one Thai specialty is the 1.2L bucked of alcohol, saves time :) (and reasonably priced)
great to see Richard Durand again
light clothing to deal with the weather :)
same thing with drinks although they were reasonably priced
that's what the fake money looked like, and it could not be exchanged back or used from one venue to the next.
even got a chance to take that picture Ferry Tayle and I missed a few times :)
and we got an XXXL set from John 00 Flemming
note that the fake paper money from the previous day looked different and couldn't be used
hopefully contactless credit cards and phones will be allowed for direct pay in the future
nice to chill by the pool, listen to music and sort festival pictures :)
and a great time to chat with DJs too
working hard, or hardly working? :) Nice to relax for a change
by day2 I figured out how to get real drinks
Richard Durand did another killer set
a few of us brought kandi joy to the party :)
And closing set by John 00 Flemming
fans were a lifesaving device, I can't describe how much I was sweating :)
awesome to have met Katie Sirisinha, one of the organizers
great to run into Somna who had just arrived
and then Markus Schulz took over
Rinaly was back for techno that night
awesome to have finally met Andy Moor
and that was it, finally over, 6 days!
Thailand likes reclining buddhas :)
you could walk the floating market and of course yummy drinks :)
the weather alternated between sunny and snowing, all day
the maps are worth paying attention to, lots of tree areas and powder fields
the gondola to the other peak had a short line and did take 15mn up each time
some signs, but no real warnings about the river that will try to swallow you at the bottom
the hike at the top of the gondola can be as long as you want it to be, but make sure to drop on the left side
it was very easy to end up in one of these, they were almost everywhere
I didn't know the terrain so well, my first ride down the gondola, I was afraid of getting stuck at the bottom, but actually it was fine
always hard to gauge if it will be downhill the whole way, I was worried the gondola line had an uphill section lower down
ran the gondola line a few more times, it was excellent
kind of sucky that such a thick cable can snap
there you go, emergency backup binding installed
will fix this later, spare cables were ordered and sent home for when I get back
snowy drive to rusutsu, but the roads stayed open
only a few lifts were open in the morning, Mt Isola was too windy
people showed up for the pow day, thankfully we already had a ticket thanks for our epic pass and skipped the ticket line
ticket prices were quite cheap by US standards (got 2 free days with mountain collective and half off for the last 3 days)
gate 11 by niseko village was also fun
riding pizza box chairs on the way back to Annupuri :)
doesn't feel super safe, but better than a tow rope
the Annupuri G1/G4 gates were nice, but you quickly get to a valley with tracked terrain
windy day with rotor cloud on top of Mt Yotei
gates were open, G5 took you to the Hanazono base
this was the posh base for people with too much money :)
2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu
with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back
this was the posh base for people with too much money :)
2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu
with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back
not many pictures, visibility was not good due to wind, it was kind of a blizzard
morning gondola line, although it went faster due to less wind and higher gondola speed
the gates were weird, some closed ones were routinely ignored while others were really a good idea to respect
the work to get that powder was not really worth it, and it was not very steep in most places
but the weather turned quickly again
you could hike all the way to the top, but it was a 45mn hike that didn't feel worth the time and effort
being able to take gate 4 for the first time, was nice
makes for a nice picture, though ;)
farewell niseko, we had a great time
met Arturo there to join us and drive to Niseko
she is adorable and took great care of us
did I mention it snowed almost all the time? :)
we also did a sit down dinner at a somewhat expensie restaurant we actually had been to before
my own google maps review said it was overpriced and not that great last time we went, but we did enjoy it more this time around
managed to use enough of my japanese to order food in a restaurant which spoke no english at all
last breakfast before heading out
missed out on a cheap haircut :)
Harajuku is known for a special kind of fashion
had to pick up a custom japanese toy to bring back
I got a very interesting blueberry cider, it was very good
this entremet looked nice but taste was underwhelming
the main dish, chicken, was good bug a lot of food instead of having other tasting portions
intersting cheese and salad presentation
snow line was low, but that's good for the snow quality (cold)
got to KW in just over 3h40 with chain control speed restrictions, not bad (arrived with 31%)
coverage in Chamoix was still a bit rough at the bottom, but easy to go back on my butt
still a bit low in coverage on some ridges, but ok elsewhere
bottom of the drain still had holes to the river underneath, but they were being covered slowly
the wall still needed a bit more snow in places
it was still easy to get cliffed out i places
fair mount of snow falling the 2nd half the of day
KW crew did a great job keeping 6 and 10 open 'till end of day.
Thanks to Jeremy for getting me lodging for one night
crews hard at work, and it sounded like this guy was actually electric, not diesel. Is that possible?
6 opened right on schedule, no delays
lovely to see the backside coverage, not bad
I didn't stay in line for 30mn to get first chair on 4
but I went to the wave, one of the first people down
looked like a good place to check out
got all this snow to myself, woot!
not every day I get a shot like this :)