Check in with Icelantic athlete Julian Carr as he shows and tells about his epic spring adventures in the Northwest. 

I couldn't handle any more pictures of friends skiing in Japan flooding my Instagram feed. I made a promise to myself last year that I would finally make it there this season and as these images of deep powder and epic tree skiing took over my thoughts I decided it was time to pull the trigger and experience it for myself.

Impulsively I called up Ben to see if he wanted to join me for a boys weekend in Japan to chase powder, sushi, and adventure. He couldn't say no and a week later we found ourselves on the other side of the world with our skis in hand.

We reached out to Japanese Icelantic athletes Shogo Kawano and Yuhei Yamada to see if they could join us short notice and they said yes. This was perfect, Ben and I both have been wanting to visit Japan to ski with these guys so it was game on!

We caught a direct flight from Denver to Tokyo where we met Yuhei and hopped directly into a car and drove straight up to Hakuba. The drive from Tokyo was intense and exciting as we raced through the urban metropolis all lit up at night and into the mountains where we were elated to find deep snow. 

Yuhei and Shogo took us to a resort called Cortina and we lapped the sidecountry there for a day and a half skiing pow in the trees, it was hard to quit. One of my favorite aspects of this trip was the universal language of skiing shared between all of us. The language barrier was a fun challenge since Ben and I knew no Japanese and when it came to skiing and shooting photos there was a mutual understanding of what was going on and what we were doing that goes beyond words. Navigating in the sidecountry and lining up shots was easy for us without commonly shared words, just a rich passion for skiing with the same snow monkey instincts.

Check out this vid to follow us on our 48 hour adventure skiing and adventuring on the Main Island of Japan.

Owen Leeper skiing Chile with Poor Boyz Productions. #BSOTM

I headed down to Salt Lake to meet up with Ryan Day Thompson to shoot for the Ski City Shootout. 8 Teams of 4, including one photographer and three athletes would shoot one day at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude. At the end of the week all the photographers submit two photos from each resort for a chance to win over $11,000 in different categories. On our team was me, Amy Jane David, Carlo Travarelli and Ryan.

Icelantic athlete Owen Leeper brings us another rad edit featuring footage of him skiing some classic lines at Jackson hole in bounds and sidecountry on his Nomads with a drone, drone footage by Tim Swartz. Follow Owen on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/o_leeps/ or http://www.owenleeper.com Opening line on Triple Cliffs on Cody Peak, Couloir shot in Zero G and final shot on Powder 8 face at Jackson. Additional filming by Meredith Edwards.

Words by Hayden Price -

I have been incredibly blessed to have never had a serious injury requiring surgery. I recover quick and my worst injuries include splinter fractured pelvis caused by rock fall and some concussions going back to my downhill mountain bike race days.... read more

Check out these A+ ski edits featuring Icelantic athletes Parker Norvell and Cody Potter created by Andrew Mildenberger.

Tomorrow night marks the 5'th annual Icelantic's Winter On The Rocks at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver Colorado. This year's show features Big Grams, Adventure Club, and Half Color.

Couldn't be more proud of Sam Warren for pulling together this epic event for the fifth year in a row. Tickets are on sale at:

http://www.axs.com/events/301577/icelanticys-winter-on-the-rocks-featuring-adventure-club-big-grams-tickets

If you happen to be at the SIA tradeshow you can pick tickets at our booth for $52.80  This is a night you do not want to miss!