What happened to the classifieds?

[Mick Rich 78]

Originally Posted By: ippy

I'll be riding out of the gates with a beacon, probe, shovel, compass and map

That's assuming you can find some cheap! Seriously though Ippy, it must be cheaper to source this stuff in South Korea than over here - I saw your comment in the other post if you hadn't already guessed

[ippy 66]

its almost impossible to find here. I asked one of the biggest retailers here (ronin), located at the heart of snowboard street and they said the following:

 

"im sorry, i dont know anyone here who can sell a transceiver. But for a shovel and probe, you can just buy one at your local hardware store in town".

 

So there you go.

 

I did find a pieps dsp on gmarket (imported via amazon), go on guess how much?

 

Guess?

 

$1,000. I kid thee not.

 

So i figure ill just see if someone here has one sitting about and have it sent to my mate in hamamatsu for her to bring teh gear up to hokkaido on the 7th. That way ill avoid the import duty and the brunt of the shipping at least

 

In truth i think all i have to do is not want it. Since not scouring teh classifieds for a bataleon, a 157 jam, a 153 jam, a 161w jam, a 153 funkink, and a 157 goliath have all turned up under $200 (the 157 jam, which looked perfect was a tiny $125). I just have to not want it enough and the deals will come! youll see!

 

Though i am failing. i already paid full price on my flight and because i agreed to organise the accommodation fro my mate and because shell get narked at me, im already paying 3500 a night for the first week because ramble just will not pick up their bloody phone

 

I tell you, im SCOTTISH ffs! this stuff shouldnt be this bothersome! Bargains should just fall from the sky!

[Mick Rich 78]

Good luck with that Come to think of it, it's no surprise you can't get avi gear in SK given the lack of BC riding/skiing

[ippy 66]

yep yep, thats how i rationalised it too

 

And currently trawling through every craigslist city with teh same 6 words:

 

bca

pieps

ortovox

avalanche

beacon

backcountry

 

Its a tortuous affair, obviously i try using things like craigsnationwide or just google searching it and sorting the listings, but im convinced i keep missing them

 

Theres a really cheap tracker 2 at backcountry right now i believe, but my cheapness may be a blessing thats saved me plenty of cash over the years, but aye, t'is also a curse. "no cheap enough!"

[Mick Rich 78]

You can take the man out of Scotland, etc, etc

 

So avi equipment searching aside, you've finalised your Hokkaido plans now then?

[ippy 66]

nope. Im confirmed only up until the 12th. Trying to get Hokkpowtours to arrange an avi course on the 11th and 12th which means if thats done, i can (2500 accomm failure - ie cant contact bloody ramble), skip out of niseko altogether and head to furano fully armed with avi knowledge and having partaken in my share of bogans for 2011. That still leaves me 13th jan to the 4th feb to sort out. I got a place in furano all set up (for 2000 pn), but that lack of park really bothered me

 

It could still be well on the cards though! Can get accom in niseko down to 3000 for brunt of it, but it goes back up around the 28th to 4500... if i take that it comes out to around 3400per night. Which is about 1000 yen per night above my unofficial, official budget

 

Seriously, whats wrong with me? :?

 

[edited out a massive whinge on ]

[Mick Rich 78]

I did a similar mathematical exercise (to the one you just edited out!) a few weeks ago when weighing up my winter options, namely:-

 

1. Doing a road (or rather, rail) trip to Furano taking in Hakuba, various resorts in Niigata then Hakkoda, Niseko and Tomamu before reaching Furano;

 

2. Doing a season based in Furano with day trips to other Hokkaido resorts;

 

3. Trying to find a job in Furano!

 

I really want to do option 1 but can only really afford to do option 3!!! As a Russian boarder I met in Furano last year said to me recently, "It's all about the dinero!"

[ippy 66]

wheee! could have scored my tracker (1) at $175. Now to see if the dude has a fit because i gave him my US shipito address (because he only ships US), but asked him in a message to ship it to me at my korean address

 

Ah the pains of being a gaijinz.

 

Oh and get a job in furano. Why the hell wouldnt you? Id do it if i could. Actually, come next october, gizza job in hokkaido cheers.

 

 

[Mick Rich 78]

Nice score on the tracker, assuming it gets to SK!

