New to the park and Japan related

Kaiten

New member
Hi NSers,

I'm like 30sec new new to this forum and quite new to the park so will be asking some newb questions without much knowledge of many NS lingo. There's your warning :). I'll be talking about where I am at this stage, asking for advice on learning park and things related to skiing in Japan.

I'm going to Japan around Dec-Jan again and this time I really want to focus on learning tricks in the park. I started skiing, in Japan, about 2 seasons ago and can now do black runs fine but I'm getting bored after seeing people flying into the air doing tricks and looking so 'free'. A month ago, skiing in New Zealand, I self taught some basics like 50 50 onto boxes, 90degrees onto flat boxes, popping and landing small jumps, skiing switch (not that comfortable with it still), 180 on jumps, almost safety grab (my hand gets to about wheres my ankles are but never quite seem to be able to grab the skis).

I've also tried some 360s but I max out at 270 then wipe out. As much as I would like to cork 1080, my ultimate goal as far as I can see for now is to get to 360 with a mute or tail grab as well as hit some rails which I've been hesitant to try as alot of rails I've seen slant downwards and...narrow....and sharp edges.

I definitely admit, after wiping out on jumps especially when learning 3s and landing on some bones e.g hip bone many times, I have developed some fear of learning new tricks. Would you guys recommend a freestyle instructor? Or wear protective gear? I've heard to go into the park with friends that are skilled so they can teach you their ways but none of my friends can/want to do park and worst of all, they are still stuck in the intermediate runs.

Also in regards to skiing in Japan, I would like to go somewhere with more terrain parks this time. I've been to Nozawa Onsen and Myoko Kogen which aren't really catered to park skiers. I hear Ishiuchi Maruyama/Gala Yuzawa are good as well as Niseko but I won't be going to Hokkaido this time around so somewhere in nagano, niigato is preferred.

I now have my own boots, Salomon Ghost FS 90 but I'm not sure if I will get my own skis yet as I like to ski overseas on a budget and don't want to pay the extra costs at airports. Alot of rental places don't rent out twin tips, let alone centre mounted park skis as people keep wrecking them. I hear theres this place in Tokyo called Kando Cheap (London Sports) is good for discounted ski gear so I guess I will check it out.

Anyways let me know your suggestions/comments in regards to learning park as well as any other skiing in Japan related suggestions/comments. Thanks!
 
Oh yeah I would also like to add that when I try a grab I always lift my legs up but my upper body doesnt learn forward (it remains upright) so I guess that's the reason I never reach far enough to grab...or maybe I just have really short arms haha. I assume, to do a grab you'll need to really suck your knees up like your chin is almost touching it?
 
I actually don't have any videos of me jumping as none of my friends are ever in the terrain parks with me. I did manage to get ask something to get a video of me doing riding a box though. I'm not sure how to upload a video...but I ll try to figure it out.
 
I dream of going to Japan to ski powder. It is so hard to try to understand wanting to ski park in Japan it is making my brain hurt. Is there not a place near where you live that has a park to practice in? Can you buy park skis to practice on at home and then rent pow skis in Japan? Nothing feels more free than skiing pow.
 
Haha that is so true and you must think I'm crazy going all the way there to be in the park. The pow in Japan is heavenly but man I really can't wait to start doing tricks in the park.

Where I live doesn't snow. The closest place to me is a 5 hour drive to a crowded, icy, overpriced small resort (literally twice the price of a one day ticket in japan so 2 days skiing in heavenly pow vs 1 day of ice) with pathetic park features that includes like 1 box, 1 rail, 2 small jumps.
 
13478281:Kaiten said:
Haha that is so true and you must think I'm crazy going all the way there to be in the park. The pow in Japan is heavenly but man I really can't wait to start doing tricks in the park.

Where I live doesn't snow. The closest place to me is a 5 hour drive to a crowded, icy, overpriced small resort (literally twice the price of a one day ticket in japan so 2 days skiing in heavenly pow vs 1 day of ice) with pathetic park features that includes like 1 box, 1 rail, 2 small jumps.

If you're talking about Ruapehu we now have the main park with modules consisting of (rail or box) (tube or flat down box) (duel jumps) (duel jumps) (couple more jibs I haven't seen yet) and we also have the roller coaster park which is a small triple line of jumps. Apparently park crew is working on a xl jump now too
 
WHAT! Was this really recent? sigh...why wasnt it there when I went...

Thanks for letting me know BungHole.
 
Practice skiing switch a lot. take entire runs switch, it will really help you not only land backwards but also understand how your ski responds edge to edge. It's kind of like playing soccer, you might have a killer right foot but if your left is weak as shit you will never be a great player.
 
13478496:Kaiten said:
WHAT! Was this really recent? sigh...why wasnt it there when I went...

