Japan Newbie Touring Set-up Thoughts

[moose pit]

The Black Cat is deadly, cheap and reliable. The wife and I loaded our complete kits in one 200cm dakine ski bag it was 70 lbs when all was packed and cost $25 to ship and hold for a week at the airport.

Always ski with your kit, the number of spots you can get stuck in are rather surprising, blind gullies, dams, long traverses... skins are the key to successful rope ducking adventures.

Also +1 on the protests. There was one day of high alpine touring that made me want crampons and some groomer skiing that really sucked on tech bindings and wide skis but I would go with the protests again in a heartbeat.

[neck beard]

With the amount of snow japan gets, the amount of creeks in some places and how steep it is close to the creeks, I highly recommend touring binders on all skis.
I've been in a few situations in Japan that would have impossible to boot pack out of, it's just too much snow and no bottom

Every season someone spends the night out, some die. Japanese or foreign, all the same. An Australian mother and kids spent the night out last year in Nagano. A group "guided" by an IFMGA guide spent the night out after ducking a rope in Yuzawa. Snowboarders suffer the most, they just keep doing downhill and it sometimes only gets worse. Certain gear, planning and mindset can avoid/minimise most of this... but it is wasted breath.

[trex_9]

Great feedback. Thanks all. The trip is being run by casa tours, i think someone asked above..

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[trex_9]

And i guess ill have to demo some protests this year at mammoth mtn.

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[slowroastin]

https://www.evo.com/outlet/skis/dyna...5694/clone.jpg

Sweet deal on some hoji like sticks with skins


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[slowroastin]

Sweet deal on some hoji like sticks with skins


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[neck beard]

Thats very cheap with skins. Basically free skins.

[slowroastin]

$325 with active junkey

[XavierD]

Where the fuck are people touring without doing kick turns? Sounds flat and boring - more wildsnow meadow skippers?

[Any]

not sure what all the crap about kick turns is all about.
took max 3 or 4 turns before i worked out any snow depth related complications.

maybe some novice skier with no balance might struggle, but trex_9 described as "pretty strong & fast skier" with at least 5 sets of big man skis shouldn't be concerned at all.

(5'9" with 186cm bc skis, based in hokkaido)

[rod9301]

Yeah, in powder kick turns are easy, you stick the tail under the other ski.
40 degree firm snow, different animal.

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[Lindahl]

Depends on ski length, hip flexibility and leg length. The last two are very specific to the individual. I got the short straw on both unfortunately.

[Reformed]

Yeah, in powder kick turns are easy, you stick the tail under the other ski.
40 degree firm snow, different animal.[/URL]

Not trying to be a dick here, but if it's anywhere near 40 degrees you're probably booting. I agree about the firm comment - doesn't take a whole lot of slope angle to make firm kick turns a real pain in the ass. Add some exposure and the pucker can set in pretty quickly. Ski crampons can make a pretty significant difference in these situations.

[neck beard]

Where the fuck are people touring without doing kick turns? Sounds flat and boring - more wildsnow meadow skippers?

Brains over brawn.

And it is possible to make many turns without a sharp turn angle or "kick" at all.

[Boof Head]

Sweet deal on some hoji like sticks with skins

great deal. I'm taking a pair of Dynafit Grand Tetons on my next trip to Japan. Only 108 under foot so I might wack some quiver killers in my go to ski for last 5 trips to Japan (Elan Boomerangs) just in case I find them too narrow.
I grabbed a pair of these
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Dynaf....c100033.m2042


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[Stairmaster]

Black Crow Anima Free birds in a 188 with Marker Kingpins.

[Shredly von Whiplash]

hmmm bought some bent chetlers on this forum and was gonna put frames on em for my japan trip and bring some stormrider 95s as well....one pair of alpine boots ..perhaps id better rethink. good thread tx.

[Boof Head]

First off, cool name Shredly.
Secondly, whereabouts in Japan are you heading?

[Any]

hmmm bought some bent chetlers on this forum and was gonna put frames on em for my japan trip and bring some stormrider 95s as well....one pair of alpine boots ..perhaps id better rethink. good thread tx.

in hokkaido i dont even go outside on days that would require a 95mm ski anymore. but to be fair, i am a huge powder snob

[Boof Head]

in hokkaido i dont even go outside on days that would require a 95mm ski anymore. but to be fair, i am a huge powder snob

That's where I was heading with my question.
Although I used to take skinny skis before I knew better, I wouldn't bother nowadays for Hokkaido.
However, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take some 95's to Honshu just in case. Very poor season last year around Hakuba had me wishing I'd packed my Mantras. My daughter was working there and warned me but being an optimist I took my pow skis. Last year was atypical though.

[neck beard]

Last year was atypical though.

After a slow start into mid-January, last season was exactly typical for Hakuba. Quite a normal season. The year before was very poor.

[Shredly von Whiplash]

niseko and nearby - lift with touring limited to an hour or hour and a half ridge walks - some cat skiing...

still thinking frames - these skis don't seem much like tourers and i have other stuff for that.

Which frames might suit these 123mm skis best? i can see using them in japan and maybe heli - other than that
i doubt they will get a lot of use...but hey they were 250 undrilled!

[LeoK]

so what are your boot choices? - me personally I just changed my Dukes for Kingpins for Japan. But we plan on more touring. Do you have the option to mount with pin bindings?

[Shredly von Whiplash]

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ds-binder-help

this thread discusses a similar issue - and one which a lot of people on the thread will not address...there a lots of folks who Maybe
would take a 25 minute walk out to a ridge if the family gets tired and quits for the day or whatever...but prob most days not.

Folks on this thread won't allow the guy to do what he wants, they sorta insist
he ski AT inbounds cause he already has the stuff. Seems to me I have a nice pair of skis here that would be a good heli option for me for the next few years
and I kinda don't want to mess em up with crappy bindings - they r not getting pins have super7s for that. I may just put reg binding on em and be happy with what they
are - the guide company has skis with frames it turns out. This seems like the perfect opportunity to test daymakers and I would, especially with skis mounted with frames standing by in case of disaster - but they are pretty spendy for just sidecountry dabbling. You'd get nice low stack but have to carry em (on certain days and not on others)
gotta admit thats interesting seeing as when i got home id have a nice regular old powder ski setup and not some bastardized thing.

[XXX-er]

so what are your boot choices? - me personally I just changed my Dukes for Kingpins for Japan. But we plan on more touring. Do you have the option to mount with pin bindings?

I used Verticals/vulcans and my buddy had kingpins/maestrale RS, one setup everywhere on the BC & 5 ski area's around Niseko, I am just a small AZN man while buddy is 6'5" and 220 ...no problems

YMMV but IMO/IME schleping 2 full setups half way around the world for 10 days of skiing on mostly soft conditions is a lot of gear which may or may not be necessary ?