He swapped sea for snow to go where no person has gone before.
Levi Siver, a professional windsurfer used to jumping waves and carving turns in the ocean, performed a world first last year when he took his sport to a snow-capped mountain in Japan.
The 37-year-old, known as “The King of Style,” traveled to Rishiri Island in Hokkaido for a project that had been five years in the making and took 20 days to shoot.
Braving temperatures as low as -13 degrees celsius, Siver was captured making smooth turns in the snow, the first man to give windsurfing an alpine twist.
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“I got this exhilarating feeling that I can’t even really describe,” said Siver.
“The idea for this project stemmed from the vision that we could transfer the elements of windsurfing onto a mountain and create the same exhilarating experience the surfer gets on the water.
“I wanted to be the first person to try alpine windsurfing on a finned board. Using a snowboard would actually be optimum for performance, but I really wanted to recreate that unique sensation of windsurfing and to do that I need[ed] a board somewhere in between a snowboard and windsurfing board.”
His specially designed board, like that used for windsurfing, was complete with a fin and without fixed bindings for his feet. Using the large sail, he could harness the wind to guide himself down the mountain.
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Still can’t believe it happened? See for yourself in the video at the top of the page.
