Tips for a trip in & around Alberta & Japan

[Guest The Waterboy]

G'day all,

am going to Canada in late December -> early January. Will be landing in Calgary on 28th December, staying with a buddy in Fernie till 2nd January, then checking out as many resorts north and east of Fernie as possible (have already done the ones west of it) before 13th January when I jump back on a plane for the trip to Japan.

Will be making a few runs in Niseko for ~1 week with some Australian friends and then (sadly) heading home.

Really wanted to do the SES, but unfortunately my part-time course (Sports Massage) takes it's break based around Australian Christmas School holidays, so that's excluded from this years one (but gives me something to look forward to throughout next year though!).

What I was hoping was that someone hereabouts might have some tips/advice for me in the following areas:

- best freecarving resorts/runs between Fernie & Calgary

- places around Calgary to pick up a decent 2nd hand board (want a new Coiler, but missed out on this season's quota..... D'OH!)

- spots where I'm likely to bump into a few local hard-booters to chase down the mountain

- best freecarving resorts/runs in Niseko Hirafu

- how to get my soft and hard-boot setups onto Japan Airlines under the 20kg weight limit (really don't want to have to make the decision to send one back from Canada by boat and miss out on playing with it in Japan)