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A new Niseko Magic, "The Powdery Sheep", has been put online.

 

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/niseko-magic-17.html

 

"Niseko 2003 season kicked off with more snow falling than ever before. Talk of another possible La Niña-boosted super season buzzed across the village, stirring flashbacks of 1999 – the season of endless powder. ‘99’s non-stop snow provided what seemed to have been a lifetime’s share of bottomless turns and face shots, and is looked back upon with awe. This is partly because of the amazing six metre plus snow base within resort limits. It is also partly because of the four months of relentless snow shoveling; a battle raged three times daily just to find the steps to your house."

 

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/niseko-magic-17.html

 

Please note that the views expressed in any Features on Snow Japan are not necessarily those of Snow Japan.

 

Discuss it here....

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Nice Bar Rumba flyer; I have good New Year's Eve memories from that place!

 

Good news on the addition of another bar, but why no ATM machine still? If you want people to spend money, give them access to said money! mad.gif

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I went up there last season for the first time. I was disappointed to be honest, it didn't quite live up to the hype. HAd a lot to do with the weather and snow when we were there. My 5 days in Hakuba were far better.

 

Good to hear it is opening up a bit more though.

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Hey its a swellpanil magistral you have in your back there \:\) I'm the lucky owner of that one (185cm) and also of the big brother amok (196cm) which i consider the best ever powder board..

 

Funny cos I would not have thought possible to see kafi's jewels so far from La Grave !

For those who wonder what those boards are:

http://www.swellpanik.com . For more general swallowtails question, i created long time ago the only website on them boards: its here

http://www.swallowtails.org (sorry haven't had the time to update for long, but am rebuilding new php galleries for ease of use)

 

Nils

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Hey Nils-

 

Speaking of swallowtail boards, do you know about Gentem boards (a custom maker in Niseko)?

 

They've got a couple swallowtails in their lineup and you can read all about it here on the Gentem website .

 

I know an Australian guy who lives in Niseko and rides one. He used to be a race-car driver, and to see him arcing mach-speed turns through powder on his Gentem stick is truly a thrilling sight to behold.

 

Damn! All this talk about snow, carving and gear is driving me crazy. I may have to go up to the skateboard park or something, just to make it through the day!

 

\:D

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nils, I had a fun afternoon browsing through your swallowtail site a while back.

 

badmigs, mind you don't bing a shoulder at the skatepark. I'm wondering how my shoulders are going to be snowboarding this season after the damage they took from wheelboarding over the summer. Soon I'm going to be getting my carving fix in the indoor place near here...

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Thanks Ocean. For me, it's knees and elbows that take the beating up at the skatepark... I am 40 you know.

 

But I never made it. My sister called from the boat and invited me wakeskating... I brought along my surfboard and had a go at trying to surf off the wake, with poor results but no injuries.

 

Then I got on the wakeskate and had a series of smackdown faceplants. That and 14-degree water ended it all quickly. The final blow was turning on my laptop and getting the message "Operating System Not Found" accompanied by three continuous space-invaders type beeps...turns out the removable hard drive was loose.

 

Goodnight.

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Hahaha, that was Hollywood taking its revenge on you. Hollywood was showing you that computers do still make crude beeping noises. Hollywood sees and Hollywood knows...

 

I know that it can't be long to winter now because it hurts to walk. That's the change of season spasticity telling me it's getting colder. Yay!

 

The Donek topsheet thing will be a bastard to choose. Whether to go for black, or something semi-transparent that lets you see the core of the board... The only thing stopping me getting the whole lot right now is the agony of trying to find the boots in the soviet-style shops here.

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Ocean, about the hard boots heh heh. I think it's going to be all about the money.

 

Frankly speaking I don't even know if snowboard hardbooters are supposed to just buy certain favored types of ski boots, or whether there are snowboard-specific hardboots that work with the plate bindings such as Catek...

 

I think you're probably going to end up considering online shopping, because if your town is like my town, then there is no store with a full selection of alpine snowboading boots.

 

A good place to order from is the Blue Tomato site ...click on the Pommy flag upper right to change from German into English, unless du kannst deutsch. I heard Raichle makes good hard boots for snowboarders and they seem to be favored on the bomberonline.com site and message boards.

 

The Raichle brand is in transition right now: they went under but their parent company, Kneissl, shifted the snowboard boot line to its Deeluxe brand...Deeluxe also makes soft boots, but their hard boots are apparently exactly the same as the Raichle boots...only the brand name has changed. You can check out their fairly cool website here . The LeMans and the Spa look rather nice actually.

 

Distribution networks are probably stuttering over this corporate/accounting sleight-of-hand development right now and I couldn't find a US distributor very easily online, hence the Austrian site Blue Tomato.

 

As far as sizing goes, since these DeeLux boots are probably sized exactly like Raichle boots, you may want to try on some Raichle ski boots at your local ski shop (heh...do they have any where you live now?) to figure out your "Raichle" size, then order online.

 

Just an idea. Always like to encourage people to spend more and more on snow equipment...

 

If you find any interesting links on what are proper boots for alpine boarders and reviews of bindings etc., please post them. I need to know this too and am thinking about getting the basic kit. I'll try it if you will!

 

Nils, any advice or links on boots and bindings for ignorant neophyte carvers who have Visa Cards?

 

Cheers from slowly congealing Michigan.

 

cool.gif

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Well definitely www.bomberonline.com

fin is the official distributor for raichle deeluxe in north america, PLUS he makes the best alpine binding on the market so the choice is pretty simple to make \:\)

 

Indeed raichles are the best boots one can find today.. so no hesitation. Btw i'd keep the Axis the way you showed it: clear top sheet is awsome.. We wanted to keep our Swoard clear like that but the resin sticks to the topsheet better when its painted so we had no real choice.

 

As for the Gentem Swallowtail.. I think the board might suit a small mountain and a small rider, but it cannot compare to a 196 board with a 14-16 meter radius...Swallowtails need length so that the nose can flex and work like a bumper. The tail itself needs to be really long and cut so it does two things: help free the torsion of the board, and make it easy to sink in the pow. Modern ST should be real boards, not freeriders that have had a saw cut the tail in two \:\) .

The gentem might be a good board for a 60 kilos rider but not for tall guys in deep powder.

Nils

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