2014-2015 Northern-Hemisphere Snow Season

zenagain wrote:

From snowjapan this morning regarding the two guys dead at Myoko:-

I have to add it was a really sad day here: the husband of a friend was the man killed in Arai on an open mountain course; the second death yesterday was of someone passing through the sidecountry within Akakan, but crossing above a terrain trap.

Sorry to hear Zen.

RIP

3 or 4 japanese skiers have been lost in back country in hakuba for 2 days now. News is sketchy as to exact numbers. Rumour has it they were a party of 5, 2 turned back earlier to head home whilst the other 3 continued on, but never returned 2 days ago. Quite elderly too. 50-60 years old.

True Don, I forgot to add that. Their cars have been gathereing snow unattended in the carpark now since the 16th.

Not looking good.

Stay safe people and stay within your limits.

Don't worry mate, it was worth repeating. I think I've watched it about 10 times.

Hey guys, thanks for the advice..
Zenagain, you didnt really misread my post.. i just probably wasnt very clear, my bad.
I do have a couple days in Tokyo at the end that are locked in. I arrive on a Wed arvo and I am meeting people in Sapporo on a Sat night. So i have a couple days to fill in. So anything around Tokyo could apply! That or going to Hokkaido early.

I am Australian but I've lived in Norway for nearly 8 years. So weve got a good range of stuff here but prob just as expensive as Oz.. although i am covered in the snowboard equipment department. Guitar equipment on the other hand! Ive just heard about a Tokyo neighbourhood with loads of guitar stores so i will def go there.
One of the people I am meeting in Sapporo is my girlfriend so I will probably give the pulling Japanese girls thing a miss. Although if things go pearshaped in next couple weeks I'll keep it in mind!

I snowboard a fair bit, i probably average about 35-40 days a year and ive ridden in Pow a fair bit.. Asahidake is not a good idea solo regardless?

Nomad, if you want a cheap car rental to do some exploring, a mate of mine owns Peak car rentals in Niseko. His name is Paul and he's a top bloke.

http://nisekocarrental.com/

If you're an experienced boarder you would probably love Asahidake but still, alone?

Things can and do happen.

Enjoy Japan man. Most people love it.

Was terribly icey today. Must have rained overnight after they groomed it. Wasn't too bad mid mountain but frck me down low was like ice skating!!! Worst I've seen it here in hakuba.

Can't see it changing any time soon either!!! :(

Yeah Don, I'm bummed for you. You were so spot on with your forecast and the first real break in snow Hokuriku (your area) has had since the start of the season.

Craig up in Hokkaido should be in for some powdery goodness tomorrow but stymied by high winds. Sunday looking real good though.

Not much on the cards for me so am going to have my first go-out of the season when Craig gets here next weekend. I'm not sure how I'll fare, knee still not 100% but much better and it usually takes me a few days to get into my groove. I dare say I'll be a little rusty. Temps dropping again late next week so hope it coincides with some snowfall.

Once again Don, bummer. That mother nature, she's a cruel mistress.

It's cool Zen. Ya win some and ya lose some. That's life when ya dealing with Mother Nature. We've still had a ball and still got Sunday/Monday to try and find some lesser ice regions.

Not skiing tomorrow. Giving the muscles a break in an onsen and letting the tokyo blow ins have the ice!!! :)

Bummer Don. Only been to Japan once (for my honeymoon) and after two months of continual half-metre dumps in the lead up to our trip, putting the base around 3.5, we rocked up at the end of a fortnight of clear skies, which continued through our ten days. So I know the feeling! 

Just got a text from Craig, he scored some nice powder stashes in the trees yesterday in Niseko but was windy. Pretty sore atm he reckons. Got a bit of a dusting overnight at Rusutsu where he currently is, so i dare say he'll be back into the trees sniffing out those lines and pillows.

I wouldn't say Japan is a famine or feast type scenario but sometimes mother nature just doesn't play ball.

A big dump on ice will not be good back country :(

Sorry to hear Don W, like you say you win some loose some, hope you get something.

Zen, you riding yet...?

Not yet Welly. Not surfing either and there's been some nice waves around.

Next weekend, hosting Craig and have a little crew joining us on the first day (Sunday) including one guy who is profoundly deaf. You can imagine how much fun is communicating with him. He can't hear or speak at all, but only write in Japanese on his little magnadoodle thingy and I can't read or write Japanese very well. I am becoming very accomplished at charades though;)

The next two days are just Craig and I so I want to show him how empty a weekday is locally.

Next Sunday will be my first go-out so I reckon I'll be pretty sore after that.

Got a text from a mate who's up my local today. Icy corduroy, crusty in the trees after warmish yesterday and really cold night last night. He did say the sun is softening it up right now but he said I'm not missing anything, so I'm cool with that.

Nice work Zen, Does the deaf bloke ride on the Yuki..?
If so, it's nice to hear those deep pow turn sounds (Phooofmmmmmppp) but IMO the visuals are way better;)
Hope your knee handles it, hope you like the "Never Summer" (Frothing...!) Hope you Craig get some nice lines. Yeewww.

