When you’re bundled up, strapped to two thin strips of laminated hardwood, and sliding down the side of a mountain, falling into a secret hot spring waterfall is about the last thing you’d expect to happen.
But against all odds, that exact incident happened to a New Zealander who was skiing in the backcountry of Hokkaido, Japan earlier this month. His GoPro captured the entire sequence and shows his run going from exciting, but typical, to something straight out of a horror movie.
He crests a small drift and catches some air, expecting the mountain to continue below him, but as soon as his skis lifted off the snow he saw the open mouth of a hot spring below.
Truthfully, his landing was as good as you could hope for, avoiding most of the rocks poking out of the edges and falling squarely into the water, but surviving the impact was only the first of his challenges. He now had to climb out of the spring, battling untold gallons of water falling onto his head, all while in full ski gear.
Watch the video here.
Against all odds, he made it out unscathed, but it’s terrifying to think of what this story could have been had he landed a few feet to either side, got his foot wedged between two rocks, or broke a leg on landing.
Next time you’re doing some adventure skiing, if that’s even the right term, be sure to do some research about the landscape, especially if it’s in an unfamiliar foreign country…
