Niseko, Japan CNN  —  I am somewhere in the trees. Thigh-deep in powder. Stomping through the snow. Not riding my board as I should be but carrying it. Muttering to myself about taking the wrong line and getting stuck, I breathe heavily as I start the deep, long march back. It is a problem most skiers and snowboarders would pay to have. And they do in their droves. About 20 feet below me, Chris Laurent, from Paris, has a different problem. “I can’t find my ski,” he says, swearing and laughing