I'll be gone this weekend until Tuesday of next week learning and applying carving all over the Yuzawa area of Niigata prefecture, Japan.
When I get back, hopefully I'll have pictures. I'll also be able to let everyone know how the board (prior 4wd), bindings (catek olympic standard) and boots (head strattos pro) worked out.
Cheers,
Jamie
weekend in niigata, Japan
Moderators: fivat, rilliet, Arnaud, nils
Re: weekend in niigata, Japan
(edit: pictures up @ http://homepage.mac.com/mrjamie . They were taken with a cellphone, so the quality isn't too good)
Ok! So let me get started.
First, I arrived in the Yuzawa area of Niigata prefecture without a place to stay and very much amazed by the amount of snow. Probably a few hundred centimeters of snow piled up on the sides of the road with maybe 40cm on the sidewalks where the snow had not been cleared away.
On my third try (the first two spots being full) I was able to get the last room at a Minzoku, where it just so happened that a certain two year old girl, Akari-chan, was having her birthday celebrated. So I wined and dined with a bunch of Japanese folks and was reminded how poor my Japanese is. Can't be that bad though, because I was invited out for the next day and we all headed out to the mountain around 9:30am (late start compared to what I'm used to!).
The mountain on Sunday was packed. The lines weren't particularly long or anything, but snowboarding in Japan is unique from other countries. Here, anywhere between 40-60% of the people on the mountain are snowboarding. 20% of those people are really good, about 50% are beginners, and the rest are intermediate boarders. Which means you have you a LOT of people sitting down or snow-flaking down the course and that makes the mountain seem extra crowded.
The weather however was lovely. Warm and sunny, I was skiing without a jacket by the afternoon and until the sun had removed itself from the hill. The snow was pretty much packed powder all day, with no ice or slush at all. Up towards the middle of the mountain, the powder wasn't packed, but was ridden on.
On the first night, I experienced my first routenburo (outdoor [hot] bath), and was lucky enough to experience a snow fall while I soaked in the hot water. Yukimiburo, is what that is called. The fact that there is a word for watching a snow fall while in an outdoor bath only partially explains the incredible peace and tranquility you experience. Anyways...
The second day my friends all returned home, but I think we'll meet again someday--I exchanged numbers with a girl who seemed to be interested in me, so hopefully we'll see each other in the near future. I headed out alone to some slopes across town from the slopes of the day before, wanting to try something new. There was 40cm fresh snow when I woke up (7:30am) and from when I got to the mountain (8:45am) the snow continued to fall moderately hard for about 3 hours. Visibility was quite poor, maybe 10m in most places, though the weather cleared up later in the day (but not completely). The runs were all fresh powder becoming lumpy powder later in the afternoon as the flow of people down the mountain increased.
Now, for my new equiptment:
the board (Prior 4WD): Having nothing to compare my board to, I hesitate to call it awesome, but that is what I'm going to say: Awesome. Beautiful, sleek, sexy, and rides very well.
the bindings (Catek Olympic Pro): At first I was having some trouble with boots popping out of bindings, but after I realized that the screws for fitting the boot should be removed if you don't need them, and then gave the bindings a little tuneup inside the lodge, the bindings worked flawlessly. I had to readjust them once or twice because they came loose, but this was my first time using the bindings and I wasn't sure how much I should tighten the screws. The second day they needed no adjustment, but when I took my board off at the end of the day I was very surprised when the front binding swiveled a bit (not the plate, but the part that holds the boot)-- I wonder how long I had been riding with that. Also, again because of my foot size, the angles for the front and back are very close. The front is 55º and the back is something like 52º. Any less and I get overhang.
the boots (Head Stratos Pro): a little tight around the ankles, but I think that's my monstrous (not really) size 31(cm) feet. The boots feel a little loose (they are size 13.5US, and I'm 13US) but if I tighten the straps all the way they feel fine. Ow, my ankles though
. Not used to hard boots yet... Otherwise, the boots were fine. A bit stiff, but that actually made me lean more which made the carving harder, better, faster, stronger...
Ah, the carving. Wow, this is a completely different feeling from freestyle boards. I love it. I got the toe-side carve down from the start, but the heelside gave me some issues until my second day--that whole committing to the edge while your back is facing downhill thing took some mental aerobics to overcome. By the end of the second day, however, I was transitioning pretty well between edges, getting the whole look first then carve/get on the downhill edge before the turn thing down.
I tried some extreme carving on the second day, but because the powder had been ridden pretty thoroughly the lumps were so big that when I got low to the ground I'd eat a huge bump of powder and either tumble or come to a sudden stop. Down where the bumps/lumps were far and few between, the slopes didn't feel slope enough to really get down without coming to a stop. I did get some toe side extreme carves down by the lifts though, as I would bomb the lower area then (extreme) carve to a stop by the lift line. Got a lot of looks
Things I was surprised by:
- The amount of control you have. I love how the more you committ to an edge the more tightly you can carve.
- The feeling of rocketing across the hill on an edge.
- The feeling that your boots aren't attached to the board, so much as part of the board. This freaked me out a lot the first day, and I'd keep looking down to make sure my back foot was, indeed, secure in the binding.