I think he 'feels' it Welly. He's quite a decent boarder but scared of the trees. I think he thinks if he goes down he can't call for help. But last year we all buddied up and he's really into it now.

I know, i keep looking at that beautiful handmade board and visualise it slicing through thigh deep dust.

I can't wait to see how it feels under foot.

Bit of internet dating Zenny, having Benny around for a romantic weekend, or are you really just luring him into your cellar where he will be kept there and only allowed out to clean house and forecast surf, your a sly one Zen.

Funny you should say that because my wife was worried and said 'what if he's a murderer?'. I even told her his last name is 'Slasher'.

Nothing sinister, put the offer out there last year, he took it, we checked some local waves and had a great day snowboarding on a mountain that sees very few foreigners.

Must have enjoyed it, he's coming back for more this year.

And he did show me his secret treasure trove of unpublished pictures of waves. And photos that never will be published. Some beautiful shots of secret SA spots.

He's also a lot more handsome than I thought he would be too- ha ha!

Well got a surprising little dump overnight last night. Nothing huge but certainly enough to bury the ice. Had some fun runs on a local mountain today (very few tourists with 90% locals) and some soft groomers which was pleasant. Sun came out and enabled me and the fam to explore a bit more of the mountain. Happy days!!!

Sweet Don. Good to hear.

zenagain wrote:

I don't mind a full tilt blast down the groomers Welly. In fact, on a long run 3000m+ I like to see how fast I get from the top to the bottom.

If you've got 5 mins to spare, check this out. Not boarding but great POV skiing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKP7jQknGjs

Holy fuck OFFFFF,
That was sick shit, never seen anything like that in my life, hhahahahaha Zen
Gold stuff

Hey have ya had a few carves yet or what..?

When i first saw that vid i thought it was un-edited... holy shit thats a big mountain!
Love the part with the little tunnel to backflip, cliff drop combo..

Nice little crew of us heading up tomorrow.

Heavy snow overnight, really cold temps. I reckon it's going to be pretty good up there.

My first hit out of the season. So amped.

Oh, even though I was working, mate reported the surf was awesome today. Overhead and offshore, local reef firing.

How was it Zen...?

Yuki and the knee....!

is that ice avalanche layer gonna be an issue all season now? Keeping track of the weather, its been far too warm with rain at least twice, plenty of snow inbetween... Any experts on avalanche management out there that can comment?

No expert Mundies, I honestly don't believe any one is, as I've stated before.

If the new snow had bonded well to the ice layer, all good, snow pack will be pretty reasonable...?
See the thing is, snowpack down low can change with earth temps, various weather etc. Weird eh!
That is why it is important to dig pits every time before you drop in and know what your looking for, but doing all this and knowing can not determine your safe passage, as terrain differs with elevation, location and direction the whole way down your run. Saying that pick your line and go like fuck;)

I believe high winds are the worst for dangerous avy terrain especially lee slopes, the avy's pack a punch and destroy (thick wind slab) nasty brother.

The best thing to do is ask the local patrollers, google snowpack where ever you are going and have gut instinct whilst walking around the back country. be with someone like minded and have a step back 5x5 before assuming or doing.
Take care and be like the speed of light ;) haha

P.S to Zen
"Actually Welly, I might try and get some vid of the Subi doing some circle-work this winter."
or on ya board:)

Just relaxing after 4 epic days of snow, 3 with Zen up around his local region.

Knee-thigh deep powder and snowing nearly for 4 days straight when it was only supposed to for a couple of days. Amazing time in a stupidly quiet part of Japan, with no one on the mountains and us being the only real foreigners.

Also had a ball up around Hokkaido but the pick of my trip was around Zen's area.

9 days snowboarding in total, great times!

Thanks heaps Zen for having me and helping me out!

Photos and vid to come.

Had a ball.

So much lovely powder. More face shots than a Bukkake video:)

And thanks to Craig for not mentioning my total stupidity in ploughing my car into a snowdrift doing circle work in an empty carpark the size of about 3 football fields. What was I thinking? Bonehead! Note broken grille and bent number plate in pic. Note to self, stop when heading straight towards an immoveable object.

But, apart from that insane weekend of powder.

Stu and Ben if Craig tells you he landed 3 good size kickers cleanly, it's true, just the video had stopped running when i followed him down.

Cheers Craig, see you next year.

You're killing me gents!!! Killing me!!!

Zen, where is the video or photos of the Subie (what kind of Subie...?) in the car park as you promised....?
Sounds like you scored some nice snow Craig, Ben's been flat out with all these spastic weather scenarios which have been tricking the weather gurus too the max haha...!

Zen the car looks fine, hope you didn't hurt the knee in the crash;)
Feed back on the "Never Summer" board would be much appreciated.

