Sputnik's journey began in the winter of 2017. A friend with whom I had worked for many years came to Japan from far away in Northern Europe. By pure coincidence,
My boyfriend and I quit our previous jobs at the same time and were planning to start something new on our own. Since we were both still in the preparation period, we had a little bit of free time during the winter. We decided to travel to each other's countries. It's my turn first.
We rented a car and went around Hokkaido, where it snows really well. It's been a long time since we've had such a leisurely winter time, as we both had winter business to do. Mt. Yoichi, Mt. Yotei, Annupuri, and Mt. Shirai. Every day, we climbed mountains, skated, drank sake, took hot springs, and talked a lot. That was all there was to do.
I relied on my friends in Hokkaido, invited the travelers I met there, and climbed the mountain. The man above is not my friend. A Swede who was staying on airbnb at the house of an acquaintance he visited to ask for a guide to the mountains. What did you say your name was? He was a doctor. ``I've come to Niseko, my dream destination, and I've only been skating around the ski slopes, but what's that mountain in front of me?'' So I kidnapped him to Yotei.
When you visit Hokkaido, there are many people who are happy to share the mountains with you. One sunny day in incredibly perfect conditions, Tochinai-san and Minoru-kun from Shugakuso took us to the empty slopes of Mt. Shirai.
My friend, Bjørn, opened up a new journey for me. I think the first time we met was about five years ago. He was a new salesman in northern Norway who had just joined the brand I visited. I love Japan, and after that I became the person in charge of Japan for that brand, and I came to Japan every year to travel with him, working and playing together all the time.He was my comrade in arms.
Nothing is more precious than to share the mountain time with friends.
Climb the mountain together in silence. Look at the same scenery together. Walking through the mountains together without talking will produce better work than sitting at your desk and constantly texting.
"Hey, would you like to work together again?"
"It's a coincidence. I was going to say the same thing."
"I'm going to have to do something similar again from scratch..."
"It's a coincidence. We have the best dealer here.”
All the answers lie in the journey. I lived my life believing that. So now that we've come this far, we should just keep going. It's so cold, but so much fun. Especially now, at this summit, Nani has no complaints.
“The next one will be in Europe in two weeks.”
"It's the beginning of another new journey for us."
In January 2017, he decided to become independent and launch his own business, Sputnik.
I've been thinking about what I want to achieve in my life for several years.
Take advantage of the many experiences and connections you have gained so far, and take responsibility for expressing what you like to your heart's content.
So, let's start by doing things on our own, little by little.
Sputnik is the name of the first artificial satellite launched into space by humans. The original meaning is "fellow traveler" in Russian.
Just as Sputnik once shocked the whole world and changed the rest of the world, just as Sputnik once became the first in the world to achieve eternal freedom in space, we will connect all our friends related to mountains and make them all free mountain companions. Let's do it.
Sputnik was launched with this meaning in mind.
The beginning of all my journeys was Mt. Shirai with him.
