Words and Photos: Justin Kious 2018-01-04 16:38:51
Traditionally, January delivers the most snow to Japan’s Nagano Prefecture. That’s when I arrived. But three weeks into my trip and well into February, it was still dumping daily. I’d been following Nagano locals Go and Shin Biyajima into the backcountry. It was too good to leave. I found a way to stay another week. And when I asked Go if I could crash at his place, he told me about an upcoming event called Mountain Wave. “It’s the slope undulating and coming closer when riding powder at high speed,” Go explained. “It’s a magical event, that reminds me of the best feelings.”
With best feelings being, well, the best feelings, I joined Go at Kashimayari Sports Village in the Hakuba Valley. We boarded a chairlift just as it started dumping again. We rode a groomer down to where a few folks had shoveled and shaped a jump right off the run. Among them was Hiroaki “Yone” Yonekura, the event’s creator and organizer. Yone is also a filmer and part of the Yonori Crew, which means “sideways sports.” He’s made multiple short films in a series named “Live Naturally,” and the concept extends to his event. “There are so many Japanese snowboarders gathering at the event from all over Japan, and they all have unique, original style,” Yone said. Mountain Wave serves as a gathering to emphasize a spontaneous representation of Japanese snowboarding.
The general layout of Mountain Wave was simple. Five big jumps, pushed into rudimentary form by a snowcat and then hand shaped, linked top to bottom by an open, steep run underneath the chairlift. It ended with a quarterpipe at the bottom. Off the side, a crew lapped a snake run in deep powder, building soft trenches to session through the weekend. The format—or lack thereof—is what set it apart. Mountain Wave is a jam session more than it is a contest. As Shin said, “I do whatever I want to do at Mountain Wave. You ride without pressure or negativity. It’s like drawing a picture—anyone can do anything on the course, and nobody cares. The judges ride with the competitors.”
With a foot of powder forecasted overnight and again for Saturday, the two-day event promised to be deep, if nothing else. And when Saturday came, that forecast proved accurate. The jumps all had to be buffed into shape, with deep, natural powder landings left untouched. First, riders chucked one after another into the storm. Then, two-dozen folks dropped at once, slashing, spraying each other, and airing everything in sight, tracking out the whole slope and effectively ending the event for the day. So, we hiked a powder line in the trees and awaited the next foot of snow for Sunday.
And that foot of snow showed up as predicted. Crews of two-to-five riders ripped the course together. Picking their own lines, hitting jumps from different angles, they epitomized Yone’s stylistic vision. Unlike a typical contest in which individuals are pitted against one-another, Mountain Wave promoted togetherness on the slope, riding as a group, a tribe—a natural Japanese snowboard community.
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