My good mate JG in those photos previously, cruising in the woods, broke his leg a few days ago in the woods by himself, 2-3 hour crawl out to his car and drove to hospital..? He's gutted as we all would being only half way thru the season.
You still can't keep the 50 year old of a snowboard tho, check it out probably the crutch is bolted thru the board and he had to go get the milk from the front gate back to the house...?
Legend... Absolute;)

Welly, it's the car above. Black Outback. Glad I didn't get vid of that stupid effort. I managed to piece together the grill and tape it up. It doesn't look too bad in the pic but it aint pretty in person. We hit it real hard, lucky the airbags didn't go off. I still feel like a tool. Total rookie fail.

Board went well, had to tweak the setup a little and I didn't scrape enough when i waxed it so wasn't fast over the flats. We did a sweet wax job on Craigs K2 and he was flying. But I'm very happy with the Never Summer and i think it's a board that I'm really going to grow to love.

Knee was ok, bit of pain but I haven't been out this season and haven't surfed for nearly two months. So not exactly ready for three full days of powder, but, I did ok and felt good to get my glide on.

I'm stoked Craig saw my area during a weekday. Empty mountains, nice fluffy powder and just a big white playing field. No waiting for lifts and pretty much fresh tracks all day. We scored.

Props to your mate. I hope to be doing this well into my 60's.

I'm sure Craig will post a few pics soon and when I get time I'll try and get something together for youtube.

Looks like some nice surf around down there too. Cheers.

I rode a K2 in Japan and absolutely loved it. Had a lesson on day one just to get back into the groove and the instructor was drooling all over my k2. Said he's been dieing to get one for himself.

So that's what Brokensha looks like .

Too much fun. Zen hooking up Craig. What a legend. Don't worry about the circle work incident mate, as long as you're not plowing threw a school yard at recess it's just good times.

udo wrote:

So that's what Brokensha looks like .

Haha classic Udo:)
Sure you seen Craig before in some great photos on here......?

The Japanese girlies would've quivering over him, big set of lovely looking chops and blonde surfie hair.
Wetting themselves.

zenagain wrote:

Welly, it's the car above. Black Outback. Glad I didn't get vid of that stupid effort. I managed to piece together the grill and tape it up. It doesn't look too bad in the pic but it aint pretty in person. We hit it real hard, lucky the airbags didn't go off. I still feel like a tool. Total rookie fail.

Board went well, had to tweak the setup a little and I didn't scrape enough when i waxed it so wasn't fast over the flats. We did a sweet wax job on Craigs K2 and he was flying. But I'm very happy with the Never Summer and i think it's a board that I'm really going to grow to love.

Knee was ok, bit of pain but I haven't been out this season and haven't surfed for nearly two months. So not exactly ready for three full days of powder, but, I did ok and felt good to get my glide on.

I'm stoked Craig saw my area during a weekday. Empty mountains, nice fluffy powder and just a big white playing field. No waiting for lifts and pretty much fresh tracks all day. We scored.

Props to your mate. I hope to be doing this well into my 60's.

I'm sure Craig will post a few pics soon and when I get time I'll try and get something together for youtube.

Looks like some nice surf around down there too. Cheers.

Good work Zen, I bet Craig enjoyed his little local down to earth journey with you:)
Respect.
I must admit you do yourself look a little Japanese;)

Udo...........!

Ohhhh yeah Zenmon......?

You lost control in a Subie????????????????????
?????????????????????????
??????....
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.
.
.
.
WTF
3 foot ball paddocks.....?>????? ;) :-P

OK, some snaps from our epic days around Zen's local, best snow and conditions I've ever had!

Few more on Insta: instagram.com/craigbrokensha

And this is from Don and what he scored..

I've never been snowboarding but it looks like as big a waste of time as surfing - sliding around on a water based medium that provides negligent benefit to society .

But it looks like a good time.

Even as an ignorant snow kook , those photos look so appealing. Zero humans, obviously incredible conditions, beautiful scenes. Lucky fuckers.

"provides negligent benefit to society"

Aye, too right Blowin.

"obviously incredible conditions, beautiful scenes."

Once again champ, spot on brother;)
haha not one stress with drop ins, crowds, fuckwits goobing off at you etc etc etc.
The awesome realm, just ask Craig...! sounds like he has the stoke;)

Wow, no mucking around Craig. You should have put up the pic of the car buried when we woke Monday morning.

I'll see what I can do.

Yeah, was a nice 3 days of powder. More on the way too. Damn spoilt here we are.

When we parked the car, it was brushed clean of snow driving the half hour to our hotel on the other side of the mountain. It was still snowing when we called it a night. We woke to another 30cm of fresh. Craigs pics are sweet but it doesn't do it justice.

That's it, what an epic indicator on the overnight snow, dumping down!

Cheers Zen. A surf shirt for the surfer who deosn't wear surfwear!

Fits poifectly...

Cool, glad you like it.

Small token of my appreciation for the work that you guys put into the site.

Sorry I couldn't afford Patagonia;)

The shirt looks like TripperGreenFeets avatar...?
Do they come in black Zen?

Japow! So so nice. Wellymon yeh thanks for feedback re long term prognosis of avalanche layer, much as I thought. Plenty of experts have died in the fuckers, they're unpredictable.
Such nice pics of Japow, I'm there in a month hope it holds. New boots, I won't know myself...