indosnm 0 Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Having read Fatty's article on Gifu I was a little suprised to see detailed maps of all tha good stuff. It got me thinking about the school where I come from which is surfing. I come from a pretty hardcore area (sth. Australia) and where there are alot of secrets as well as well known secrets and a hell of alot of heavy locals. Surfers if they are vere lucky enough to find their own secret spot are usually very damn tight lipped about it. I have been lucky enough to have found & stumbled across some very nice breaks in my travels through hard work and alot of map studying. To me it seems that surfers are more willing to keep their stashes to themselves but I could be wrong.... your thoughts? Also I remember hearing that Mitch of snowbeds fame is often protective of his fav stashes.. he's a surfing lad too?? Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 dont worry there is plenty of snow and lots of secret spots in Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I understand exactly what you are talking about. Out here in Japan, though, I don't mind sharing my finds be it surfing or skiing. I usually won't give specifics of some of my secret stashes, but I will give general information to those that are curious. Back in the states (or Australia) It's a way different story, especially with surfing. With skiing, there are so many people doing it and with resorts being basically wide-open, secrets are tough to keep. In Japan there is plenty of stuff to find if you go looking for it. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Author Share Posted January 28, 2004 peaker, Nah mate, not worried as I realise that there are ample stashes. I was really just making a comparison between the 2 sports/cultures that I find interesting. Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 yeah it is kind of interesting. I sometimes wonder why youd post on the internet the details of some place that was really good because nobody was there. Link to post Share on other sites
alferg 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 imho, the people that use these forums tend to be pretty hardcore about their snowsports, so i guess in general you're telling people who would probably find these spots anyway. im sure that 99% of snowriders dont read forums & dont have much of a clue, so its no real problem for the other 1% of us to share the knowledge a bit. i guess the problem with surfing is that its a lot more accessible, & it only takes 20 bods to make a break feel crowded. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Do you really think I gave away everything? I Gave away some stuff that is good but I never said I gave away everything. I gave away some easy stuff and a way to ski some of these mountains. If you follow other peoples tracks youll find these spots or most of the rest. As in surfing youll tell your buddies a good spot for their level, right. I will never take someone somewhere they cant go. thus all the areas I gave away except one you can be seen by patrol. (not so secret then) Ive had a running fight with a japanese friend this year about bringing unskilled people into the Back Country and having them fall in avi chutes. The fight has got to the point where I wont ski with him. So what does this mean? Again I gave away nowhere that I feel is dangerous. And PS I did say that I held alot back. The only one who got the real full maps was my good buddy Oufreeski2. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Author Share Posted January 28, 2004 Fats, Nah bro, I don't think you gave everything away, if you did I'm sure we'd all have permission to call you mad! But I do agree with you on taking people out that are up to the level. Same with surfing, I guess surfers are more protective of their secrets because there's less of them. But did I say nice maps though. I have recently "rediscovered" Gifu and have found a few of those runs that you mentioned. Link to post Share on other sites
crazyski 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Quote: Originally posted by low pressure lover: i guess the problem with surfing is that its a lot more accessible, & it only takes 20 bods to make a break feel crowded. I think it probably takes even fewer numbers of skiers to make a stash feel crowded... I mean, there is a difference between skiing completely untracked pow for at least 10 meters on either side of you and having to cross even one track in your line, ya know? I've skied micro-stashes that I alone have skied up in part of a day before... Maybe I'm just getting ultra-picky. Japan lets you do that, with all its good terrain in trees. I like Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Author Share Posted January 28, 2004 we all do mate! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 damn another one finds out how good japan is it is half the reason i will stay here awhile. Just scanned the thread should have read it. If you get there in the future gifu give Oufreeski a private at least a week before good lad that knows it all too. Link to post Share on other sites
alferg 0 Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 well thats true, crazyski - i guess i was thinking more in terms of 20 people finding out about a whole mountain wouldnt make a lot of difference - certainly its another story if those 20 people all learn about your secret line! I especially get annoyed when 20 people find your tracks & mash up your powder while you were catching a lift - its such a drag to have to scoot off to your other secret spots... Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 Saw something akin to what I used to see on the north shore in Hawaii yesterday at Hachimantai Forest. It was a pretty crusty, non-pow day, but there were some great fluff-filled runs on the backside. Me and 2 (that's TWO) friends went out there and skied a couple of different backside runs all day. On our second to last run, We pulled up to the lip of a big, long open run. The sun had come out, there were untaken lines everywhere, and we were all giddy as school children. Next thing, 15 (YES - FIFTEEN) guys ski up together. I just sat there and kept counting them as they pulled up through the trees. I was more dumbstruck than anything. These guys lined up directly above the line I wanted to film. Well - I went anyway to go get my position so I could film my friends. One by one, they started going - most of them were decent skiers (lots of great wipeouts though) and handling the conditions alright. It turned out, the entire group was just a bunch of guys that knew each other out to ski that day. From some of their hoots and hollers and jibber-jabber, it was pretty obvious that many of them had not been out there before. I was happy for their stoke, but damn - 15 guys??? There's a running joke on the north shore of Oahu about Japanese tourists trying to take a surf spot over. They'll pull up in a rental jeep or car and 12 guys will get out of 4 passenger vehicle and paddle right into the lineup. This totally reminded me of that. I'm glad they were having fun out there, but I'd actually like to keep where we were a bit on the down low. To use some surfing slang, the non-pow, iffy conditions brought out some real kooks yesterday. Ah hell, we still had a blast though. Link to post Share on other sites
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