JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
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2014 F-Stop Mountain Shoot out
Oh, what a night! When I arrived at the Mominoki Pub in Hakuba for the second annual F-Stop Mountain Shoot Out it was already packed, and more people were arriving. There was an expectant buzz in the air as everyone knew their eyeballs were about to be subjected to some serious stoke.
The format went like this: while everyone drank profusely, four big name photographers would introduce their team of pro riders, before showing us their slideshows set to music. They had only had a total of three days to shoot in Hakuba and edit their slideshows, so we would see how they could handle the pressure, the weather and the snow conditions. Would they buckle and show us five minutes of pedestrian holiday snaps, or blow us away with banger upon banger?
There was a 100,000 yen prize for the best slideshow presentation and 50,000 yen for the best photo.
First up was Tomoki Fuse and his team of skiers, Takuma Oike and Kyoto Harada and a snowboarder, whose name escapes me.
Fuse is not only a talented photographer, but also a mountain guide AND a big line rider too.
His slideshow immediately set a high bar for the Shoot Out with beautifully toned action shots and also some gorgeous sunrise photos (they camped out overnight).
I had a couple of his photos tagged straight away for the Best Shot award.
Next up was Joel Fraser, the team photographer for Capita. His team consisted of Yusaku Horii, Noboru Konno and Alex Fisher.
Before the slideshow, he mentioned some difficulties they had had and that their slideshow was “short and sweet”. I had been looking forward to this particular slideshow as Capita’s imagery is always quite amazing. Well, I definitely was not disappointed. The slideshow was so stacked with banger shots. Boom! Boom! Boom! Sick shots just kept coming and I was blown away. At that point, I was ready to give all the prize money to Joel. I really want to see it again, and I have no doubt that the shots will show up in media around the world soon.
Then it was Neil Hartmann’s turn. An American expat long ago transplanted in Hokkaido, Neil is famous for his photography and for his Car Danchi series of shred videos. His team was made up of Hakuba rippers Ken Shibuya and Yuta Kobayashi, in addition to Hayato Doi, who had come down from Hokkaido too.
Neil prefaced the slideshow by saying that since the rules said a maximum length of twelve minutes for the slideshow, he had made his eleven minutes and fifty-nine seconds! He had his filmmaker skills on show as he strung together his photos in different tempos, blasting shots in quick succession followed by a slow zoom in/out. It was quite effective. As for the photography, well, he had everything in there - bangers, lifestyle, originality, comedy (there were a bunch of hilarious shots in there) and most importantly, a story. I felt like I wanted to go ride with those guys - they were having too much fun!
Batting cleanup was Yoshiro Higai, a Japanese pro photographer, who took home the Best Shot prize last year. His presentation was on Hakuba locals Atsushi Gomyo & Tasuku Matsuura (not pictured).
Gomyo and Matsuura are Yuki Ita master crafters. They also rip. The slideshow started out with some beautiful shots of the Yuki Ita being made, and eventually ridden. It was a superb slideshow and I got a good laugh out of their fake surfing photos - one guy was pretending to paddle out while the other guy was dropping in on a small snowbank which looked like a wave.
When it ended, reality set back in - the quality of each slideshow was so high that as a judge I had a terribly difficult task ahead of me. The other two judges felt the same way and we were all concentrating hard on choosing a winner, vaguely aware of the raffle draw in progress. The crowd was super excited from the slideshows and for the amazing prizes up for grabs. While there were lots of prizes, all I remember is the goretex outerwear from Blueblood, and three snowboards: a Capita Indoor Living 54, a Nitro Quiver 54 and an Endeavour Archetype 59. I lucked out and won the Capita. Stoked!
All these sponsors gave away prizes
But back to the judging. Everyone had Neil Hartmann’s slideshow in the number one spot so that was easily decided.
Neil, on the right, being presented with an envelope full of cash
His ender photo of a method over a dam nearly snagged the Best Shot but it wasn’t unanimous. I wanted Joel Fraser to get Best Shot, but the problem was he had too many bangers and I couldn’t choose just one! I also liked an exquisite sepia-ish shot of a skier framed by trees by Tomoki Fuse. However, the shot that resonated with all of us judges was a photo by Yoshiro Higai of Tasuku Matsuura riding a Yuki Ita with his dogs. It wasn’t set up but something totally spontaneous, and sometimes that’s the sweetest timing. It’s up to the photographer to capture those rare moments, and Higai-san did so perfectly. Congratulations to him and to Neil.
