Dizzy and Akane took to the decision last summer to leave Tokyo, persuse a far-off land, turning their backs for a minute on the pow-pow in Hakuba, becoming RONIN.
Along the journey, they have worked the odd jobs one must do in order to keep afloat: sushi wait staff, sales associate, pizza boy, freelance translator, editor, wholesale tool seller, copy writer, dog walker (?).

Alas, the night of Jan 12th, Ulur did not neglect the suburbs of Chicago nor the sled hill that Dizzy had spent his formative years on on his ’89 Burton Cruiser.

NOT to be out-poached by the elementary school kids that morning, Dizzy and Akane got to the hill at 8:30 for FRESH tracks. Take that, Robert Hamburger!

Dizzy, overlooking the precipitous summit; Akane, frozen in anticipation of his nail-biting descent

Dizzy descent:

Dizzy no-roping in all the epic vertical glory Chicago has to offer:

Akane's turn. Conquering the treacherous boot-pack to the summit:

Akane (going undercover as a yellow-jacketed Kenny) using a NoFish for an unintended purpose:

I read in last year’s NB magazine, in article by Daryl I believe, that it doesn’t matter where you live or where you NB, just that you do it cause it’s fun. Amen brother. I had a smile ear to ear the whole day

I HEART NB:

So much so that we had to go back at two nights later after a fresh 3 cm coating. My camera battery went out after the first run. Note the carnage done to the slope by the sledders, some of whom are in the background.

Chicago has REAL, ULTIMATE POWER near Dizzy’s pizza store: