My pre-departure ski trip nerves were at an all-time high when I saw that after a record-breaking December, Japan was experiencing the dreaded dry period in the ski season. Forget breaking your leg or the plane crashing, the biggest fear of anyone heading overseas on a ski trip is that the dates will land exactly on the season dry patch.

Luckily, my nerves were eased while waiting to check in my overweight ski bag when a video popped up explaining that a polar vortex weather bomb was on the way and that the next month was set to have a huge amount of snowfall. I’m usually pretty sceptical of these long-range forecasters, but once we arrived in Myoko Kogen, it became clear that the weather bomb had pulled through with what looked like something out of a Japanese postcard.

I linked up with skier/photographer and fellow Kiwi Joe Leeper who was navigating shipping his Land Cruiser (with a full camping setup) to Japan. This was the original accommodation plan, which fell through when worker strikes in Australia caused boat delays. Luckily, we were able to stay with a friend Billy Halloran – a frothing snowboarder who is now lucky enough to call Myoko Kogen his home. This turned out to be a bit of a score when we walked in and found a bunch of familiar faces that we knew from back home staying in Billy’s hostel style setup. Another organisational fault resulted in us being without a rental car (tip #1 if you’re heading to Japan, book your rental car early!) so we were left at the mercy of Billy and other mates who were kind enough to give us rides to one of the local mountains.

This also turned out to be a massive score as this crew really seemed to know where they were going (tip #2 get a guide or someone with local knowledge). Skip the warmup laps, we were straight into it, rat packing through the trees and hunting out pillows. This was the theme for the next few days which consisted of finding one favourite run and then lapping that pretty much non-stop.

Fuelled on 7-Eleven fried chicken and onigiri, we kept on lapping this favourite run through the trees, which luckily worked well with the low visibility on offer (tip #3 don’t forget your low-light lens). Finishing with a couple of cheeky ski touring laps we wrapped up the first part of the trip and packed the bags to head to Hokkaido.

Arriving in Hokkaido, we finally got ourselves a rental car off a guy known as Dodgy Yoshi (tip #4 – get in touch for Yoshi’s number if you find yourself without a rental car in Hokkaido). After a week or so of not replying, we arrived in Sapporo to a text letting us know the car was in the airport carpark with the keys stashed on it. What we arrived to was a clapped-out old van with the bumper attached with zip ties. Not ones to complain, we were happy we had wheels and got on the road.

Mainly bouncing between Otaru, Kiroro and Niseko area, the weather bomb continued to provide, and we felt like we hadn’t had a turn that wasn’t blower pow yet. We managed to link up with some old friends and make some new ones in the area, who showed us some epic roadside touring spots where we managed to escape the crowds and get what turned out to be the best turns of the trip. We even tried skiing some roadside avalanche barriers, but after skinning past multiple "No Skiing" signs and noticing people stopping their cars to take photos of us, we freaked ourselves out. Convinced the cops were on their way, we launched into a makeshift getaway mission and got out of there swiftly.

It was rinse and repeat for the next 10 days and it definitely became a first world problem when we started complaining about clearing the snow off the car in the mornings.

After three weeks of what felt like endless snow and feeling like we were yet to see the sun, it was time for me to pack up the ski bag and head back to NZ to catch up on some well deprived vitamin D. Joe stayed on and eventually managed to get his Land Cruiser up and running to become what must be one of the largest vehicles in Japan. The trip was a huge success and we couldn't wait to share some of the epic shots that we got along the way!