Yoshiro Higai on the left, and Takusu Matsuura explaining the Best Shot winning photo
Wow, this post is too long. Anyways, the party went on til late and the event was a great success! I can’t wait til next year!
A taste of Neil’s slideshow
Neil’s victory speech
Now Binding’s JF Pelchat enjoying the show with Replant’s Goro Komatsu
The happy winners of the Endeavour Archetype - a $1200 AUD powder board!
blog photo talk:all I had to shoot with in the low light was a 18.5mm (50mm equiv.) on the Nikon V2 and was shooting at F1.8, so it was hard to fit everyone into the shots, and have everyone sharp. However, the photos turned out a lot better than I was expecting! Stoked!
Yeah, the blue is super nice. Looks great in person too. Have you decided on the ICU?
That’s where I’m having a bit of difficulty. I’m using canon 650d mostly with battery grip. Usually carry my twin lens kit plus fish eye. Will be adding a 50mm and flash soon. Won’t always carry all though. Was thinking the medium slope
RAD RAD RAD!!!
Will the slideshows make in online for us to see at some stage marc or is it up to the photogs and their contracts/alliances etc??
I really want to see them!
it’s up to the photographers, but I’d say the earliest we’ll see them online (if at all) will be next year. They will try and sell those shots to mags/companies in the upcoming year and won’t make them public til then.
It’s another reason to attend the show!
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Gentemstick Demo & Rider’s Session this weekend!!
This upcoming weekend will see the Gentemstick Demo being held at the Happo Banks park in Happo One, Hakuba.
This will be a great chance to try out a Gentem (for free! - just bring your passport) and to check out the best banks riders in Japan getting low, soulful and creative in the Happo Banks.
Oh yeah, did I mention that the demo is for next season’s boards? The 2014-2015 line will be available for testing! It’s the perfect set up, really. Grab a new Gentem and try it out in the Happo Banks park right there!
[Make sure you bring disc bindings as Burton EST bindings will not work.]
There will also be a Patagonia tent where you can try on next year’s outerwear.
Happo Banks is getting a facelift from today to Friday, February 28th, so there will be new lines to be found this weekend.
Should be a good one!
That sounds epic!
Buut. one of my best mates doesnt get in till mon or tuesday next week haha
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Warimakuri Festival at Cortina (Splitboard Festival)
On the weekend of February 22/23, there was the Warimakuri Festival held at Cortina Kokusai ski resort. If you’re interested at all in splitboarding, this is a great time to learn about what you need to get into it and a chance to see many splitboards from many different companies. For only 1000 yen, you could spend the day taking boards out for demos, along with different split bindings, skins and even boots.
They even had a hike and ride mini race which looked like lots of fun.
On the Sunday, there was a splitboard backcountry tour with a certified guide for 98,000 yen.
Some demo splits on the left and some boards by a Japanese powder snowboard brand called TJ on the right
Some of next year’s Jones snowboards
Here, the crazy light Jones Ultracraft is getting set up. Did I say crazy light? This thing is insane!
K2’s lineup
Prior splits and Spark R&D bindings
Salomon
Japanese outerwear maker, Green Clothing
The hike & ride mini race started off with a race to the boards
How fast can you set your split up?
...and he’s off!
If you are a splitboarder, or want to try it out, definitely mark it on your calendar for next year!
Looks great, Marc. Did you ride anything new?
I tried the rossignol xv 167 split. It seems pretty good, but I’m in a good place right now with my burton freebird, and it wasn’t good enough to make me want to switch. I can def recommend both the xv and the freebird.
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Gentemstick & Patagonia Demo at Happo Banks
Yesterday and today saw the Gentem & Patagonia Demo held at the Happo Banks park at Happo One ski resort in Hakuba.
Gentem came prepared with over 120 boards!
