the runs you do with the gopro on the pole definitely blend together, but the POV videos you've done with music are the nuts. could watch those forever.

lol about the lycra. No I snowboard, not ski. To me the vertical matters because I would much rather be going down the hill for 10 minutes instead of 2 minutes at a tiny hill. Marmot Basin in Jasper gets great powder, but is 300m less vert than Banff. Yet Banff is much busier. This leads me to believe that most people would rather go to a taller mountain even if there's slightly less powder.

Don't get me wrong, those vids are sick, especially the 2nd one. It looks like a magical place, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention because I will absolutely be going there someday.

On a side note, has anyone on here gone to Big White near Kelowna or Fernie? I know there's supposed to be a decent ski resort near Kamloops but that town stinks so bad I don't think I could justify going

Just got back from my week in zillertal.

Glacier was ok, had a new ish skiing friend so didn't get to do much fun stuff
Hochzillertal and zell am ziller are so much better than mayrhofen, unless you wanna do harakiri, devils or the lines from 150tux it just isn't worth it.

This. Throw in just a little footage of the village or your car and the mountain looking up at it, and you got an awesome video. If you're hiking, a little bit of the hike. Of course only if you want to, because it looks like you aren't using a helmet now? You were consistently getting around 5k views from your vid's last year. That's pretty impressive since I highly doubt many people are finding it from here. I know myself that I once stumbled on one of your videos simply by trying to get some good Japan powder vids. There really isn't THAT much quality content for that region.

What are your thoughts on those poles? Do you bring it for all your runs, or can you fold them up and put in a locker? Just watched a few more of the powder vids and it is now officially listed on my bucket list to board in Japan.

ive just got a mountain bike handle bar attachment mounted onto one of my backcountry poles which retracts to about 40cm.

it does come in handy occasionally when i get stuck and can use it to push myself out.

the problem im having with helmet cam is that it gets covered with snow all the time and i dont realize it until after the run whereas when i hold the pole its facing the other direction and i can brush snow off it if it gets covered.

ive bruised my big toe so couldnt ride much today, it only snowed about 10cm last night but it is bucketing down right now. coldest day of the year today -20c.

will be heading back to sapporo in the next couple of days, will ride at sapporo teine and then pick up my gf and we will be roadtripping around hokkaido for a week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTk_p...e&noredirect=1

first edited movie of the season.

Good vid, good tune. I'll be adding it to my playlist.

I am thinking of doing this trip in a couple weeks.
Whistler
Sun Peaks
Big White
Revelstoke
Lake Louise

They're all about 2-4 hours apart so I can drive to the next destination after snowboarding that day. I'm pretty stoked.

add kicking horse

done

Ok, so I got a little excited and ended up booking the whole thing tonight!
Monday - Whistler
Tuesday - Sun Peaks
Wednesday - Big White
Thursday - Revelstoke
Friday - Kicking Horse
Saturday - Lake Louise

Should be a blast. Most days I've ever gone before was 3 straight.

thats an awesome road trip man. good luck.

Looks amazing. Even looks a bit steep there in the end for being on the piste right near the base. With so much snow I assume you need some angles to get going and if I've heard one knock on skiing in general in Japan it is people saying steep lines aren't all that abundant.

Do you ever find yourself ever having to take it slowly in any spots because it's just too steep and narrow or anything like that? Is there any kind of terrain you feel is really missing or you can get it all there and those comments are misguided?

Nice videos though I prefer the helmet cam too heheh. I've been watching a lot of gopro vids on YouTube lately when I'm bored. I definitely need to try for Japan next year.

Going to focus the rest of this year on being able to go to japan next year!

driving Whistler to Sun Peaks will take 5-7hr imo. Im interested in taking a road trip to Sun Peaks cos i got friends there at the moment. Let me know what u think of the place.

Yeah it says 4:45 mins, so I'm thinking I'll do it in 4ish. I'll try posting on here with daily updates on how each mountain is. Sun Peaks is one I hadn't heard of before, maybe because it's in the interior and a little smaller than the surrounding resort mountains.

generally those comments are misguided because people's opinion on japan is formed from skiing in niseko which is mostly flat mellow terrain.
ive ridden in europe, america, south america, nz, india. i miss nothing from any of those places.
there is limitless challenging terrain for anyone if you know where to find it, if you stick to marked runs then i can understand how people might get the impression that japan is mellow. i spend most of my time off piste though.

today was the best day of the year.
it snowed 60cm in the last 24 hours.
it was a bluebird
it was a weekday.
im hitting the road and heading to another resort tonight.

I'm heading there in February with the family. I was looking at trying all three mountains, for the benefit of the many noobs in our party. Should I skip Norquay altogether? We'll be skiing Mon, Tues, Thu, Fri, and my thought was Mon - Norquay, Tue - Sunshine, Thu - Lake Louise, Fri - back to the group favorite. I hope the lines are nothing like Whistler

Any recommendations for good food for a group of 11 in Banff? We'll probably eat at the hotel for most dinners, but it's damn pricey.

Also, what's the best way to take a day trip into Calgary? From what I can see, renting a couple of cars or SUVs would be the best option.

awesome stuff, enjoying the updates and the videos of bottomless powder. i will ****ing swim to japan next year for this ****, already feel like a little bitch for not making it this year

I have to mention that I watched some of your backcountry vids last night and really dug them. The cam on the wand works better for a lot of those skinning shots too. I still like being able to see down the mountain more than seeing the boarder in vids tho. You change view to downhill at times during the run at least.

Loden:
Norquay may be ok for the noobs since it's a smaller mountain. Honestly never been there, since Banff is about a 5 hour drive for me. If you are going to check Norquay, do it first otherwise you'll probably be disapointed once you've seen the other 2. The only good thing about Norquay is they have night skiing till about 8 or 9pm. Unless it's a long weekend, lines are never really bad in Banff, maybe like 5-10 mins wait at the bottom at Lake Louise (I hit the singles line and wait about 2. Louise has a little side hill for the completely new people which is a good way to learn.

I am pretty sure that you can get help from instructors free of charge included in your lift pass. Personally haven't done that either, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing.

For good food, Banff has a lot of good options. St. James Gate Irish Pub is one of my favorites, not too pricey and good beer selection. Grizzley House is probably the most expensive so I'd stay away from there, but it's known for great food and fondue. Coyote isn't very good food so that's probably about the only one I wouldn't recommend.

If you have the cash, renting a car is probably best. Taking a shuttle would probably only be cheaper if it was one person going, I'd go car/SUV.

Drove over to ride Sapporo Teine today. Didnt snow much but I still found some powder.
Good to see the drift scene is still going strong in Japan as there were some dudes drifting late last night while I slept in the carpark.
I went looking for an onsen to bath and randomly pulled into this super sento (public bathhouse)
It has several onsens (indoor and outdoor), massage facilities, saunas, library, beds, restaurant, kid play area and it cost $8.
Guess where I'm sleeping tonight.

[IMG]http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/ausevo/japan%202014/20140115_202927_zps****ey6f.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr0Uk...ature=youtu.be