VIDEO: What It Looks Like to Ski a Spine Pillow in Japan

Brought to you by Hakuba Valley

One of the magical aspects of Japan is that some of the spines here grow pillows.  They’re a bit difficult to figure out and I still haven’t perfectly greased one of these spicier ones yet, but it’s insanely fun figuring them out.  They change hugely from year to year.  This year, the upper pillows are three times bigger than they were last year.  I cut the first two pillows out of the video as they have no flow.  Just two 10 to 15-foot acid drops to uphill landings.  Still damn fun, though.  The smiles and hoots coming out of the lines are purely involuntary.  Shiribetsu.

Japan’s snowpack is deeper than it’s been in many years which has created some huge pillows.  The deeper than average snowpack has given flow to many lines that are normally broken up by glide cracks and big gaps.  It’s a good year to be in Japan.

Learn more about the insanity that was Japan in 2015:

SnowBrains Japan