EVENT OVERVIEWS: Mt. Yakebitai - Olympic Snowboard GS Venue A good mountain to ride if only they allowed it. If the place is not too small (like Kanbayashi) and the terrain rips, they won't let you ride, what gives? Japan is still in the stone age with only 50 percent of all the areas open to snowboarding. This weak situation will hopefully change after the Olympics, but currently the GS venue that will host the Olympics is at an area that is for skiers only. This is most unfortunate as it is a good mountain with a high altitude (for Japan) of 2009 meters and nice dry powder that seems to average three feet every time it dumps. Like most of the cool places to ride in Japan, Mt. Yakebitai is a left over volcano and the sits on the north side of the Shiga Kogen caldera. The slope for the GS sits on the southeastern face of Mt. Yakebitai and is generally a good course that has has some nice steep sections and a lot of varied terrain. It meets the FIS specifications. Last year the Austrian men ruled this course with very fast times and the US women did well also. This is a course that will have the usual outstanding preparation by the Japanese and should be fast and smooth for the Olympics. At last year's race which was an Olympic preview and also at this year's Olympics the access to the mountain is limited but snowboarders and those who raced poached lines all over the mountain. Most caught some grief but tons of riding exists at this hill. With all that powder the temptation to ride is too much. By using the limited communication skills of all those involved, (riders, lift ops, organizers) the riders took things into their own hands and rode anyway. Very cool...and no international incidents. To find Mt. Yakebitai keep traveling on National Road 292. The mountain is 69k from Nagano in the Shiga Kogen area. OTHER OVERVIEWS Snowboarding's First Olympic Venue Fri. (Jan. 23 @ 1:30:PM est) The Twisting Road to Nagano Fri. (Jan. 23 @ 1:29:PM est) First Animal, Now Bugs Bunny What Cartoon Animal Will Team USA Torture Us With Next? Wed. (Jan. 21 @ 1:09:PM est) Muppet Debuts as Olympic Mascot Wed. (Jan. 21 @ 1:03:PM est) SOLYMPICS NAVIGATION: SOLympics Message Boards | Event Overviews | Schedule | Event Coverage | Results | Audio Clips | Photos | U.S. Grand Prix | Snowboarding TV Listings SOL NAVIGATION: SOL | Scoop | Hardware | Industry | Circleplus | Push | Travel | Interact | School | Weather | Terrain | Compete | Mediator

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