It’s no secret that Japan gets a lot of snow, and sometimes January on the country’s north island can feel a bit overblown. But there’s a reason so many riders make an annual pilgrimage to Hokkaido, and by early January last year it had barely snowed anywhere in the American West.
So, with only a few days of snowboarding between them, Austen Sweetin, Nick Russell and photographer Colin Wiseman hopped on a flight to Hokkaido hoping to find some powder turns … or, if nothing else, at least get on snow.
Everyone in the crew was well-versed in the “Japow” experience, but the next 10 days of deeper-by-the-minute Siberian-borne cold smoke were transcendent by any standards. It was so good that Nick didn’t even bring an ice axe; in fact, he dropped his pack and dusted off some old tricks (turns out he’s still got a hell of a method).
You don’t stop when it’s that good, especially when there’s no snow back home, so the trio fully immersed themselves in a blur of skintracks, bottomless pow and pillow stacks. The schedule was simple—wake up, shred pow, reset with an onsen and ramen, repeat—and by the end of the trip, Nick’s method was on lock, Austen had a perma-smile and Colin was (almost) tired of shooting powder turns.
And as for how their PowSlayer kits held up? Well, we’ll let Nick and Austen’s faces speak to that.
Photos: Colin Wiseman (@colin_wise_man)
