Japan is the land of soul shredding, and the concept of flow is something that we have investigated here at Snowboard Mag. It is difficult to explain the feeling of transcending your own abilities to reach a higher state of mind, to accomplish feats that you never thought possible because you are so deep in a single moment in space and time. But think about the last time you had that perfect line or made a turn that just felt right, you focus becomes so sharp and acute, almost trancelike.

Snowboarding was built on the shoulders of skateboarders and surfers trying to take this sense of flow from the ocean to the snow, to make the mountain a wave that can become an effortless motion. A motion that simply is. Gerry Lopez and Taro Tamai have surf engrained within every fiber of their being, so it speaks volumes to how snowboarding has the ability to achieve a feeling of such awareness and knowing that these fixtures in boardriding look to it for flow.

Watch also: Offshore Snow Shapes presents an auto-focus film shot in Japan

ZINGER-RIP-patagonia-the-northern-sky-gerry-lopez-taro-tamai-snowboardingTaro Tamai and Gerry Lopez, photo: Rip Zinger

From Patagonia via YouTube:

An arriving swell. Falling snow. Two forces, or one and the same? Two board sports legends, Pipeline master Gerry Lopez and snowsurf pioneer Taro Tamai, have spent a lifetime practicing the art of flow. The Northern Sky digs down to the roots of that shared sensation, as experienced in the mountains above Niseko, Japan. This Farm League film is the first episode in Patagonia’s Find Away series.