out.

Some great shots as always muikabochi! Keep 'em coming. Although just a point and click guy myself, I can second Mr Wiggles statement that if you want to get the best colors in your sunsets, climb the nearest mountain.

^^^ Lots of good photos out there.

As well as...

Looks like there's just a few more days left to nominate photos before the voting begins so I'd like to put up a few more contenders:

Originally Posted By: thursday ramen is ageless. Duly noted and amen.

^^^ No worries Actually I think it was Mr JA who pointed it out.

^^^ Cheers! And did you notice I spelt "pics" right this time? (as opposed to "picts")

Am I misreading things or is this a 7 year old thread brought back to life by Mr thursday today? In any case, personal favorite/recommendation would be any variety of Toyama Black ramen; specifically Taiki Ramen .

Sorry for the slight thread drift but... If anyone does get in some turns in NZ, AUS, SA, etc this summer could you please put up a few pics to help the rest of us get through till the white stuff start falling again. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted By: JA It's possibly a random number generator which uses a "pseudo-random" number as seed to the algorithm. Because of the limited number of seeds, the randomness is ordinary. "pseudo-random", algorithm, seeds??? Surely there must be a more interesting explaination that appeals to us conspiricy theoristist. Something to do with mind control perhaps.....

You are by no means imagining it Ms veronica. While I have absolutly no knowledge of the inner workings of the ipod, I can confirm your suspicions of the non-randomness of the shuffle mode. The frequency with which certain songs are played, or the order, etc defies the laws of probability. In fact, I've had this same drunken conversation with numerous friends in the past. But the big questions remains, "WHY"?

^^^ Am thinking the sunset shot was a little before 7-ish. But I could be wrong.

Originally Posted By: ger I thought this thread was about the sudden switch back to cool weather in the last day or two. So did I. But if gf is into skiiing she'll be thanking you in the end And if all else fails, just promise her an evening out of yakiniku tabehodai - and all will be forgiven.

Originally Posted By: SKI Nothing to say really just want to save the thread from page 2 anonymity. Nice save SKI. Also wanted to pass on my thanks to Mr. Pow for providing the Northern Island stoke. Best of luck in NY and SA. Be sure to keep the pics coming during the summer as well

Originally Posted By: TochigiTim Hi there Second year in Japan and this last season I started skiing in and around Tochigi. Not much before then. I have been lurking but thought I'd take the plunge and sign up. Anyone else in or near Tochigi? Not the biggest of resorts here but there are a few. I'll do a write up of a few of them. Sorry - not in or near Tochgi but just wanted to pass on a welcome. Looking forward to the write ups.

^^^ Thanks guys. Hope to get in at least a couple of more days before the rainy season kicks in and does its damage to the snow. Above 2800m there was actually a bit of (wet) snow falling today so things are looking promising in that respect.

^^^ Just to clarify Mr Jynxx - are you referring to the club ski fields? Not so sure how familiar people are with the club fields vs "regular" ski fields difference.

Originally Posted By: ger Man! Can't beat a sunset like that. Looks like a nice steep line down. I'm gonna check that one out on the map. Thanks. If you're looking on a topo, it's the line from the peak of Mt. Okuhotaka that runs in a north-northeast direction towards Karasawa. Reckon its about 400m vertical till you exit, and would be 800m (?) vertical if you kept going to Karasawa Hutte or Koya. Had a look at it today again from below and it still looked to be in good shape.

Originally Posted By: SantaCruz Is the Aus or NZ scene worth checking out? I'm in the US and could see myself getting an itch to ride this summer. As the saying goes, "If it itches, scratch it." Would definately say to check it out. Went to NZ a few years ago for about a month. Rented a sleeper van for about $20 (USD) a day and drove around the Southern Island skiing about 3 days a week and doing a little sightseeing the other days. It's a bit "old school" (i.e. T-bars and nutcrackers) compared to what you may get in the US but that was half the fun. However, as GN and Ezorisu po

After an almost month and a half hiatus of little skiing, myself and a few co-workers/friends were finally able to get out for a day of skiing. Where: Chokuto Runze, aka The Direct Route, off of Mt. Okuhotaka (3190m) in the Northern Alps When: May 18th, 2009 Starting off from the hut nearest the peak of Mt. Okuhotaka, 4 of us began the hike up to the summit at about 8 am... We reached the summit at about 9, and got a look down into what we were about to ski.. As well as the usual (near) summit shot... After dropping in and skiing a bit, we had

Opps. All this time I thought "picts" was an accepted abbreviation for "pictures" Learn something new every day - I guess all these hours spent on SJ haven't been for nothing. And apologies to any Lowland Scots; I didn't mean to imply you should be a naked sacrifice for the gods in order that we get more snow next season.