 

Am working on option 3 as we speak!!

[ippy 66]

Ah christ, looks like im dealing with a dick.

 

Quote:

Can you tell me how this was paid for through PayPal. I am getting hit with a fee that does not occur when form of payment is through instant bank transfers. This is the only form of PayPal transaction I accept as stated in the auction. Also,as stated in the auction, I will not ship overseas and will feel more comfortable sending this in a box to your CA address. I would like to proceed with rejecting your payment, then have you repay as instant bank transfer so I dont get hit with this fee. Let me know how you would like to proceed.

 

Thanks, [name withheld]

 

Just my luck

[Mick Rich 78]

Back to the drawing board, or rather, Craigslist then Ippy!!

 

Furano was due to open y'day but rain stopped play

[ippy 66]

Ha! as if! i treat him with ridiculously kid gloves and bright happy cheerfulness and even offered to pay his 'fees' (10 bucks). Though he didnt deviate on teh US shipping address he capitulated on the whole box and weight thing and is sending it to my US address. Truthfully he bloody should. I not only gave him a US address but also (it turns out) DID send the money by instant bank transfer. Anyway, it means that i can do the tax declaration and evaluation myself so that should save some cash. (though of course it would have saved me a LOT more if the jerk just sent it by normal mail to my korean address )

 

Good to see the season is as slow a start as ever Hopefully there'll be a dusting by the time i arrive in january

 

oh, and 2hrs40mins left on a 2010 155 airobic sitting at $100. This is my moment! i can feel it!

 

ETA: won it at $173 (a little less a bargain than ive been seeing in my dreams, but i can finally shut the hell up about bataleon - well, when it gets here and i hate it)

[Tubby Beaver 209]

how many boards do you need Ippy??!!

[ippy 66]

four. Exactly and only four.

 

A jib board (airobic)

A mellow cruiser (sierrascope)

A jump/park/aggressive cruiser(quiver killer).

An aggressive floaty freeride (bsod)

A powder board (charlie)

A serious splitboard (NS summit)

Wait...

 

SIX!!! EXACTLY SIX!!!

[Mick Rich 78]

You crack me up! Too much kimchi, me thinks!

[ippy 66]

 

yes, but which one should i leave behind.

 

The charlie is coming! thats a cert!

 

So that leaves the quiver killer (aggressive shredder), the scope (mellow shredder/cruiser), or the airobic (park mischief).

 

At first i thought the airobic because it probably wont ride as well on pow than the scope. But then i remmbered i bought the quiver killer PRECISELY because i wanted a more agressive feel than the scope gave me last year at niseko. Surprisingly, it was niseko that made me feel the limitations of that deck, not ice. The float sometimes was great, but at other times it would float just a bit too much. It felt you couldnt get traction sometimes So maybe its the scope and the quiver killer thats kinda overlapping even though common sense says its the scope and the airobic? And of course, if the bsod does come, then im really screwed

[/bLOG!!!]

[Mick Rich 78]

There's a really good guide on here about choosing the right board which might help you!

[ippy 66]

Dudes, i might be selling the charlie if anyone wants it.

 

Lets say 30,000 because its only been used around 5 days.

 

164 Capita charlie slasher. Powpow! Tolp sheet has couple of teensy tiny dints (they really are teensy), edges are in perfect nick and base amazingly has no damage except very very light typical scratching (the kind of scracthing youd get from playing with it in your house - ie. barely noticeable).

 

Reason for sale: pretty obvious: i want a split, and the charlie and the split are competing. Im chatting to the dude at banya about the split, but the price i saw doesnt include the binding mounts nor the skins so thats another $400 i reckons on top of the 500 it costs to split it. Im fairly confident i can get a full set up later on this year for around half that, so may as well try and sell the charlie while im coming to japan and can deliver it with ease.

