Elevation Guides

02/01/2025

JaPow guiding year 10 is in the books.

21 days of breaking trail in deep Hokkaido snow.

Thousands of beautiful beech and birch.

Hundreds of surfing deep powder yodels.

And many kilos of delicious sushi and ramen consumed.

2026 dates coming soon.

Arigato gozaimasu!

01/31/2025

50+ cm of storm snow in 48 hours. Welcome to JaPow!

This is why we return year after year (since 2015) to Hokkaido. There are lots of companies trying to offer trips here now, but very few have the experience and intimate knowledge of the Hokkaido micro-climates to find the best snow. And the climbing legs and lungs to get you there.

Safely.
ACMG, CAA certified.



.ca

01/21/2025

When Hokkaido gives you high pressure with no wind, you Carpe Skiem and climb a mountain.

Today we summitted Asahidake; at 2291 metres it's Hokkaido's tallest peak. The views were stupendous!

01/20/2025

Seriously.

01/18/2025

01/16/2025

Central Hokkaido storm alert. 50-60 cm of storm snow at treeline and in the alpine made for tough trailbreaking (for me) but white rewards for everyone!

We summitted a peak and skiied LOTS OF COLD SMOKE.

01/14/2025

The downside of skiing terrain with thermally-heated creeks on Hokkaido, Japan.

01/13/2025

Today was a great day in the JaPow!

Central Hokkaido, Japan

01/07/2025

Today was stunning in the Rockies. The deeper snowpack of Little Yoho creates stronger, less avalanche prone conditions. We took full advantage of the knee deep powder, skiing steep slopes in the alpine and at treeline.

12/23/2024

Shallow facetted (sugary) snowpacks are a lot more work to skin up. And ski down.

In Kootenay National Park backcountry yesterday.

12/20/2024

Winter solstice sunrises in the mountains are amazing! No filter, it really did look like this in Canmore along the river.

11/27/2024

The home ice advantage. Zero emission ice climbing.

11/15/2024

SOON

11/09/2024

Beautiful moonrise over the Three Sisters, Canmore, Alberta, 🇨🇦

10/02/2024

Vaut mieux pas les confondre.

Très bon souper ce soir après une journée magnifique de randonnée aux sommets surveillant Calvi.

Better to not confuse the two.
Excellent dinner after a great hiking day on the surrounding summits.


Calvi, Corse, France

09/30/2024

rally today in Macinaggio, Corsica, France today. Cool cars, kinda amazing they're still running.

08/26/2024

08/09/2024

A beautiful day to ride local.
Castle Mountain, Banff National Park