Kamikawa
Boardslide Worldwide Boot Camp
“It’s like an awards ceremony,” Nick said.
“Rider’s Poll,” Robin added.
We were seated next to the breakfast buffet at a 17-story hotel in downtown Asahikawa, a little northwest of dead center on Japan’s northern island, Hokkaido. The Beyond Medals crew cruised the waffle bar. It was January 6th and Griffin Siebert and Jerm had already been there a week or two filming a project. We had just arrived: Austen Sweetin, Nick Russell, Robin Van Gyn, Sean Lucey and I, unconditioned legs and all.
The western United States, of course, had been experiencing an historically bad early season. Yesterday’s warm-up laps on the bootpack at Kurodake amounted to my fourth day on snow all year. Lucey had barely strapped in as well. Austen and Robin had ridden a dozen or so times in Whistler, and Nick is always walking in the snow somewhere, but even the riders felt like their seasons had barely begun.
So, that well-worn trope: go to Japan, ride very deep snow. It’s almost cliché at this point, but it’s cliché for a reason. There’s hardly a better bet for mellow powder runs and easy-access pillows than Hokkaido in January—an ideal scenario to ease into winter. Or in our case, dive in full throttle.
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