 

Ill post pics up if anyone shows interest If not, ill just have to split it i reckons

[Mick Rich 78]

hmmm, interesting. Pics and a riding review please

[ippy 66]

kk, i just took some pics, ill send them in and post them up later today when i get some time. As for a review, easy peasy

 

Its graduation day at school though so ill try and sneak out and get it all up for you. But the board is sick fun, but you migh have seen me mention that once or twice already

[ippy 66]

Annnnd, we're back:

 

PS. Sellers remorse kicked in the second i typed that... dont get your hopes up i will actually part with it

 

Its kinda like when i tried to sell the quiver killer and realised while i was busy hyping it up that the board was too damn good to replace

 

I feel the same about the charlie right now Whats a couple of hundred extra bucks when i could be riding a charlie split? Im in the middle of speaking to the dude at hakuba about it, so if the scottishness overrides the steeze of the charlie at the end of the day then ill sell it. If it aint *that* bad (though the price is already pretty high), then ill keep it. I just have to remember that the skins arent really part of the price Id have to buy them for my split board regardless of what board i end up with...

 

As for a board review:

 

I took it out for about 5 days (including the day at kamui posted about above), and the board was rocket ship, fun.

 

Of those days all but 1 was a powder turn day, so really theres not much to say about it. It floats beautifully, youll never sink on it, and youll never lose control of it. As i said elsewhere, 164 aint no thing, in fact id go bigger if i could. The float is definitely awesome, and the set back drops you so heavily into the ass of the deck that tight turning in trees is no problem. Its like having an engine behind you. I aint kidding, its honestly effortless. No forcing turns, no leaning back, no thigh burn! You just ride it like you would a snowboard and the thing does it all for you.

 

Last year with the sierrascope i remember the front being great for float (it being reverse camber), but really having to force the ass into the snow to get some traction out of it. the charlie is built precisely to counter that. No matter how deep the pow, you have control on where youre going because your weight is exactly where it needs to be. In powder its just an amazingly fun board.

 

And when you hit an open steep line, and want to carve out massive wide turns with huge sprays... christ, i could do that all day

 

Finally, and probably the reason youd want a charlie and not a swallow tail, in switch its fine. I mean its not ideal (its not a twin after all), but if you have the skills to ride in the trees, you can probably ride switch, and if you can ride switch, you can ride switch with a setback. It rides like a directional board no problem. Theres no surprises or sudden catches. I popped it into switch plenty of times and never once ended up on my face because of it. As i say, it rides like a directional board... center your weight back a bit to compensate for the stance and its standard riding stuff.

 

So yeah, it kills powder. Unsurprising. Its really strong in the trees just because its built for them and its fine riding either direction.

 

Groomers and ice, again it rides like a normal stiff directional snowboard. You can bomb groomers fine. Itll hold its edge fine and youll have no problem charging with it.

 

Indeed, you know that ice wall at kamui? The one where you drop out of that little steep and its almost a 10 meter vertical? I reckon i high marked the hell out of that on the charlie, and to do that you need to be bombing Which i guess means i should add its super fast.

 

Honestly, its hard to tell you any negatives, so i guess i wont

 

Ah wait, when theres no powder out there, its alright. It loses a bit of its shine and just becomes a bit of a charging deck (though naturally, unlike the scope, it eats up chop and ice fine). But what would you expect?

Its also probably a bit too big for park, but then again i never took it in there youll be amazed to learn, so what do i know?

 

Basically its the ronseal of snowboards. It does exactly what you think it does, and it does it bloody well It probably also does what you dont think it does, but i always avoiding doing that by taking out a different board those days so honestly im not a good judge of that.

 

Oooh, in the negative corner, i guess you can add that sitting on my bataleon made snowboarding fun again, and up until then i was feeling kinda jaded just bombing pow and slashing trees on the charlie and not really hitting any features. (check the bataleon review in the other thread). So yeah, a board for pow days and probably not every day.

I took some pics with my camera phone, so ill see if i can get them up in a second

[Mick Rich 78]

Show us the photos before you split it!!

[Jynxx 4]

Ippy, just chop it without the inner edge inlay.

You are just using it for powder access, not skiing on edges, so who needs them !?

[Tubby Beaver 209]

maybe protect the edge from chipping?

[ippy 66]

yeah, i wasnt 100% on it. I just figured it would last longer and look more professional with a full inlay. But he can do the non edging split in three days, and the full edge in three weeks. It means i could drop it and pick it back up before i leave which is a pretty big incentive to just go with the simple split... not to mention it means a $450 or so split plus 200 for skins