These boards are really works of art
Big lineup
Patagonia had a tent with outerwear on display
Choosing a board…
Switching bindings
Atsushi Gomyo was on hand and he had one of his yuki ita to play around on before the show started.
He has a website :
http://makesnowtoys.com/ Check it out for sure
Bubbles, the course designer, takes a run through, with a superman carve through the first bank
The weather was graybird and snowing, and the snow was on the slushy side. We had had rain a few days before and it was less than optimal conditions. The first run was bulletproof, but it softened up and we even had some sunshine around lunchtime.
Check out the pics:
Yep, this Gentem can carve
7 year old Tenma Tamai, the son of the Gentemstick owner, Taro Tamai, boosts the hip
It was crowded at times. Looks like this guy is being chased by three bad guys 
Can you guys get this low on a backside wall?
Gentem rider, Haruna Kito, shows us how the ladies slash
Another lady slash
What’s a nug doing in the park? Nice slash though!
Even orange man came! I don’t know his name but he’s a rider for Blueblood outerwear.
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2015 Powder Snowboard Demo - mini reviews (Salomon/Bataleon/Lib Tech)
Yesterday there was a board demo for next year’s hardgoods. There wasn’t much selection, and out of that, most of the boards were in the 150 to 154 range (too small for me). I wasn’t even going to bother until I spied a Bataleon Camel Toe in a 158! It was the special Stewart graphic one coming out next year.
However, by the time I signed up, someone had taken it out for a spin. I looked for something else to take in the meantime and spied a Salomon Sick Stick….in a 160! I quickly grabbed it and set it up. I’ve liked the Sick Stick graphics but the 2015 looks okay. I guess I could deal with it….
Anyways, even though I’m not a fan of Salomon boards in general, this board surprised me. It felt great! I suspect it’s the rocker flat rocker profile, which I love on my Burton Root. Known as Flattop at Burton, Freestyle FK at Capita, DIRT rocker at Smokin, etc etc, on this Salomon it’s known as Flat Out Rocker. It seems great to me. The 160 rode like a 156, but it looks like would float like a dream. It’s twinnish so would be quite versatile for freestyle riding. Back 1’s off cat tracks into pow have to be one of the funnest things to do and the sick stick would be perfect. It’s definitely on my want list.
So I took it back and found that the Camel Toe had come back! I set it up and noticed the tbt straight off. WOAH. Not used to that.
However, when I stopped thinking about it and actually started riding, I forgot about the three dimensional base. I took it in the trees and found some untouched slush, which felt close to powder (as close as could be felt!). The Camel Toe turns super easily thanks to the tiny tail, with the half moon cut out. It reminded me of the Burton Fish…but turnier
I think this board would be killer in powder. It’s also priced pretty low, so would be great to pick up for the quiver.
I’m sure the surf guys will love the graphic. I’m indifferent on it - I’d rather have a plain black one.
Oh and the tail is rather stiff, so it won’t wash out so easily. It felt fine on the groomers in the chop so it won’t be a liability when hunting for the leftover powder stashes. If you have a wide stance, watch out - I maxed out the 158 at 59cm. You might need to move up to the 162… which maxes out at 60cm.
Anyways, I had A LOT of fun on it in the trees and it has made it onto my want list.
So then I found the Lib Tech Hot Knife - now, that looks like a cool board!
It’s pretty stiff and while it’s labeled as a C3 profile, it looks like K2’s Lifted Baseline Technology:
Here’s my iphone pic of the profile:
It might have a hint of banana in the middle. Anyways, the Hot Knife was only a 153 so I didn’t bother riding it. Instead I grabbed this 157 Lib Tech Half Cap (some sort of Jamie Lynn 20th anniversary model). It’s cambered, but labeled as reverse banana
It rode like a normal cambered deck.
So, the big winners were the Salomon Sick Stick and the Bataleon Camel Toe. Woo hoo! 
Today the opening of the Happo Banks park was delayed a bit due to the new snow - 15cm of fresh! A welcome change from the warm temps and rain of last week. There’s snow forecast for everyday until next Monday!
How do you like the Sick Stick Marc? When I demoed it last spring it has micro camber to almost the contact point and rockers up just a lil bit. I heard they changed it next year?