Greenroome

Sapporo - yep, just lightly now but we've had 32 cm in the last 24 hours. More than Kutchan! Not that it's a comp...

Originally Posted By: Blade Teine Highland I'm shralping it as you read this. Good dump Thurs night, after a saddening Christmas Day thaw. Originally Posted By: Blade Toyota Big Air Tell me more, tell me more... (Edit - correction to that - I'm not shralping anything. just woke up to a foot of snow, but 13 metre a second winds and a gale warning! And thunder!? )

Yep, I always keep a thin layer of natural between me and my thermal. Usually cotton.

I second that, Tubs. Cheap Japanese thermals rock the house. My long sleeve 1000 yen thermo from Homac (big hardware DIY store) is the final word in warmth. Can't believe I paid 4000 - 5000 in Oz for similar quality from big name shops. Patricia - are you talking about Neoprene thermals? They're pretty big here. It's thin wetsuit material. I imagine they'd get wiffy, but not sure. They're more expensive so maybe they've sussed the smell factor out. Let me know if you want a price from a DIY store. I can also get you a price on a motion-sensor fitted self-opening toilet if you like. (you l

I'm not sure about the details. I only heard it in passing. The dude was in the Otaru Beer Club though so it should be right. What's 'tabe' again?

Sounds like an excellent long weekend Ez. Beautiful countryside out there. Must try it. Well, Niseko's got all the fresh today, but yesterday the fresh was here in sunny Sapporo. I had another great day up at Teine Highland, with about 10-12cm of fresh. Just enough to soften out Sunday's tracks and whilst it wasn't deep or dry, it certainly was soft, spongy and fun. Plenty of action in the woods, and plenty of Japanese ducking under ropes. The lifties and patrol don't really seem to mind. I got a bit too enthused at one point and had to do an embarrassing walk of shame for the last

That dunkel by Otaru Beer Company is an ace beer. I've drunk it many times in their Leibspeisse Bar under the Sapporo TV Tower where, I was recently told, you can do a two hour nomi hodai any time from 11am onwards for only 1800 yen. Requires further investigation. Haven't been to their Otaru brewery yet though. Must go.

Hi, and welcome Santa Cruz.

Mechanical B-movie killer crab above the door? Ez - I'm interested in that bike path too. I've been up and down the Makkomanai one a bit. As for the doctor, if that bike I saw him on had any more swing and springs, the cranks would hit the ground. Maybe that's the goal, pedal lines in the fresh.

Originally Posted By: Creek Boy However, Otaru is quite overrated IMHO and that canal is a joke I'm glad to hear someone say that. I thought I'd missed the point. I found the tumble-down fishing shacks along the train tracks near Zenibako on the way from Otaru to Sapporo far more interesting. Otaru does have some damn fine cream and custard paffs though.

Fingers crossed for you guys. (Hang on, no they're not! Damn these clumsy paws!)

He wasn't wearing all blue was he? And a full-faced motorcross helmet? I saw a very similar-sounding dude doing just that near the same corner last night. He became my marker and I put Momma though her paces and stayed with him for three blocks. Very swanky hip moves from the dude. Last night was easy though. Virtually no ice. Just huge puddles, until later on with a wacky corn veneer and high winds. I haven't been riding on ice much recently. Just getting out of my shadowed ice-rink street would have been an achievement.

I'm sure this has been pointed out before, but to prevent fogging put your goggles on before you step onto the snow, and don't touch them until you step off the snow. That's it. They hate changes in temp. If you don't move them and they still fog up, you're too hot.

... and great sleety corn-snow showers at the moment. I just got drenched riding home from work. Hopefully it's time to finally retire the Momma Charry for the year, after four or five rehearsals.

Ez - stoked to hear that you were up there on Friday. What a day. And thanks for the Munchen tip. I did walk through there but was a bit put off by all the plastic Made in China shite I saw being sold so I kept walking. Didn't see the beers. Will definitely return for some of that. Anyone know a good place to get your board waxed and tuned? I live near Mount Moiwa, Maruyama side. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted By: snowhunter Is everyone a little more cheerful now!! I suspect not. Hearing that we're going to get a dump of snow on top of the bucketloads we've already got might not be the best way to cheer up our southern comrades.

One Sunday morning back in July I saw insane queues in a Co-op supermarket for no clear reason. Every checkout had a queue three wide to the back wall, and it's a big store. The checkouts were still operating so it wasn't a computer problem. I checked if the punters were all buying the same heavily discounted thing but they weren't.

Thanks Happy. Took a while to squeeze into the outfit backstage. Few too many dumplings, I suspect. Had to get wardrobe to sew a panel in.

Cheers Mike. Much appreciated. Keep it coming.

Nice one Ez. Good cams, and thanks for the update on Kokusai. Well, I now realize that until today I had no idea just how truly great Sapporo is. As far as city snow living goes, this must be as good as it gets. My wife and I woke up to light snow falling on top of Thursday's 8cm, cold temp and patches of blue sky. We walked to the end of our street and got on the city-bound bus (200yen), then caught the train to Teine (260 yen), then hopped aboard the free Teine shuttle (9.15am). It did not stop snowing all day and it was puking as we caught the last JHB bus down at 4.30pm. I reckon Hig

I've always hated that other dance. This one's heaps better. Hope it can stop the rain.

A few bus companies ply that route. Chuo Bus is definitely one of them. They depart from their bus station directly behind the TV Tower (Sapporo's biggest landmark - can't miss it) regularly, for about 2300 yen. Or you can catch the train from JR Sapporo station to Kutchan for 2090, then catch the bus from Kutchan up to Niseko.

That he does. I took that flight earlier this year. But I wish I'd taken the 5oo buck Jetstar Oz to Osaka and then standby to Hokkaido trip mentioned a page back. Is that for real? Anyone done it? Bet it's not from Perth. I would have had to fly to the east to get it.

Yeah, not too much in the way of webcams for Sapporo surprisingly. The SJ one doesn't fire up on my computer, and an internet search just brings up TV tower ones and a wacky Susukino one. Lucky for Sapporo's squeaky clean image that the Susukino one doesn't have a zoom function and people can't see what's on those laminated placards being held by the touts in trench coats. Anyway, not much of the white left to see now. Warm day in town today. 7 degrees. It was cooler out at Rusutsu where I spent another awesome day ducking in and out of the trees. I simply cannot get my head around the fa

Come on Mike... let's have it then!