Gentem Bowl session
Sick!!!!!
Just added to my bucket list 
The guys from FLUX posted one on Instagram, that they built in Japan!!!!! (I think it’s the same guy)
Had two Bowls side by side!!!!!
Be a great spectator event I reckon!!!!!
My 2 cents.
F*******************CK!!!!
This bubbles guy drives me crazy.
He built our park in Happo, Hakuba this season. Called Happo Banks. Cause that’s all it was. Banks. It was miserable.
Yes Banks and bowls are fun. But after a few laps, you really stop caring and it all becomes boring.
I actually think it’s really cool that they would build these things and push creativity. But in another way this isn’t creativity, it’s close mindedness.
There was 1 jump. 1! And no rails at all!
WHY OH WHY can’t you have bowls AND jumps & rails.
To hit the single jump in the park, you had to skip most of the park. They had 3 big terraces but chose to build a jump on only one. WHY?!
Cause he has decided it’s not cool to do jumps and rails, or he simply can’t do them so he doesn’t care. But that doesn’t mean you can satisfy everyone else.
There are always going to be people of all levels and styles who want different things. So if there is only one park. Try to make it use-able by everyone!
I had to go to a different resort for the park section of my instructor exams because the park simple isn’t a PARK. Just a bunch of curved snow lumps.
I really do think that park could be cool if it had banks AND jumps & rails. But instead we have some guy (who i almost never saw ride the park) tell me what’s cool? You have to be joking. It’s just the work of a close minded groomer who thinks he’s making some kind of revolution. I heard nothing but bad feedback from every person i rode the chair with (both Japanese and foreign riders).
It’s the reason i won’t be working in Happo again, which sucks because Happo was a lot of fun. But I can’t progress in that park. It makes me sad to see so much potential, and yes, unique skill in grooming, wasted by clinging to a gimmick instead of using a great idea, and listening to the people who actually ride it.
This is the most negative thing I’ve ever posted on here.
It’s not intended to insult Bubbles, but at the same time I hope he ends up reading it. Because I gave feedback about the park (like many people) and nothing changed. I understand that it’s his art piece and he doesn’t want to be told how to paint.
But by being so rigid about it, he’s missing a chance to create a truly great and unique park. Instead it’s really cool idea that in reality just isn’t much fun for more than a day or 2.
Sincerely
Disgruntled Gaijin
But hey, maybe the words of a foreigner are worthless and you should just do what u want. What do I know.
On the plus side, I loved teaching my students to ride the banks. He does what he does very well, I just wish he would add some kickers and rails to the mix since it is the ONLY park in Happo. I don’t feel like it’s fair to the public to just decide they don’t want jumps or rails anymore.
Wow Andy I have never seen a rant like that by you!
Sorry. I feel kinda bad about it, but it drove me so crazy. All season I was giving feedback to people who ASKED ME for it. But then did nothing with that feedback.
I will say, that art is art. And you should never tell an artist how or what to create.
But it’s the only park on the mountain. So from the park that used to be there to his park, he seriously denied a lot of riders the chance to improve their park riding, cause it wasn’t a park. It was an art piece.
If there was a normal park and this one, it would have been fine. But instead we had this park forced upon us.
The riders are always the ones who should decide what’s cool.
Ohhh, way to get him all fired up again, oz!!!!!
You need to get yaself a pair of FLUX Bindings, an iPhone 5, and a GoPro 3 Black, Andy!!!!!
Huh?
I must have missed that convo.
Actually I own an iPhone and a GoPro lol. Usually use a real camera though
I understand Andy’s point of view. If there is only ONE park at Happo and the bowl is the only thing available then yeah it’s a bit unreasonable. But if there are other areas on the mountain with parks then I think this is a good idea for a change of pace, cruise around doing slashes.
Yeah, it was fun. It just wasn’t of any use to progress as a park rider. Which is why 90% of people in the park ride it.
The funny thing is I actually really like when people try and be creative like this.
The really painful part was that I watched video of the old park made by High Cascade. It was sick! And I (and many others) went to Happo thinking I would get to ride it.
But when I showed up they had changed contracts to this Bubbles guy. Which is fine, he was cheaper, fair enough. But he should have done his best to make a REAL park to replace the one he took over from.
He could have made the left half banks and bowls, and the right side jumps and rails.
Hell he could have even kept his whole park the way it was and just put jumps on the terraces down the middle. He had 3 large terraces and only put a large jump on the last one… WHY?
He just left the other terraces flat. And you couldn’t even use them for buttering because he stuck flags all the way across them! It blew my mind.
It’s like inviting your friends around to see a new sports car that you bought. And then saying “No! We can’t drive it. It’s too special”.
It’s like inviting your friends around to see a new sports car that you bought. And then saying “No! We can’t drive it. It’s too special”.
I HATE people who do that!
Me too. Cars are for driving.
If you’re not going to use and enjoy an awesome sports car… you’re just a knob with a big shiny paper weight.
Its a deal breaker for me if a guy is too precious about their car to let me drive it!
hehe
There hasn’t been many girls that have driven any of my cars. But it has happened.
Its a deal breaker for me if a guy is too precious about their car to let me drive it!
hehe
They all know what happens to your cars!!!!!