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OK. Finally able to face the world.

 

The enigmatic silence above described:

Tuesday. Cancelled Singapore Airlines flights, re-booked with Garuda. Thanks Nicolas at Leederville Flight Centre, and HIS.

Wednesday. Drove to Narita (6 hours) and kipped in the car.

Thursday. Flew to Denpasar and overnighted in Bali.

Friday. Flew to Perth, collected my tribe and overnighted in Perth (thanks Steve for the beds and the loan of a car)

Saturday. Flew to Jakarta, then overnight to Narita.

Sunday. Drove home. Drank a lot of whisky.

 

Monday. No2 son wanted to veg in front of the Wii, so No1 and I went to buy some new boots, then off to Kurobushi Kogen. Snow generally good with about 10cm of fresh over an icy base. Very cold. Lots of young dudes and dudettes lying in the snow. I think it is called snowboarding.

 

Tuesday. Bought new gloves for No2, and we all went skiing. Nice day, mild and partly sunny. No2 is back at early beginner level, but stuck at it. He needs to get his weight forward. No1 skied independently, and shows some style. In order to progress, he needs some lessons from someone better qualified than me, and with a different style.

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Blimey, you croweaters are hard to please. lol.gif I flew out via Denpasar and back via Jakarta. The outward times were 7 hours and 3 hours 40 minutes respectively.

 

Very frustrating today. Last year No2 could manage the lifts by himself and had developed a killer high speed snowplough. Now he's dropping poles and falling everywhere. Worse, he`s become petulant and stubborn again.

 

The snow was shite today. Slushy with patches of grass. That's it until we get a decent snowfall.

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I should add that No1 and I went for a run from the top today. It wasn't a race, but I opened up and let the skis run. He said tonight that he doesn't think his old man to be such an old man. He had no problem staying and was in front at the bottom thumbsup.gif

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Will do sunrise.

 

Yes, it's Jangle Jungle. Stupid name, I prefer Kurobushi Kogen. I was interested to see that at least half the cars there had Miyagi license plates, and some from Fukushima and further. It's small (three lifts) but draws from a wide area for a Yamagata ski jo.

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soubs, a couple of issues to consider with your son.

how old is number 2? and how strong is he? age considered, how much is this back seat problem getting in the way of his ability to tackle the hill? is he skiing? or is the back seat issue keeping him in a wedged basic rut?

 

he might be in the back seat simply due to his age and lack of strength. it is a common problem with kids. they simply aren't strong enough to keep themselves balanced with the variety of forces working on them as they turn. so they sit back and rely on their gear to keep them upright. it is an issue faced time and time again by children's race coaches; to move the child out of the back seat although he/she is winning races, or to let the child work within this stance and wait until he/she grows stronger but risk developing bad habits in the mean time?

 

if the problem is such that it is preventing your boy from skiing freely and thus enjoying himself, it should be fixed. but if it is just stance perfection and ski performance, let him grow. he'll figure it out on his own when he grows strong enough to do so.

 

if we get a chance to meet up during their stay, i'll be happy to spend some time with him and get him going as best i can. (preferably sooner than later so that he can ski the new skills into his memory)

in the mean time, PM me some pictures of him throughout various parts of a turn and i'll be able to give you some more specific advice.

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Thanks daver. I'm fully occupied today, but I'll put some pictures and words up asap.

 

What you have written above gives me pause for thought. It may be that I'm expecting too much, and need to be a little more patient. He's 10 years old btw. I'll let things go for now while he builds up some mileage and confidence and simply has fun. I think the most productive (non-taxing) avenue will be to try to get him to lift the heel of his uphill while traversing between turns.

 

Thanks for the offer of your time. I sincerely hope we do get some time together. We'll be back at Kurobushi Kogen as soon as we get another decent fall of snow.

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instead of getting him to lift his heal(this actually gets you too forward) try getting him to point his toes down the hill upon initiation. this should keep his whole foot in contact with the snow while he pivots, and thus promote better consistent balance.

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 Quote:
I was interested to see that at least half the cars there had Miyagi license plates, and some from Fukushima and further. It's small (three lifts) but draws from a wide area for a Yamagata ski jo.
I've noticed that too when I have been there actually. They must put on some special deals or something because it's not the most amazing of places.
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It's on again. Snowing here tonight so we'll be out tomorrow.

 

Tonight, No2 was hoeing into a plate of spaghetti when he went "ow", and presented me with a tooth. I guess that's what is meant by "al dente" lol.gif

 

The tooth fairy had to stretch to 500 Yen. It were 6d when I were a lad.

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