The Mountain Wave event is a grassroots snowboarding gathering that is a fixture on the Hakuba calendar for fun times. Snowskate or snowboard, the wallride session went off and will be back again in April for more…
This winter sees the Mountain Wave crew running two events over the season. The first was a 2-day freeride and wallride session, on January 27 & 28 at Kashimayari Resort, Hakuba. On Saturday despite bad weather limiting operations, Gigi Ruf, in town for the Freeride World Tour, joined the powder event for some authentic Hakuba storm day shredding. On the Sunday, the weather cleared and the cameras came out for the centre-piece wallride session.
Mountain Wave is all about good music, art and a positive and inclusive riding session for shredders of all ages on fun features. One sure way to transform fun-sized features into epic ones is to take bindings out of the equation and jump on a snowskate. Local legend Goro Komatsu and Deeluxe pro Yusaku Horii took this option, alongside regular riders, with smiles and slams in equal measure.
The second Mountain Wave event will be at Hakuba Goryu on April 21st and 22nd, rounding off the season with a healthy dose of spring fun. On the menu for part 2 is a banked slalom, and a skate-inspired slopestyle course featuring the return of the wallride. This time it was so fun that it was shredded into near-destruction, but we hear it will be back, bigger and badder for part 2. Until then, here’s our gallery to get you stoked the next round of Mountain Wave fun:
Marcos Batista went to work on the wallride with his bag of tricks. Airs to tail, 50-50s, and this fs lipslide among the onslaught:
Salomon rider Keito Kumazaki threw up some stylish handplants:
A selection of beautiful looking demo boards were on offer from Japanese brands, Green Lab, Outflow, and Peacemaker snowsnakes:
For some people, a wallride is just another place to throw up spray:
The wallride took its fair share of victims, particularly those attempting to slash its upper reaches bindingless. In spite of the carnage, the snowskaters kept hitting the wall. Volcom rider, Ruiki Masuda jumped on one, went all in and got eaten up…
There was plenty of style on show, both with and without bindings:
Mixing snowskates and wallrides is not easy. DWD and Deeluxe rider, Yusaku Horii, can skate and snowboard at a level most aspire to, but he had to battle for this backside layback slider:
More carnage for those pushing the free foot freestyle:
Goro Komatsu possesses the kind of fine balance skills honed by a lifetime of high level riding. He got off the lift and dropped in on a snowskate and landed this wallride in a couple of tries, no warm up:
They start the snowskaters young here in Japan:
The people are big part of what makes Mountain Wave so fun. Big thanks go out to MC and Alut skateshop boss Haru (left), and event organizer, Yone, on the mic:
Yone’s surf style on his own creation:
Teamwork on show from the riders. Everyone wanted to ride longer, so they grabbed a shovel and made it happen:
If this looks like your kind of fun, keep your eyes on the Japan Grabs Facebook page for info on Mountain Wave 2018 part 2!