Will Jackways is one of the few kiwi pro’s to really crack the international scene. He is now working with some of the best cinematographers, photographers and snowboarder’s in the industry and riding in locations most of us can only dream of.

The past Northern winter saw Will in Japan filming a web piece for Monster Energy and he scored it as northern Japan had one of its greatest snow years ever. He then spent a month between Whistler and Washington riding at Stevens Pass and snowmobiling around Pemberton BC.

Wills travels then took him to the freeride mecca that is Alaska. Will is one of the lucky few kiwis that have been given the opportunity to ride this holy grail of snowboarding and you know he has made the most of every second as only Will J knows how. Will checked into AK on two separate heli trips and in his own words “it was a blast!” We will be seeing just how good it was in the not too distant future,  first in his online edit for Monster Enrergy, and in either Absinthes new movie ‘Dopamine’ or Bode Merrill’s web project ‘#merrilltime’.

Here are a few shots Will took himself while in Alaska and his own words to describe the experience, enjoy.

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“This is pretty much the view when you’re getting ready to drop, all you can see is a few bumps and knolls below you an the valley floor, take a few deep breaths and then let ‘er rip!”

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“This winter I spent quite a bit of time working with Bode Merrill, that was real highlight. I showed him around Hokkaido, Japan and we shot together for 8 days, which was a blast. Then he invited me to shoot with him in Haines AK at the end of April, this was an awesome opportunity. Watching him snowboard was crazy and he blew me away on a bunch of occasions. Here’s our crew getting ready to attack the terrain visible in the background. Left to right; Forrest Shearer, Bode Merrill, Pat Fenelon, (cinematographer), Oli Gagnon (photographer) and Chris Coulter our guide at Seaba Heli.”

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“I made an Alaskan diving board to start off my first heli run in Haines, we filmed everything up there with the doors of the heli off so Pat and Oli hovered just a few meters away. When it was go time I remember my heart was racing so hard dropping in and probably even harder when I reached the bottom. Doors off gives you the craziest feeling when flying round in a Heli, everything gnarly is multiplied by 10 and there’s no mellow landing on flat peaks.Often it’s just a matter of jumping in a pin shape style out with your board onto a knife edge and watching the heli fly away it’s crazy.”

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“These Eagles hung out on the road everyday in Cordova, Alaska and got fed huge pieces of meat by the locals, this particular guy was massive and chilled out. He always gave me the chance to shoot a photo whenever we drove past.

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I filmed a couple of days split boarding with Justin Lamoureux, a Canadian buddy who lives in Squamish BC. This winter he’s doing a project where he’s attempting to ride all the peaks he can see from his window in Squamish, a pretty massive project. It was cool to get a feel for split boarding in the backcountry, definitely something I want to pursue later down the track. Here he is rappelling into a Chute to film me shredding down.

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Alaska has so many options when it comes to looking for unique terrain.Heres a shot of just one of hundreds of options you can find out of Haines…