General snow stuff

[brendo]

my rockered board has a flat base with rockered tip and tail, its pretty good allround, and stable landing jumps, and reasonably poppy. when I was selling some new boards last yr, I had a burton that was full rocker, to the point that I reckon out of the park it would of been shit to ride. in fact any booter over 15 -20ft would require a lot of attention to not spinning out landing id say.
al, ditch the old board. the tech in the new boards is really good. be like you surfing a 90s surfboard thinking it was the best thing ever, then jumping on a current board. stuff like polyurethane rails, carbon strips, etc. its the shit! I rode a directional board for 6yrs, now riding a true twin and a directional twin. if you ride switch, def the go. depending on terrain and speed, my switch riding has cleaned up to the point that im comfortable riding either way, and that's from having a twin board.

[OddaP]

Dumping in Nozawa ATM. Boo, looks like you will have some nice conditions

[alakaboo]

Yeah, 95cms overnight, not bad.
More to come mid week too. The lodge shouted us a day BC guiding, pretty excited about that.
Will be pretty careful otherwise off piste, this new stuff will be sketchy methinks

[PeepeelaPew]

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[alakaboo]

Yeah the maps look pretty safe but you never know until you see it in person.

When I was in hakuba we got 22 feet of snow over a weekend. About 5 people disappeared into the snow at the base of cliffs and they found them in the spring.

Also got 1.5m in Utah once. The hill was empty and they had cat-skiing for about $6 a lap
It spoils you.

[alakaboo]

Oh mama. I was worried about lack of base.
Getting there is going to be more of a concerrn

[OddaP]

What day are you due to arrive?

[alakaboo]

Next Sunday, for a week. With a day out for monkeys.
From what I've read there could be another metre or more of snow before then, but not much fresh while there

[OddaP]

Snowing again. Be interesting to see how much they get.

[PeepeelaPew]

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[alakaboo]

Taxi driver in Kyoto reckons at least a metre today/tomorrow.
I reckon more from the weather map.

[alakaboo]

We're going to need a bigger board!

[PeepeelaPew]

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[PeepeelaPew]

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[alakaboo]

Just hope it didn't rain today. Pretty wet in Matsumoto, but cold too so might have been okay.
Just back from the ofuro

[alakaboo]

Snowpack looks pretty good considering 2 days of rain. Think it stayed pretty dry up top. First runs tomorrow.
Not too many crew on the hill yet but lower runs are tracked out.heaps of Aussies and Singaporeans in town, most are newbies.
Rental boards are not bad, bindings are a bit so-so
Town is great, navigation is a nightmare but good food and friendly people.
Fairly hammered, first night for a year with all brothers together.

[OddaP]

Looked liked it snowed up top on the cams.

Have a great time.

1 month for me.

[alakaboo]

Yamabiko was tops today.
Knee to waist deep, open glades. Few people.
Got some better goggles, total whiteout down a mogul black run wasn't fun.

Bottom of the hill was chunky crud with a few inches on top. Unpleasant and dangerous.
Freezing level seems to have been about halfway up the hill.

Fair few glide cracks around, most you can Ollie but a few whoppers.
Avalanche signs seem legit, not marking the best place to duck the rope.

30cms or so up top today and still snowing lightly in the village.

Just so many potential lines, waiting for better vis for most of them and a bit more hill knowledge