Shrinrin-yoku – Forest Bathing. Snowboard video

Mountainwatch | Video

Toby Nagorcka for YES Snowboards

It was after dark, the snow was dumping and not a westerner in sight; or anyone for that matter. We knocked on the door of what looked to be a deserted chalet. A small, elderly Japanese lady greeted us with a smile and a pair of wabaki and we knew we had found our accommodation. Without a word of English spoken, she welcomed us inside and sat us down to dinner. It is not often that you receive a meal and don’t recognise anything on the plate. Even less often that the meal is looking back at you. Probably a bad time to Google translate that we were vegetarian (we let it slide for this trip).

These were the experiences that my partner and I were looking for on this trip. Hiring a car and travelling to the somewhat unknown Japanese ski resorts, where we hoped to find zero lift lines and untouched snow. Our road trip took us through the countryside of Akita, up to the Aomori region and then Northern Hokkaido. Although our trip was largely affected by an El Nino season and less snow than we had expected, the places we found were breathtaking and some that we will never forget.