Thanks for letting me know BungHole.

Also they just added a cannon rail, rain rail, rainbow box and a hitching post
 
13478627:Gr0mo said:
Practice skiing switch a lot. take entire runs switch, it will really help you not only land backwards but also understand how your ski responds edge to edge. It's kind of like playing soccer, you might have a killer right foot but if your left is weak as shit you will never be a great player.

Awesome comment! thanks man. Yeah I ll try skiing switch more next time. I seem to be able to ski switch in a straight line ok as well as stopping but when I try to turn I feel like I don't have much control so I always just go back to skiing forward. Even when I 180, I always go back to skiing forward all the time. Also, love the soccer analogy.
 
13478972:BungHole. said:
Also they just added a cannon rail, rain rail, rainbow box and a hitching post

Ah man... oh well next time haha. Lol I needa brush up on freestyle lingo/names of things because the only thing I understood there is a rainbow box which I believe is just a flat box that curves around. Do you live near Mt Ruapehu BungHole?
 
13479270:Kaiten said:
Ah man... oh well next time haha. Lol I needa brush up on freestyle lingo/names of things because the only thing I understood there is a rainbow box which I believe is just a flat box that curves around. Do you live near Mt Ruapehu BungHole?

I live 4 hours away but ski there every weekend
 
topic:Kaiten said:
180 on jumps, almost safety grab (my hand gets to about wheres my ankles are but never quite seem to be able to grab the skis).

I've also tried some 360s but I max out at 270 then wipe out.

Ok, these two problems in my mind may be related.

The very first thing you need to be working on is your pop. When you hit a jump, you need to be springing up with your legs - imagine there was a stick of bamboo laying across the very tip of the lip of the jump and you had to jump over it like it was on flat ground. Practise your pop on flat ground, just tuck down and jump straight up so your skis lift off the snow.

Really solid pop on takeoff will assist in a lot of problems. Even things like not being able to grab might be because your weight is off. Same with only going 270. Later on when you're trying to steeze out your tricks (read: make them more beautiful and flowy) you can dial down on your pop but its really critical to understand at first.

Solid takeoff is the foundation to everything.
 
Alright guys I posted a video to My Media which features my very amateur jump and a failed grab.

Please let me know what I'm doing right or wrong.

For the first jump in the video I'm trying to get as much air as possible and probably seem to have lost my balance slightly. The second jump in the video I'm trying to do a...safety grab? I don't actually know what it's called but I only got to my ankles.
 
Depending on how much you ski park, set goals fairly high, if you are already trying 3s, don't make steezy 3s a season goal. Make it part of your goal. Maybe learn how to slide rails and 270 out. You'll be surprised if you just try, its not as bad as you thought. Watching a bunch of ski edits and videos (CHECK OUT JAKE MULLER ON YOUTUBE, HE HAS FANTASTIC VIDEOS) can help you understand tricks better and learn them quicker.

I was a first year skier and park skier this past season and have somehow learn to backflip and 360 and some rail tricks. If you really stick to it you'll progress pretty quick. /claim

Protective gear wise I would wear a helmet pad and optionally a hip pad of some sort.
 
13479861:Swandog7 said:
Depending on how much you ski park, set goals fairly high, if you are already trying 3s, don't make steezy 3s a season goal. Make it part of your goal. Maybe learn how to slide rails and 270 out. You'll be surprised if you just try, its not as bad as you thought. Watching a bunch of ski edits and videos (CHECK OUT JAKE MULLER ON YOUTUBE, HE HAS FANTASTIC VIDEOS) can help you understand tricks better and learn them quicker.

I was a first year skier and park skier this past season and have somehow learn to backflip and 360 and some rail tricks. If you really stick to it you'll progress pretty quick. /claim

Protective gear wise I would wear a helmet pad and optionally a hip pad of some sort.

Jake Mullers videos are super legit helped me a ton this season!
 
not going to beat around the bush by saying jake muller, hoping that these embeds will work, and if you watch these videos and listen to the tips it will definitely help you

How to Go Off Jumps


How To 360


How to 360 with Grabs


How to Grind and 270 out

 
Yeah I've seen Jake's videos and I was quite interested in his 360 video. He is saying not to wind up or turn your head which I'm abit confused about because I feel that that won't be enough to get around the whole 360. He also appears to be doing it on a decent sized jump so how would it work on a small jump?
 
13480961:Kaiten said:
Yeah I've seen Jake's videos and I was quite interested in his 360 video. He is saying not to wind up or turn your head which I'm abit confused about because I feel that that won't be enough to get around the whole 360. He also appears to be doing it on a decent sized jump so how would it work on a small jump?

making sure to pop, and maybe wind up a little bit
 
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