TOKI-SAN from local retailer and hire shop Niseko 343 was the coach of a national ski team, and has been in Niseko for a long time – so you can imagine he knows a thing or two about how to ski powder well.
He’s watched snowboarders float over the white stuff while he was sinking into it for years, so one day he decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
So Toki-san fashioned a pair of skis out of two snowboards to get him gliding over the powder with even more float than the boarders.
He tried a few different methods of fitting the ski bindings to the board, and this season settled on the perfect system.
“I’ve used the K2 Pontoon (one of the fattest skis on the market), but these give me 10 times the flotation of those,” he says.
“They give your inner thighs a real workout on the groomed runs, but on a powder day these are unbelievable. I’ve never felt flotation like it. I’ve used them 10 times so far this season, and been down from the peak three times.”
Does he get some strange looks while wearing them?
“Yes, people are always stopping me to take photos and asking me what they are like,” he says.
And what if someone wanted to have a try of them for themselves?
“I wouldn’t want to hire them out, I think they’d probably do themselves an injury,” he says.
Okay, Toki-san, we’ll leave it to you!