Whoa! The ANA flight to CTS before my JAL flight was cancelled “due to snow”! Oh krapp! OK, JAL is only saying that they will take off and return to NGO or reroute to HND only if they can’t land due to the immediate conditions.
(0)Archive for the 'Snow' Category
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Flight to NGO was actually a Triple-7-200. Older aircraft, but a lot nicer (and cleaner) than the retired 747SUD’s and old 767-300’s that JAL usually uses on the Hawaii runs. Not sure why it was upsized from the usual 767 – maybe marathon season? Most people had whole rows to themselves, which actually worked out better than getting upgraded to business class, since I could fold up the armrests and lay flat out across the three seats.
(0)At HNL. Glad it’s breezy and cool for a change. Maybe I actually won’t be stinky by the time I reach Sapporo. No – the trains will be sauna-hot.
(0)The JMA forecast is usually pretty spot-on. Derek says they have some crazy supercomputer that yields far better results than whatever the NOAA uses. I fly out to Sapporo via Nagoya tomorrow and will be in Niseko on Friday. It should be smack dab in the middle of five days of snow. If all goes according to the forecast, there will be a day-and-a-half of new base and several more continuing days of snowfall in store. Will I finally be able to ride Niseko on something other than Krunk? Just so long as the winds stay moderate, I may actually luck out… finally.
Now at SLC airport waiting for flight to Denver. Of course the forecast is for 2-4″ of snow throughout today and more tonight. Is there a way to have your trip end on a certain day but magically not end that day? It seems every snowboard trip ends leaving the final day as its dumping snow!
Summarizing his trip, considering the earlyness, the snow was pretty decent. Sure we added some more good battle scars to our boards, and Derek went full pro and destroyed his board ripping about a foot of his edge off and leaving a couple inches of it somewhere on the hill. Learned a bit more on which slopes to hit. Discovered a couple more decent food choices & revisited some favorites. Spent more than a couple hours at outdoor stores REI and Cabellas. Did donuts with a fullsize SUV. Made our own fun on the side of he road after the sticker shock at Snowbird.
Bodies are tired & bruised. Equipment is likewise bruised with a tear in my pants, numerous new scratches & dings in my board and Derek’s pretty much destroyed. But all in all a good trip. Will post up details later!
Driving 1.5 hours from sandy to powder mountain only to find it closed. They were allegedly supposed to be open! Bastage! On to IceBasin instead.
Ever since I started snowboarding, I’ve run a carabiner on my belt or pack waist strap for clipping my gloves to when I take them off, so I don’t lose track of them. Aluminum carabiners are reasonably light, but I moved over to the even lighter plastic Fastex Tactical Link when those were introduced. What most carabiners have an issue with though, is a tendency to lie flat along the belt, so one-handed use when clipping gloves to them becomes a bit more challenging. This is particularly noticeable with carabiners with any kind of curve along the spine (back, non-gate side). Enter the Black Diamond Ice Clipper. Like other plastic accessory clip carabiners, this product is non-load-bearing, but unlike a standard carabiner, the spine is flattened sideways, so the tension of the belt or webbing over it holds the gate-side out at a right angle. It will still roll flat if you push it firmly, so you can stow it when it is not in use. Continue reading ‘Black Diamond Ice Clipper’
When you engage in certain activities, say snowboarding or mountain biking, you have to be willing to accept the consequences of your actions and decisions. I’ve always been aware of this, but sometimes, something comes along and smacks you in the face to underscore it. A couple of years ago, it was riding into a tree branch I didn’t see and busting my helmet and nose and splitting my goggle lens right down the center (Root was there for that one): This year, it was riding headlong off a triple-overhead drop.
With news of the 5-year record snowfall in my head, several continuous days of snow behind me, I headed out to Sapporo Kokusai ski-jou for some powder poaching. I had no illusions of the bottomless fluff that I’ve experienced there before, as the snowfall had been consistent but not heavy, and a weekend of endusers had probably already cut up most of the easily-accessed ungroomed areas. The morning had arrived with a few centimeters in town, which meant that there would be a little new coverage out at the resort, but it wasn’t enough to erase the sidecountry slash marks that squiggled down the visible faces. Continue reading ‘Pay the Piper’
Man, I don’t think it has been colder than usual, but I am noticing that jeans and a thin baselayer are feeling like not enough. I almost wish I had my heavy ECWCS polypro drawers right now… Must be old age kicking in.
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