Roadside Roadkill | A Photo Essay from Japan
Jack MacDougall backside 720
Words and photos by Alastair Spriggs
A metre of overnight snow in Hakuba was the kind of wake-up call you dream about. That saying “no friends on a pow day” couldn’t have been further from the truth. I vividly remember watching Jack MacDougall air off the cat track for the first time, plowing through the powder like a bulldozer, leaving a trench behind him. Once you started the descent, it was too deep to stop, or to see, for that matter. Each run wasn’t a goodbye, just a "see you later." Jackets were caked in snow, and everyone wore the same grin of disbelief. It was only Day 1, and I’d already hit my powder quota for the year.
The trip was based on a ZIPAIR promotion and the creeping realization that we weren’t getting any younger. Brin Alexander initially led the charge until he suffered a hairline pelvic fracture two weeks before departure in mid-January. That left Jack MacDougall, Emile Prudhomme, Kyler Lang, Anders Liljedahl, Will Haveruk, Gaël and Abel Barrière, and me—a crew of Whistler-based friends heading overseas with no real plans.
The crew.
It was just a classic Japanese shred vacation. All of us paid our own way. No promises. No pressure. Just the freedom to create—with zero expectations.
The trip began in dream-like fashion. What started as the deepest turns of our lives on Day 1 turned into four—with barely any hiking involved. I didn’t even reach for my camera. It felt like a disservice to snowboarding not to ride. But soon enough, temperatures rose, north-facing aspects were paved, and our focus shifted.
Emile Prudhomme opening up the bomb drop.
We’d heard the stories about Hakuba’s “roadside roadkill”—those accessible natural and manmade features hiding in plain sight along highways. When our friend Jadyn Chomlack posted an IG story of a well-known roof drop less than an hour out of town, we started scouring Google Earth. With a few tips from Masaki Kitai, owner of Garage 902, our backcountry mission turned to the streets. Each day, four of us crammed into my 660cc Kei van and began exploring. Naturally, when you roll around snowboarders like Jack MacDougall and Emil Prudhomme you’re bound to capture standout moments.
Jack MacDougall airing the waterway to flat.
Some of the best moments in life are shared with friends in wild places. Zones we dreamt of exploring as kids. There we were, on our own terms, doing what makes us happiest.
An unfortunate misspelling.
