Only Friends on a Pow Day

Ep 11 – Core Lords, Whisky & Pow Dreams ft. Josh Fawcett & Alex “Sassy” Koens | Only Friends on a Pow Day

Only Friends on a Pow Day

Show Notes

From dry slopes in the UK to ski bumming in Canada and tuning thousands of skis in Japan, Josh and Sassy have done it all. These two legends embody what it means to be core lords - shredding pow by day, tuning skis by night, and living their best lives in Niseko. In this ep, Austin dives into: How Sassy became Rhythm Japan’s workshop weaponJosh’s journey from freestyle rails to running the boot gameLife lessons from COVID powder daysTouring, microclimates, and chasing Hokkaido’s endless powWh...

More from Only Friends on a Pow Day

Oct 12, 2026

Colby James West joins Austin Toner for the story behind his Tom Jones segment in Claim, the making of My Friend Is a Pro, and an honest conversation about burnout and coming back to skiing. Known for bringing comedy to Matchstick Productions films, the X Games medallist looks back on a career spent travelling between competitions and film trips. He explains how a day filming It's Not Unusual in Monaco became a ski-movie favourite, and how a video with John Symms led to a Whistler crowd singi...

Oct 3, 2026

Side Selections are helping keep Falls Creek’s après and nightlife alive. Paddy and Adam join Austin Toner to talk The Man, DJ culture and the friendship behind their events business. Before the dancefloors, both worked for Austin at Rhythm Japan in Hakuba. This catch-up brings together old work yarns, mountain connections and the reality of turning a love of music and ski seasons into a business. The boys explain how rotating DJs and involving local talent changed the nights at The Man. They...

Sep 18, 2026

What if fear didn’t need to disappear before you acted? What if you could put it on the calendar instead? Jennie “AdrenaJen” Milton grew up in a Canberra ski family, founded one of Australia’s leading extreme-sports stores and dreamed of riding Alaska’s big mountains. When the boys in her shop told her to keep dreaming, she booked the flight. Fear suddenly had a date, a deadline and a reason to prepare. That first Alaska trip changed everything. Jennie eventually sold her business, house and ...

Sep 1, 2026

From a tiny Niseko locker room and shipping-container boot shop to Boot Solutions Japan and Village Sports inside the Hilton, Dr Ned Buckley shares the twenty-year journey behind one of Japan’s most trusted boot-fitting businesses. Full Episode: Ned Buckley had two options: build a life in Telluride or take a punt on the still-emerging ski town of Niseko. Then he arrived in April, woke to almost a metre of fresh snow and made his decision. Twenty years later, the founder of Boot Solutions Jap...

Aug 18, 2026

From learning on a snow-covered garbage dump to riding Alaska’s Pontoon and filming for Warren Miller, TJ Balon shares a lifetime spent chasing snow. He learned to ski on a snow-covered garbage dump in Manitoba. Decades later, TJ Balon was dropping into Pontoon in Alaska, flying drones for Warren Miller and helping run one of the most legendary heli-ski operations in the Chugach. In this episode of Only Friends on a Pow Day, Austin sits down with Canadian-born snowboarder, photographer and li...

See all episodes →