I'm going again this weekend, and then I'm going to Hokkaido on the 22nd to the 1st. Not sure if I can get any videos, but I have a feeling that when I get back I'm going to be quite the carver
As for my weekend in Niigata: what an incredible experience. I made a bunch of friends, got to experience the pleasure of winter in Japan, and got a girl's number. Whoot.
jamie
Ok! So let me get started.
First, I arrived in the Yuzawa area of Niigata prefecture without a place to stay and very much amazed by the amount of snow. Probably a few hundred centimeters of snow piled up on the sides of the road with maybe 40cm on the sidewalks where the snow had not been cleared away.
On my third try (the first two spots being full) I was able to get the last room at a Minzoku, where it just so happened that a certain two year old girl, Akari-chan, was having her birthday celebrated. So I wined and dined with a bunch of Japanese folks and was reminded how poor my Japanese is. Can't be that bad though, because I was invited out for the next day and we all headed out to the mountain around 9:30am (late start compared to what I'm used to!).
The mountain on Sunday was packed. The lines weren't particularly long or anything, but snowboarding in Japan is unique from other countries. Here, anywhere between 40-60% of the people on the mountain are snowboarding. 20% of those people are really good, about 50% are beginners, and the rest are intermediate boarders. Which means you have you a LOT of people sitting down or snow-flaking down the course and that makes the mountain seem extra crowded.
The weather however was lovely. Warm and sunny, I was skiing without a jacket by the afternoon and until the sun had removed itself from the hill. The snow was pretty much packed powder all day, with no ice or slush at all. Up towards the middle of the mountain, the powder wasn't packed, but was ridden on.
On the first night, I experienced my first routenburo (outdoor [hot] bath), and was lucky enough to experience a snow fall while I soaked in the hot water. Yukimiburo, is what that is called. The fact that there is a word for watching a snow fall while in an outdoor bath only partially explains the incredible peace and tranquility you experience. Anyways...
The second day my friends all returned home, but I think we'll meet again someday--I exchanged numbers with a girl who seemed to be interested in me, so hopefully we'll see each other in the near future. I headed out alone to some slopes across town from the slopes of the day before, wanting to try something new. There was 40cm fresh snow when I woke up (7:30am) and from when I got to the mountain (8:45am) the snow continued to fall moderately hard for about 3 hours. Visibility was quite poor, maybe 10m in most places, though the weather cleared up later in the day (but not completely). The runs were all fresh powder becoming lumpy powder later in the afternoon as the flow of people down the mountain increased.
Now, for my new equiptment:
the board (Prior 4WD): Having nothing to compare my board to, I hesitate to call it awesome, but that is what I'm going to say: Awesome. Beautiful, sleek, sexy, and rides very well.
the bindings (Catek Olympic Pro): At first I was having some trouble with boots popping out of bindings, but after I realized that the screws for fitting the boot should be removed if you don't need them, and then gave the bindings a little tuneup inside the lodge, the bindings worked flawlessly. I had to readjust them once or twice because they came loose, but this was my first time using the bindings and I wasn't sure how much I should tighten the screws. The second day they needed no adjustment, but when I took my board off at the end of the day I was very surprised when the front binding swiveled a bit (not the plate, but the part that holds the boot)-- I wonder how long I had been riding with that. Also, again because of my foot size, the angles for the front and back are very close. The front is 55º and the back is something like 52º. Any less and I get overhang.
the boots (Head Stratos Pro): a little tight around the ankles, but I think that's my monstrous (not really) size 31(cm) feet. The boots feel a little loose (they are size 13.5US, and I'm 13US) but if I tighten the straps all the way they feel fine. Ow, my ankles though
. Not used to hard boots yet... Otherwise, the boots were fine. A bit stiff, but that actually made me lean more which made the carving harder, better, faster, stronger...Ah, the carving. Wow, this is a completely different feeling from freestyle boards. I love it. I got the toe-side carve down from the start, but the heelside gave me some issues until my second day--that whole committing to the edge while your back is facing downhill thing took some mental aerobics to overcome. By the end of the second day, however, I was transitioning pretty well between edges, getting the whole look first then carve/get on the downhill edge before the turn thing down.
I tried some extreme carving on the second day, but because the powder had been ridden pretty thoroughly the lumps were so big that when I got low to the ground I'd eat a huge bump of powder and either tumble or come to a sudden stop. Down where the bumps/lumps were far and few between, the slopes didn't feel slope enough to really get down without coming to a stop. I did get some toe side extreme carves down by the lifts though, as I would bomb the lower area then (extreme) carve to a stop by the lift line. Got a lot of looks
Things I was surprised by:
- The amount of control you have. I love how the more you committ to an edge the more tightly you can carve.
- The feeling of rocketing across the hill on an edge.
- The feeling that your boots aren't attached to the board, so much as part of the board. This freaked me out a lot the first day, and I'd keep looking down to make sure my back foot was, indeed, secure in the binding.
I'm going again this weekend, and then I'm going to Hokkaido on the 22nd to the 1st. Not sure if I can get any videos, but I have a feeling that when I get back I'm going to be quite the carver
As for my weekend in Niigata: what an incredible experience. I made a bunch of friends, got to experience the pleasure of winter in Japan, and got a girl's number. Whoot.
jamie
- Attachments
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- My board w/ bindings after the second day.
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