Banff Mountain Film Festival Outdoor Program

August 23, 2008

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Five outdoor sports program will take place along with the Banff Mountain Film Festival Weekend. NORTHSTAR is offering 2 of them following;

Trail Running

Trail Running is getting more popular in the recent years. We offer guided runs which go through the trails of Norikuras virgin forest. After stretching and a warm up run, we ride up with a bus to midway area of Mt. Norikura. The run will be mainly down hill. The guide will give you some tips about trail running at the rest points.

For Beginners

Group size: 10
Meeting Place: NORTHSTAR registration tent at Norikura Outdoor Theater (top part of Igaya Ski Resort)
Time: 9:00-11:30am
Fee: ¥3,000 (incl: insurance)
Age: 7th grade and up

For Experienced Runners 

Group size: 10
Meeting Place: NORTHSTAR registration tent at Norikura Outdoor Theater (top part of Igaya Ski Resort)
Time: 1:30-4:00pm
Fee: ¥3,000 (incl: insurance)
Age: 7th grade and up

 

 

MTB Tour

Riding in Norikura makes you feel like you are in Canada or somewhere other than Japan. We offer our regular guided tours for both beginners and experience riders. After about an hour long beginner lesson or skill check, we will guide you into the trails.

For Beginners

Group size: 10
Meeting Place: NORTHSTAR registration tent at Norikura Outdoor Theater (top part of Igaya Ski Resort)
Time: Morning 9:00AM-12:00PM
Afternoon 1:30PM-4:30PM
Fee: ¥4,500 (incl: guide fee, rental bike, rental helmet and insurance)
Age: 7th grade and up
Qualification: Needs to be able to ride with standing position

For Experienced Riders

Group size: 10
Meeting Place: NORTHSTAR registration tent at Norikura Outdoor Theater (top part of Igaya Ski Resort)
Time: Morning 9:00AM-12:00PM
Afternoon 1:30PM-4:30PM
Fee: ¥5,500 (incl: guide fee and insurance)
Age: 7th grade and up
Qualification: You need to have your own bike in safe working condition and which is able to ride off road trails. Please bring your own helmet and gloves.

Disclaimer
Guides will make the final decision about what trail to run/ride. Please understand that we will have your safety as a primary focus of the tour. We will take into consideration the skill ability of our guests, the weather, and the condition of the trail to make this evaluation. For the Experienced Group we will also make the final decision about the condition of your bike and if we feel it will be safe to ride.

 

Registration

Please tell us your name, address, age, phone number, the program you would like to join beforehand via phone or e-mail. Payment will be on the day of the event at the registration tent.

Seth McAllister

August 14, 2008

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NORTHSTAR would like to welcome our newest member to the team, Seth McAllister. He is originally from Oregon State in the U.S. but has been living in Japan for almost four years now. He is an avid Mt. Biker and Snowboarder so naturally he will work as a MTB guide in the summer and Snowboard instructor in the winter. We also have Seth to thank for our new home-page design and all the new marketing material. 

 

 

 

 

 

We asked Seth a few questions to help you get to know him better.

N★: How old were you when you started Mt. Biking?
Seth: I was in Junior High, but I had been riding BMX bikes for a long time before that. 

N★: What kind of bike are you riding now?
Seth: I just got a new Rocky Mountain Slayer and it is sick!

N★: What do you do when your not working?
Seth: I try to spend as much time with my family as I can, my son is growing up so fast and I don’t want to miss anything.

N★: What is your favorite Japanese food?
Seth: I really like “Oyakodon” its chicken with egg in a rice bowl. So good. 

N★: And one last random question. What kind of socks do you like?
Seth: I like DAKINE socks.

 

NORTHSTAR American Family style BBQ

August 13, 2008

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At NORTHSTAR we like to BBQ and if you like BBQ than you are in for a treat. We serve up a great mix of western and Japanese food. Its all served family style just like our other meals so you can have a chance to meet one of our foreign staff members or maybe another guest.

 

Troy, Welcome to NORTHSTAR

July 11, 2008

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We are happy to welcome Troy V to NORTHSTAR, as Mt. Bike staff. Troy is from Canada originally but now lives in Sweden with his wife Martina who is also an avid Mt. Biker. We are stoked to have him here to help build new trails and maintain our old ones. Troy has been Mt. biking for many years and recently he has been building trails in Norway for a Ski Resort.

6/27 Rainy MTB Tour

June 27, 2008

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It has been long since last update. We had a MTB tour yesterday.

Since we had some beginners, we had a basic riding lesson first and head out to the trails.

Even though some of them are begginers, they are good riders and guding pace was getteing faster.

We had a lady rider. She was a beginner but her riding skill was pretty good.

It is kind of hard to see though our staff started wearing Rocky Mountain Bycicles Jersey since it is easy to see from guests.

Yes, we ride across the creek!

It was in between of rain season though we did not get much rain and had a good ride.

5/24 Super Kids Session

May 24, 2008

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We have not been able to update a while though we had “Super Kids Session” at Norikura Backcountry last weekend. It was video shooting and photo session for 14 super kids snowboarders.

This session is annual from last year and taken place by Michiyo Hashimoto, AKA Micchan (formar olympian) and her husband Hayato-san (former pro rider) who are running famous kids snowboard camp, “Kirara Kamp”.

Since the location was in the backcountry, there was no lift access but you need to hike up.

Items were a rainbow snow box, 2 down kickers and a hip over a tree.

It is important to compete each other to build up though they are encouraging each other to challenge new things.

Even though the hard hike, they made great shots. They will be the leaders of snowboarders in the future. We are hoping them to be great riders not only for their ridings but also at their heart.

5/5 Slack Line

May 5, 2008

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Do you know there is a sport(?) called “Slack Line”? It is just ropewalking but it is so hard, even to stand on the line”

You might be able to across the river like our staff, Brad does if you practice enough. Please try it when you come to NORTHSTAR.

5/4 Spring Backcountry

May 4, 2008

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The bus ride from Norikura-Kogen to Kuraigahara has started from yesterday and this morning, there were so many skiers, snowboarders and hikers packed into 6 buses to go up.

It was so good weather. We could see all Northern Japn Alps, Utsukushigahara and Matsumoto-city.

We got to see a ptarmigan!

Probably around 300 people are at the mountain. They look like ants

Tatadamidaira from the view around the peak

The snow is spring snow. It is not the best but enjoyable enough.

For now, you can ride back to the ski resort. It is hard to see though “Dirt Gap” by a staff. We are wating for you to join our Spring Backcountry Tour.

4/30 Rock Garden?

April 30, 2008

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Norikura is not so famous for rock climbing though our staff are trying to find bouldering spots

They have found some good rocks and called them “Norikura Rock Garden”.

With pre-lesson at our climbing wall and bouldering at the garden for 2000yen/half day. Please try it.

4/4 Stretch and Conditioning

April 4, 2008

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It was a while ago, we had “Stretch and Conditioning Lessons” for staff.

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Instructor is Mr. Hirano who belongs to Sports Club RENAISSANCE Matsumoto as a personal trainer and he came NORTHSTAR for MTB tour for a local shop Mitsuwa.

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It is not for Sumo or Karate Kick but stretching…

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And what the “Blue Man” has are called “Stretch Pole“.

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Lying on the pole and stretch your back, hip joint, etc and making your body nutoral. It is a body conditioning method started from Japan and MLB is now using it for their players.

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