JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba 2014-2015 : A Season Exploring the Japanese Alps
Flying out tonight, awwwwww yissssss
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Thanks One Ball Jay!!!
So, at the start of this season, One Ball Jay wax had a photo contest on Instagram and my photo of Andrew from last year at Cortina was chosen!
I won a prize pack of wax and it arrived last month. Check it out:
This amount of wax is going to last me for years I think! 
Don’t know what temps the red or pink ones are for, but the red smells of candy when you put it on your board. It’s kind of funny when you go to shred and your deck smells really nice!
Can you name the boards in the background?
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Welcome back, Gamblor!
From L - R:
Jamie Lynn Whale
La Nina
Matt Cummins
Another Jamie Lynn
You have a lot of Libs this season Gamblor haha.
Nice one Skip. Yes, the two boards on the outside are first year Jamie Lynns, with a La Nina and Matt Cummins Tree in the middle.
Here’s a little video I made from a day in January at Cortina Kokusai resort. You can really tell the difference between the original Gopro (pole cam) and the Gopro2 (helmet cam). They both look long in the tooth.
Gopro, please send us some new ones!
The JLs have the riser pad Marc? Nice vid btw. We need some snow here haha.
That’s epic, guys! Shredding hard!
ahhhhh 2morrow i will be in sweet sweet POW.
Last Saturday I finally had a chance to go check out the Happo Banks park at Happo One ski resort. Andrew covered the opening on Jan. 31, while I was in Hokkaido, and I’ve been anxious to go. The park has changed a little from last year and for me, at least, it’s too early to say which version I prefer. At first glance, Happo banks may seem like simply a series of loosely connected banked turns.
People expecting a traditional park where you go from A to B, hitting all the jumps in a row, will be disappointed. This is more of a freeride park where it takes you a little time to figure out a line linking the features. I actually prefer it to the jump jump jump jib jib jib layouts of other parks. The jumps are more natural feeling - sort of like a line of perfectly shaped sidehits.
Most people will just flow through the park slashing each bank and the odd ski school group will go through avoiding the trannies, jumping to flat and generally getting in the way. If you’re running out of ideas, try to look for the riders doing something different , thinking out of the box so to speak, riding those creative new lines and finding air where there seemed none. You’ll find a line that you can spend all day on, then mix it up and work on new tricks.
Like this:
or this:
Can you look through your legs on a backside slasher?
Andrew, working on his handplants.Looks better than mine!
This was a sick back 1.
This year there are a couple of rollers which should be good fun. It’s like they’ve taken the funnest parts of resort terrain and packed it into the park. This guy just wants to powder cloud it all up.
We had sunny skies and good fun all day. I think I can safely say that I like it! Good job Bubbles and Hoshino-san!
-Marc
ps. it’s been dumping all day and there’s a heavy snowfall advisory in effect!
This park is sick!
Well, it’s been dumping non-stop for two days now. The news said 60cm forecast in a 24 hour period yesterday and Cortina in Hakuba has reported 40cm of fresh for two days running, so we can safely say there is more than 80cm of fresh up there.
I’m stuck at work today and had to send the wifey off to the mountain with my 157.5 Gnu Rider’s Choice (she usually rides a 52/53 board), so all I can do is look out the window.
Andrew is riding today and he’s trying out his new snowboard - a 161 Trapper Ursa Major. I can’t wait to see what he thinks about it! Trapper is a small company out of Revelstoke, Canada and they have some really sick shapes. I’d love to try their Trout Trap!
Check out their site here
2016 K2 Cool Bean Sneak Peek
When I was up in Hokkaido at the end of January with the Almo Film guys ( www.almofilm.com ), Tim Eddy (K2) came and chilled with us for a couple days. As he opened his board bag, I glimpsed a swallowtail and immediately went over for a look. It was the 2016 K2 Cool Bean.
This is a pretty rad little board. It’s a surf-inspired shape, where they create the volume of a bigger board by giving the Cool Bean a very wide waist.
Extra photos:
I did a follow-cam run of Tim which unfortunately had too much camera shake to be useable. I did salvage some screenshots though, and you might find them helpful to see how the Cool Bean behaves in the wild.
Big Slash!
2016 K2 Cool Bean Sneak Peek
When I was up in Hokkaido at the end of January with the Almo Film guys ( www.almofilm.com ), Tim Eddy (K2) came and chilled with us for a couple days. As he opened his board bag, I glimpsed a swallowtail and immediately went over for a look. It was the 2016 K2 Cool Bean.
This is a pretty rad little board. It’s a surf-inspired shape, where they create the volume of a bigger board by giving the Cool Bean a very wide waist. They list the specs in feet and inches, surf-style
So, the length is 144cm and the waist is 28.7cm.
The catalog lists it as being all-terrain rocker, which is flat with rockered tips. I could have sworn we all talked about how it was cambered but if the catalog says all-terrain rocker then that’s what it must be.
Tim has to be the nicest guy ever and he graciously let me have a go on it on the run back to Moiwa resort from out of bounds. The run was nothing amazing, but a good mix of pow, cat track, and dips and bumps through trees.
First off, even though I didn’t like Tim’s narrow stance and binding angles, I felt immediately at home on the Cool Bean. In fact, it didn’t even feel like a 140cm board! It was only when I looked down that I saw how small it was.
Now, I’ve ridden a bunch of shortboards like the Burton Nug, Harvest and Fishcuit, and still own a Burton Root and Spliff splitboard, so this mini-board phenomenom isn’t new to me. The difference with the Cool Bean, I guess, is the long nose with the widest point just in front of the inserts. It’s all pretty burly. That nose busts through chop and bumps, and obviously keeps you on top of deep snow. The other short boards I listed have shorter noses and I find have trouble staying up when the resort pow starts getting tracked. You’ll be floating, then hit some tracks and drop to packed snow level then have to bring the nose back up instantly to resume the pow riding. At the end of the day, it becomes a chore when you’ve got tired legs. I don’t foresee that problem with the Cool Bean though.
The nose
in pow
The short swallowtail sinks for added floatation, yet poses lessened resistance on turns while submerged. Find the tightest tree runs you can, then find some tighter runs. This board will thread the needle and turn on a dime.
The only negative I could find with the tail was that it was too short to ride switch in pow. No problem, I will have to spin 3’s instead of 180’s
On hardpack I didn’t notice any loss of performance - it really didn’t feel like a powder board! In fact, I forgot to pay attention - it just rode so smooth.
It apparently does fine spinning on big kickers too!
All in all, this board really surprised me and I really need to get one next year!
High Five, Tim!
Extra photos:
I did a follow-cam run of Tim which unfortunately had too much camera shake to be useable. I did salvage some screenshots though, and you might find them helpful to see how the Cool Bean behaves in the wild.
Big Slash!