mrjamie Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 I just got back from a weekend in southern Nagano, and wow, were there ever a lot of hardbooters. Apparently the fame of a certain Japanese hard-boot athlete who trained locally has resulted in nearly as many alpine riders as freestyle riders, at least through the early morning. On saturday there must have been at least 30 different hardbooters riding the mountain, and there was never a time on a lift or a course where a hard booter wasn't riding within view. Here's a short movie I took on my phone while waiting in a lift; it's a bit poor quality wise, but if you can't tell there are two hard booters in front of me, two hard booters in front of them, two hard booters behind me, and two hard booters behind them. That's 9 hard booters(including me) in a row, for those of you with problems counting ;) Also, this wasn't a special festival or anything...just a regular weekend! Also took a picture of a nice extreme-carved heelside trail ;) Please let me know if you can't view the .amc format, I'll convert it to quicktime and re-upload. hardboot.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 every day's a carve fest in Japan. well not really but I was always able to find a dozen or so to ride with when I lived there. I once spent the day with a couple in there 50-60's who took me to all the groom stashes on the mountain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltie Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 Mrjamie, What was the name of the resort? Royalhill and Echo Valley are near a place called lake Shirakabako have tons of apine riders. I lived in Japan for about 3.5 years and visited many resorts in Gifu prefecture and Nagano prefecture. You could generally find atleast 10 more alpine riders at most places. Eventually I joined a snowboard club with about 30 alpine riders who were mostly racers. Did a lot of gate training and a few races for fun. There are few companies that make some really nice boards - Yonex, Moss, Gray, Ogasaka and BC Stream. Also, there is a binding company called SHR that makes really nice bindings. Most stuff is really spendy though. Never made up to Rusutsu in Hokkaido which is supposed to be a great mountain for carving. Glad you had fun in Japan. Wish we had as many alpine riders here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjamie Posted February 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 Echo Valley is where I rode. Gray and BC Stream certainly do seem to be common; at the end of the first day several guys were carrying 2 gray boards each o.O. I didn't get into any long conversations this time, but there was a lot of waving and smiling exchanged ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 quicktime, pls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjamie Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 http://homepage.mac.com/mrjamie/.Movies/hardboot.mov it's a little big (half a meg) but anyone with quicktime should be able to see it now :-) enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfinsmiley Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I`ve been here nearly two years now and all the hardbooters on the hill is what got me interested. I only started snowboarding when I came here, I`m from the tropics, I`d never even seen snow before last season! I bought a softie set-up and headed for the hills after a few days a noticed these dudes that were actually carving down the hill and no skidding:eek:. That was it I saw the future of my snowboarding laid out in a glimmering trench in the snow. I think that we are all ambassadors for our sport and the more people that see hardboots in action the more people are going to want to add an apline set-up to the quiver. Japan is the classic example, everyone who goes to the snow sees hardbooters and so there are more and more hardbooters, it`s self perpetuating once it gets to a certian stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjamie Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 on a more funny note, I was told (in Japanese) by a liftie, 'Ah! You're the real thing! Thanks for coming to our mountain!' hah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipstar Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Same same in Korea; a lot of hardbooters as a total proportion of riders. I think it is at least partly because there is a decent racing circuit, so a lot of the riders are racers; at least that would explain their 'style' when they ride :-) I had heard that the snow in Japan is well suited to soft booting though, whereas Korea/NZ is gets pretty variable and hard, so hardbooting makes more sense. Good news! Did you like the Moss? My brother still has his 1990 Moss (or thereabouts) - super skinny, well ahead of its time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RAIN Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 that settles it. I'm moving back to Japan! Glad to hear you had such a good time mrjamie. Did you have a chance to slide into an onsen after your ride. Nothing beats a good soaking after a long days ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjamie Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 kipstar: yea, most of them extend through turns and tuck between turns. I saw some guys practicing push-pull turns, but it almost seemed like one guy had asked his friend to teach him to carve like I was carving...heh. They stopped after four or five runs and went back to the way everyone else was carving Rain: Yea, I always hit up the onsen after a good ride ;). We actually had an outdoor onsen rented out for the night, but unfortunately couldn't convince all the girls and guys to get in together. Boo! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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