09 Skier HIDEMITSU OKADA Location ZAO, YAMAGATA, JAPAN Photo TAKAHIRO NAKANISHI 06 • “British Columbia’s Valley of Certain Doom is not your normal ski-touring destination. The valley cleaves a deep trench through 3,000-foot walls of tumbling pillows and snow-covered mountain faces. It’s also wol-verine habitat and in spring becomes a nerve-wracking bear gathering ground—as if the exposure to massive and frequent avalanches weren’t enough for myself and Charlie Bourque to think about. Still, with the right conditions, the Valley of Certain Doom provides an enclosed world of bold, cold and beautiful descents.” Photo: Yan Kaczynski 07 • “Last October, Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon still had vibrant leaves on the trees when an early storm hit. Wesson forgot his boots in Salt Lake City, so we ended up getting a later start than we had hoped. The snow was getting manked out pretty quick, but we found a patch of fresh be-fore cruising up to Brighton’s early season DIY park, the Bone Zone.” Photo: Brendan Ladd 08 • “Mikiya Tanno has a ski shop in Zao, Japan and was once a World Cup halfpipe skier. He has always been drawn to the nearby snow ghost forest and after missing our first location, we found this mazelike terrain as the light started to fade.” Photo: Takahiro Nakanishi 09 • The hoarfrost forests around Zao, Japan, are known as “snow mon-sters.” Formed by cold, snowy and gusty weather, these frozen beasts are often accompanied by bone-chattering ski conditions and hard land-ings. Former World Cup slopestyle skier Hidemitsu Okada finds his line and prays for a forgiving escape. Photo: Takahiro Nakanishi The Ski Journal 015
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 1: Page 15
