Freeride Touring in Japan
"Spring skiing can be a fickle beast as fluctuations in temperatures and storms this time of year can be hard to read in terms of snow quality and safety. With our home base in Niseko, we quickly saw the tides of spring come in droves, melting our snowpack with each hot day, but rain here at that time of year can mean snow up North, which we were hoping would be cold and light, at least for a small window before the sun would do damage to it. With forecasting for these conditions in a mountain range 300 kilometeres away, there is always a certain degree of uncertainty until we lay eyes and skis onto the snow. Often, we would have to nail the snow conditions, give or take a few hours, to get good conditions as the hot spring sun at relatively low Hokkaido elevations can quickly affect snow on the most desirable lines. Over the course of a few trips north, sometimes car camping at trailheads to get cold conditions right after a storm or driving through the night to arrive at the top of our lines shortly after dawn, we managed to ski some beautiful lines with Majesty skis under our feet and record our adventures for you. This video is the summary of our hail mary missions, planned in the rain and executed in cold, blower snow. It is the story of preparation, experience in these mountains, a good crew, and a bit of luck from Mother Nature."
Nolan Isozaki and Saki Hayashi
