JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
Last shot is awesome haha
Pillow line looks like mad fun 
Nice!!!!!
What the hell is a Kamoshika?????
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Another Toyama post
Had the day off today so I went shredding again 
The theme of the day was exploration, and I started the day off meeting Yuta (Capita rider) and Masato (shop rider) at the 7-11 to do something rad. It was snowing so the plan was to head into the forest on a mountain road to a zone with a supposedly sick pillow line.
Unfortunately, the spot was too low and didn’t have enough snow coverage. So we did some beacon practice and headed to the ski resort to scope out a line in the trees that ended in a mandatory air off a dam. I had never been there but I had heard of it from a mountain guide with a shop in town.
Unfortunately, (damn, there’s that word again!) upon arriving at the gondola, I realized that I had left my pass in my car back at the 7-11 
Luckily, right then, another friend - Masaru, walked by. He’s looking after the crappy park this year and was able to hook me up with some 1-time tickets. 
So we went up and explored. It was a bit bushy at the top but it opened up for a so-so run. But hey, it was powder! 
Here are the pics:
Yuta coming out of an alley on his black snowboard of death
Masato stepped up with a big slash
Yuta can throw the snow up too. The vignetting is from the lens hood. I put the hood from the 30-110 on the 10-30 to keep out the snow, but it shows up at the widest settings.
So then we piled back into the car and they dropped me off at the 7-11 as they had to go to work.
I called up Masaru and we tried a different valley. Paydirt! It was sooo amazing. It was wide open glades, and totally out of sight.
I had left the camera in the car so no pics. It was so nice to be riding pow when the resort was dust on crust conditions
So now it’s dumping and I will go to Hakuba tomorrow for some powzer. Trouble is, I got a little coreshot in my powder board so I will have to see if my memories of my 152cm Root floating are accurate 
Anyways, can’t wait!
Kamoshika
It’s called a serow in English. Half mountain goat half dog half deer or something like that
Ohhhh, yeah I knew them as a Serow!!!!!
Haha we saw heaps and called them Man-bear-pigs hahaha
Haha we saw heaps and called them Man-bear-pigs hahaha
haha
marc.. I had a read through.. But couldn’t see, did you end up getting another camera? If so, which one?
I was interested in a hybrid like the canon g series, (or smaller). As when I’m doing park runs with the guys.. I want to be able to get some shots of everyone on jumps/features and I agree it can be a hassle lugging a dslr and lenses around.. And I want something a bit better than a camera phone.. (and I worry about falling on the dslr.. so I tend to take it easy and not do anything in the park.. ). But a smaller camera would mean either it can go in a pocket, or my bladder pack, and I can still have fun through the park..
like you I’m after a mix of portability/size and quality/functions.
thanks!
also, love that first photo on this page!
Remember that YES video i tagged you in on Instagram mizu? they had one of them attacking the riders.
Yeah, that was funny as!!!!!
I wanted so much to come across one when I was in Nozawa last year, but I never got to see one!!!!! (I didn’t go out of the boundary of the resort though, as the snow was deep and plentiful, plus I didn’t have any avi gear, and there was no way the Boss was gonna head out anyways!!!!! She had the shits when I took her in the neck deep at Yamabiko a couple of times, as it was!!!!! )
And I now know why the locals looked at me strangely when I was askin where the Serow would most likely be!!!!!
marc.. I had a read through.. But couldn’t see, did you end up getting another camera? If so, which one?
Must not have read very hard, there is literally a whole page write up on his new camera 1 page back.
haha was skipping through on my phone.. and must have missed that page.. my bad!
Thanks Deano! (must have read through the last few pages, and missed it!)
*is also blonde 
Haha just read it.. and I missed the bit where he said he brought it.. saw the top of the post.. and his post about what he wanted in a camera.. but was looking for canon.. after he was talking about canon g series and p&s..
My bad!
Hoz,
I got the Nikon v2. My initial thoughts got buried a bit. They are here:
https://www.boardworld.com.au/forums/viewthread/14928/P225/#233981
Best thing to do would be for you to go see one in a shop & play with it. I can send you raw files if you like to check quality!
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Happo One weekend
There was a crazy amount of snow in Japan this weekend, which blocked many people from making it into Hakuba. There was an avalanche on the road from the south which blocked access for hours. I come in from the north, so I had no problems and couldn’t figure out how come the town and resorts were so quiet
There wasn’t as much snow at Happo as in Nagano city, but that was a good thing. It was still a bit too deep!
It was snowing hard and visibility was close to zero.
It looked exactly like this - no definition in the snow. You just had to bend your knees and react whether you hit somebody’s track or submarined in the thigh deep.
However, powder is powder and I still had a really good day
Oh, and today, after only a short wind delay, Happo’s lifts started - Sakka was running so we hit the Happo Banks park for some bank slasheroos. It was funny having ankle deep pow on the banks as you could send up nice sprays with little effort.
However, this photo is not one of those nice sprays.
I’m super tired right now, but I can’t wait for next weekend!