Tag / Kiichiro Kazumi

It’s been a very quiet couple of weeks back in Chester and i find myself updating my Computer and lighting equipment before my Australia trip which will begin in two weeks time. I’ll be off to the Big Chill music festival later this week where they’ll be some Zombie madness going on (will explain at a later date).

Until that happens i’ll leave you with how the Japanese eat French bread……..

After last weeks festivities in the mountains of the south of France, Yuya Nakayama and Kiichiro Kazumi decided to head over to London for the weekend to check out “my ground” as they called it. My tour guide duties included sourcing accommodation (3 sofas the first night and a floor the second), Keeping them hydrated (with a little helping hand from Red Stripe) and making sure they were fed correctly (“I can feel oil in me” – Kiichiro after his first, and most definitely last, full English breakfast).

They’ve both jumped on a plane back to Japan now but it was good having them here for a short visit. Here’s a couple of shots from the weekend

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Kumi Yama – A French Organised, Japanese-themed ski and snowboard competition held in Les Deux Alpes in the heart of summer. It makes perfect sense.

The last weekend has just passed here in Les Deux Alpes where i’ve been basking in sunlight at an awesome winter event. I’d received my invite a few months ago to take part in the photo and graphic contest that was part of the weekends schedule. Things didn’t start well as my snowboard bag went astray during the flight and i had to hitch a lift to the mountains as i realised there was no way to get where i was going from the airport.

Once i got over here though everything fell in to place. The contest, vibe, organisation and the people were all awesome and watching some of the teams fight it out over the super original course was so much fun.

The photo contest was a hard fought battle and i was amazed at some of the graphic designs on display at the gallery evening. My graphic designer was over in England and considering not one phone call was shared between us i was stoked with the outcome.

Mine and Pauls graphic story

The last week or so has been dictated mainly by the weather. Promised bluebird conditions have lead to whiteouts and not much has got done. One day was spent playing hangman in Cardrona base after carting all my gear up there. Thrilling stuff!

I’m writing this on another down day with word that its raining up on the hill which is abit of a nightmare. All of my house mates have moved on now and i’ve discovered that the board game RISK isn’t too captivating by yourself. World domination, it seems, is better with your friends.

It’s not all doom and gloom though – i’ve managed to get a few things done. I found myself shooting a profile image for Volkl of Kiichiro Kazumi, one of the riders i was with a few weeks ago. I’d arranged to hook up at the top of Captains lift at Cardrona due to the surrounding mountain views being superb. On the chairlift up Kiichiro was saying how sick it was on that side, “i’ve never been to captains before”…….he’s been at Cardrona for 3 seasons and that was his first venture out of the park. Brilliant! Whilst i had him over there we sessioned a fence for 20 minutes or so. It took no time to set-up and was easy to hit a couple of times. Fences are kind of iconic in New Zealand and we spotted a couple more that we’ll hopefully get shots of before the season is out.

Kiichiro at Cardrona

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Finally, we’ve had some blue skies! This week has been a lot of fun as the storms have cleared leaving us with a couple of blue bird powder days. I’ve spent my week up at Cardrona working with 3 Japanese riders; Daisuke Hosono, Kiichiro Kazumi and Nobuo Otake. These guys are pure work horses. They strive to get their stuff down and make it super easy for me to work with them. Loads of fun was had.

I’ve taken some time off from the hill and  went on a little road trip the last two days to check out some of the south island. Lots to see, not so much to do!