JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
I haven’t heard anything. I’ll try and ask my friend
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Avoid landing like this! at Happo Banks
Going big and landing to flat is never a good idea….it’s even worse when you land on your face 
In other news, the planned banked slalom for the Closing Event has been cancelled due to safety concerns. It seems the course through the trees is a bit too gnarly.
hahaha that is awesome!!!!!
the pic I mean, not the cancellation. Perhaps that person should also be allowed to use the dangerous course for our amusement!!!
I second that motion!!!!!
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Avoid jumping like this pt.2
This was from last week at Happo Banks. This guy was friends with the other guy that faceplanted. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the entire sequence, but I’m sure you can imagine what happened. He even bonked the sign 
Today was the last day at Happo Banks this year. I took video so give me a few days to get it together.
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Happo Banks Season Final Session & Festival
Last Sunday was the last day of the Happo Banks park this year and unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate with sunny skies. Instead, we were belted by wind and snow, and hampered by cold temps, low visibility and crappy ‘stop-snow’. Stop-snow is what the Japanese call sticky snow that, well, makes you stop. It sucks. I could not make it to the last hit with enough speed to try some handplants 
In spite of this, I can say that I had a good day and it will be a long summer counting down the days until Happo Banks opens again.
I shot the video over a few runs and you can see how difficult the conditions were. Sorry about the water splotches on the camera!
I was actually considering calling it a day at 10:30! However, after a lunch of spicy Malaysian curry from the Kurobishi restaurant just above the Skyline run, I found my mojo and rode hard til close. They had the aborted mini banked slalom course at the top and it was great to muck around in there before dropping in for the ‘serious’ run through the banks 
Anyways, check out the vid! Hoshino-san, the groomer, dropped in first and is in the purple jacket and olive pants combo.
Hey Marc, I have been reading through your blog over the last couple of days and just wanted to say what a top job you are doing! In particular the f-stop mountain shootout and the f-stop bag review were great reading, keep it up!
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been there.. 
Loved the video, Marc. I bet you copped some good sprays filming on that bank haha.
Thanks for the props Tracvks!
Yeah Rider. The week before I had tried with my Nikon and got it sprayed large. The body and lens were covered in slush and so were my goggles. I even had snow in my hood. 
and all that on the first run of the day!
This time I was prepared!
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Hakuba 47 Park Arvo Shred
Last Sunday, I did a backcountry tour and then headed over to the 47 park at 2:30 for some sneaky laps in before close. I’ll put up the backcountry post later so bear with me with the reversed posts.
I felt good in spite of having missed lunch (and hiking all morning) so I thought it would be a good chance to get over to 47 to check out the jumps. 47 has one of the best freestyle parks in the area so it’s always a good spot to be at. As usual there was a lineup for the medium jump line so I skipped that and played in the closed pipe a bit. The front side wall is still alright, but the backside is a little shot. Well, whatever, it’s closed for the season but it’s still fun.
I found it was harder to snipe photos here than in Happo Banks so I had to introduce myself to some guys to get some willing stuntmen…but we only got one run together as the park closed. Hopefully next time I can network my new friends to get some more riders.
This was a double something. Maybe a barrel roll? It was a 90 then double back flip 90 out.
This girl looked really good
Nosepress…
to armchair crash
Enter ‘bear’ caption here
Stylish front 3
Back 3 by either a kid or a girl….or maybe both!
One of the guys I met, Satoru Endo on the rainbow rail
His buddy, Eiji Taki got in on the action too
I had spotted Eiji doing a super smooth noseslide on the rainbow the run before so I approached him for some shots. He was a bit out of control the second go which was unfortunate… but hey, we only got one take. I’m looking forward to next time when I can take more time to get to know him and get some bangers in the bag.
Can’t forget the cute lifties!
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The Other Happo Banks
After the official Happo Banks park closes, it’s time to hit the other banks at Happo
I wouldn’t recommend using your good board though.
Use someone else’s instead?????
that would be a good move 