From the Land of the Rising Sun

Alumni Jake Sakson just returned from a trip to Japan to film with Sweetgrass Productions. He is now in Alaska competing in Telemark Freesking Worlds. Below are several journal entries from his Japan adventure.

March 9th 5:30am
Just made it through security destination the Island of Hokkaido in Japan. Hard for me to believe I'm actually going. Keep thinking something is going to go wrong - too good to be true. Can't really tell if I'm dreaming; but then again I'm sleep deprived.

March 11th 11:00pm
I'm the only person on a gi -normous bus and I've been sleeping. Its pretty tiring running around an airport with two 50 pound bags, barely making your bus, trying to find an ATM and holding your pee. Well at least I'm on the bus now but I just hope I haven't missed my stop. First time I've seen snow covered roads in months and it is absolutely puking out; its hard not to be happy even though I have no idea where I am about to end up. (I did make it...)

March 13th
I dug a really big hole today. And filmed skiing at night. Nick Waggoner really takes ski filming to the next level. Its not just about capturing the skier instead each shot is a carefully thought out piece of art.March 17th
Great day of skiing, blower pow. Finally got enough snow to cover up the rain crust and the opportunity to leave the house and ski some lines.

March 19th
Don't think I have spent this many days inside and not skiing all season. But what can we do, low clouds, warm weather and rain. The powder got shot fast. The best option is to head to a new zone at a higher elevation and further north. The mountains up here are wild, not exactly what you expect when you think about Japan - jagged faces, tall and steep. Now we just need a little love from the weather. And so the waiting begins.

March 24th
Right when we were beginning to think that out trip was going to only consist of Onsen (a hot spring bath house) and amazing hospitality (would have still been a great trip if that was the case). The pelting rain turned to snow and the skiing got deep for the last day of my trip

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March 26th 5:31pm
Seattle: flights are canceled to Denver. But thats ok, unknowingly I booked one flight that went Tokyo - Seattle - Denver. And my flight the next day went Denver - Seattle - Anchorage. I am headed to Girdwood for the World Telemark Championships and then two weeks of skiing and filming in Valdez. Luckily I got rescued from a 24hr stay in the Airport by some extended family and the journey continues. Flights have been getting canceled to Anchorage because of too much snow, so maybe I won't make it out tomorrow but I say - Let it Snow!

I took these pictures off of sweetgrassproductions.wordpress.com