Be sure to tune in for the first “En Route†installment. It’s available free on February 15 at [https://www.nimbusindependent.com].
Hello, and welcome to the life and times of the Nimbus Independent film crew, featuring Pollard, Pep, Benchetler, and Mahre. We started the year off with a bang, heading off to the mystical powder paradise known as Niseko, Japan. I had heard rumors, and seen footage of the amazing snow, but first hand knowledge is usually better. This trip did not disappoint.
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
After nearly a full day of travel, we showed up to the Niseko Village Hilton, courtesy of our friend Luke. With a gondola right out our front door, I knew this was going to be a trip to remember. We awoke the first day to overcast skies, and a few inches of fresh. We explored the three resorts accessible from the Hilton, then grabbed some ramen for lunch and rested. We went to bed that night expecting to sleep in, as the forecast was only predicting 6 inches of snow. Everyone knows that forecasts are more of a guess than anything, which was reconfirmed when we awoke to 30 inches of fresh overnight!
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
Lucky for us the Hilton has a world-class breakfast buffet starting at 6:45 am. The crew rallied to eat breakfast, get their gear ready, forget about jet lag, and try and beat out all the hungry locals for a taste of the magical Japanese powder. After a couple runs to get our legs under us, we took some time to set up shots of the crew shredding pow, tapping trees, and smashing pillows. After a few hours, we decided to let everything fill back in for what was sure to be an amazing night session. Come to find out Niseko is the world’s largest night ski area!
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
Upon arrival to go night skiing, we witnessed a crew of 10 or 12 local snowboarders shredding everything in sight, including a girl standing in the wrong spot on a cat track. Needless to say, when riding in Japan, keep your head on a swivel. After riding until the lifts shut down, the crew went back to the Hilton for some much needed rest. We repeated the process again the next day, resulting in more amazing video.
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
After a couple days of resort riding, Clayton, the owner of Black Diamond Lodge, was nice enough to show us some backcountry. The first day was spent hiking right off the road to a well known pillow spot. It expanded this year thanks to some construction work. This turned out to be a very productive zone, for both shooting, and getting our legs in shape.
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
Later, we helped Clayton load 5 snowmobiles for the next day’s adventure. Granted, these sleds were quite a bit older than anything we were used to riding back home, but no one seemed to mind. After getting stuck about 50 times, we finally put a trail in by sunset. The next morning the crew doubled out on the sleds and found a nice pillow zone with sun. Then we proceeded to hit every possible line, going home that day with a big smile.
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
That evening we decided to explore the town’s nightlife. This resulted in one of the funniest wrestling matches I’ve ever witnessed. Watch the first installment of “En Route†on February 15 for the live version, along with a bar made completely of ice.
See the other 39 photos from our trip, click here!
With only a few days left on our journey, we chose to check out some other resorts on the pass over to Sapporo. The first resort had only one lift, a high speed double chair. It also happened to be next door to the mountain training center for the military. They were all skiing on circa 1950’s skis, but seemed to be having the time of their life.
The last resort we tried had two gondolas feeding the same spot, one ending 300 feet higher than the other. This seemed to be a common thing for the resorts; maybe one was the sacred gondola? Who knows, all I can say is that Japan is one of the most interesting places I’ve been lucky enough to visit.
