CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT “I’d seen Mikkel Bang killing it in slopestyle competitions, and he always sent super-technical tricks with clean style. If competi-tive snowboarding is like driving a Formula 1 car, then riding Hokkaido is like Mario Kart—creative and fun. Mikkel adapting to Hokkaido during a night session.” Photo: Rip Zinger Nicolas Müller, night vision. Photo: Rip Zinger When it’s this deep, there’s reason to celebrate. Nicolas Müller, Kimmy Fasani and friends at Kokusai, right before dropping into their first powder run at the new-to-the-crew resort. Photo: Dean “Blotto” Gray Justin Hostynek hadn’t been to Japan since the 2011 tsunami and subsequent radiation scare. Welcome back, Justin, and get ready for another amazing day. Photo: Dean “Blotto” Gray Words Rip Zinger t was the worst January in history in Niseko, Japan. I was waiting for Terje Haakonsen and a couple of his Norwegian friends to arrive at New Chitose Airport near Sapporo. It was unusual to be figuring out where to find powder. Normally, there’s almost too much snow in Niseko in January. Knee deep is an average day. I Although Niseko had enough snow to enjoy the resorts and ride side hits, the backcountry was too shallow. Exposed bamboo was every-where. So, I decided to take the crew somewhere new on a sponta-neous cruise. We’d start in Sapporo and just go where there was the best chance for good snow. Terje had said he wanted to join up with another film crew at some point, but he was vague as to who, when and where. Then my phone rang. Nicolas Müller and Justin Hostynek of Absinthe Films came through via FaceTime: “Rip! We are stoked; we are here at Chitose! Where should we go?” “OK, Nico! I got you,” I said. “I will book a hotel for you and Justin for tonight and figure out the rest tomorrow. Cool?” Then they told me they had Kimmy Fasani with them, too. And Mikkel Bang and photographer Dean “Blotto” Gray. It was scary. I don’t have a lot of money. But at the same time, this seemed like a dream tour. I booked a hotel on my credit card and prayed everyone would show up, along with some snow. Although everyone arrived as planned, no solid storms were in the forecast. Still, I mapped out a few destinations: We’d check Sapporo Teine, Sapporo Kokusai and Kiroro resorts, and sample a few road-side hits along the way. Nicolas had been to the area while filming for Fruition the year prior, so he knew what to expect. He’d planned to bring Justin here. Their crew was in town to work. But Terje just wanted to warm up his body in Japanese powder and prepare for the season. It was like being in the kitchen with vegan guests alongside major meat eaters for the same dinner. We started at Sapporo Kokusai Resort and an unexpected weather system rolled through, providing waist-deep powder, sometimes more. With mellow slope angles, for the most part, it was almost too deep to shoot—a whiteout, dumping, hard to hike, and hard to see the riders as snow exploded everywhere. But Terje and Nicolas are from a dif-ferent planet when it comes to riding deep snow, floating across spots where most would sink, building speed where others would bog, kick-ing up huge sprays like waves pounding a rocky shoreline. Alongside Kimmy’s send-it-all attitude and Mikkel’s precise riding, we had a crew with distinct styles, flowing together through lesser-known spots in the Hokkaido backcountry. For two weeks, we didn’t move far. Niseko never filled in, so we rode Kiroro resort and the backcountry zones nearby, stopping along the road here and there to hike little lines. It just kept snowing, so we just kept rid-ing—a loose journey through mental amounts of Hokkaido powder. 042 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 15.4: Page 42
